Warner Bros. doesn’t seem sure how to make money out of superhero games. This is a company that owns Batman (forcing Rocksteady back into ol’ reliable after a few flops), Wonder Woman (pushing the big fat reset button at the cost of millions of dollars), Superman (maybe next time Evil Superman will work?), and Harley Quinn (sluiced up into live-service slop), and still it fails.
You might think of Harley as the sneak of the bunch, but her cartoonish violence and over the top personality are perfect for video games, where she already stole the show in the Arkham trilogy before seeing her stock continue to rise through Margot Robbie’s live-action version and Kaley Cuoco’s animated effort. The point is, Warner Bros. owns a lot of household names, yet it is incapable of doing anything cool with them. But the answer is right there – it needs to do Flashpoint.
Warner Bros. Has Gotten Superheroes Wrong Since Batman: Arkham
We see a litany of missteps and contradictions in Warner Bros. recent history. Having hauled the superhero genre into the modern era through Batman: Arkham, it has regressed. Suicide Squad took a suicide squat on Arkham’s legacy with live-service nothingness, while Wonder Woman has apparently been internally rebooted to avoid the same fate. Gotham Knights, far more suited to carrying on the Arkham story, was a confused interpretation of Court of Owls that seemed to have stepped back from the live-service brink too late in the day, and still bore the scars of cash-first, players-second thinking even as a standalone experience.
But wait! There’s more! WB Montreal, the architects of Gotham Knights, wanted to make a John Constantine game – a bold, fresh idea that could do for superhero games what Arkham did in the ’00s, this time hauling them out of the shadow of Hollywood the way Arkham soared above the janky world of cheap tie-ins. Unfortunately, this was rejected. But wait! There’s more! Montreal then pitched a Flash game – like the man The Flash, not like an old school browser game – but this too was rejected thanks to the poor performance of The Flash movie.
If Warner Bros. won’t make games on heroes with any bad movies in their past, the only Justice League member eligible would be Martian Manhunter.
Montreal is now allegedly on Game of Thrones (which also ended to mass audience criticism, for the record), and I am happy someone finally is, so I suppose that all worked out. However, that doesn’t solve the issue of what WB is doing with its superheroes. I remain doubtful Wonder Woman will ever see the light of day, and Rocksteady on Batman again feels a little dull, even if it may lead to good results. This brings me to my earlier point – it needs to do Flashpoint.
Flashpoint Is An Iconic Comic Book Arc
Flashpoint is one of the most monumental moments in comics. In 2011, DC needed to do something drastic to reinvigorate its comic book line, so it cancelled everything. Like, every single thing. It then relaunched them under The New 52, wherein it started 52 new series with many of its classic characters redesigned and modernised. While this new direction was divisive, much of the New 52’s foundations remains in place to this day. Out of world, this was done because DC wanted a shake-up. But in-world, it needed better justification than dwindling comic book sales. Enter Flashpoint.
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Flashpoint began the New 52 (or more accurately, ended the previous era) with a bang. It occurs in an alternate reality wherein only the Flash can remember the ‘true’ reality. There are some ‘oh neat’ differences, like Cyborg being the Superman of the world while Superman is locked up by the military, and Thomas Wayne being Batman having not been killed in Crime Alley. Then there are some ‘oh… wait what?!’ differences, like Aquaman and Wonder Woman being at war leading to Wonder Woman chopping off Mera’s head.
There are two main reasons to make Flashpoint as a video game. Firstly, it’s very cool. It keeps surprising you, offering up a great mix of familiar characters in unfamiliar roles, unfamiliar characters in familiar roles, and inverting the mythos, mottos, and mindset of some of the most famous heroes in comic book history. That sort of twisted, loaded story makes for the perfect backdrop for a game, while also loosing the shackles on what the devs could do.
For example, Harley isn’t in the Flashpoint comic, but is in the Flashpoint Paradox movie as Yo-Yo, who… is basically just Harley in a new costume. Okay, that’s not exactly cutting edge. But the point is, adaptations of this story already make changes, and there are plenty of opportunities for a game to either tweak the story or simply add a fan favourite character in with a new role nobody would see coming.
But the other reason is what it symbolises. Warner Bros. has not been able to make a win of superheroes since the Arkham days, and even then people mostly shrug at the mention of Origins or Knight. Flashpoint is a metaphorical and narrative reboot for the universe, freeing it from the spectre of Arkham, respectfully justifying moving on from the late, great voice of Kevin Conroy, and allowing the whole company to start fresh. Maybe not a New 52, but perhaps A New DC Game Every Two Years Or So Given How Many Gaming Studios Warner Bros. Owns. The title’s a little long, but I’m hopeful it can catch on.
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OpenCritic
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Top Critic Rating:
59/100
Critics Recommend:
19%
- Released
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February 2, 2024