Justice League versus The Punisher

After months of behind the scenes drama, Affleck wavering on his role as Batman, Zack Snyder's departure due to a family tragedy, and Joss Whedon's massive re-shoots, Justice League opens nationwide Friday. Sorry, but I can't get excited about what feels like Warner Brothers umpteenth attempt to collaborate the DCEU. Most of that is due to the repeated disappointments they called films. Another part is having once again witnessed the all-too-familiar warning signs. Snyder may have left before production ended, but he was still a major influence...and that is never good. Whedon came in a changed a lot (for what I assume was for the better) including replacing the composer of the score, and completing massive re-shoots that reportedly accounted for 15% to 20% of the final cut.

Another red flag was that the review embargo was not lifted until the 14th, just 3 days before the release. Film critics and social media mavens had mixed reviews for the film, mostly saying it has some high points but many low points. In an ill-conceived attempt to drive viewers to the website that may be actually harming Justice League, Rottentomatoes will not release the reviews or aggregated score until about 12 hours from any midnight showings. However, as is the case with technology, an error occurred and the Flixster app accidentally revealed the secret Rottentomatoes score. An unimpressive 48%. Warner Brothers probably wishes the score would never be revealed.

Something else that concerns me is that Warner Brothers chose to release their highly anticipated, mega-ensemble, summer blockbuster in...November.  Sure, Thor Ragnarok is doing great in November, but remember Thor: The Dark World was moved out of the blockbuster season because the first movie underperformed.  Speaking of which, Justice League is expected to bring in $110 Million at the domestic box office this weekend. A decent amount, but not enough to beat the $121 Million Thor: Ragnarok made on its opening weekend earlier this month. Not what Warner Brothers was hoping for, I can wager.



The good news is The Punisher will be available to stream this Friday as well. The series was not originally meant to compete with Justice League but was delayed after the senseless tragedy in Las Vegas. Now the two are going head to head, but The Punisher will likely do less damage to the Justice League box office than the bad reviews and disastrous track record already have. Even though the chances of the shows crossing over to the big screen or vice-versa are slim, the Netflix series has been a great addition to the MCU. Rottentomatoes has released the reviews and score, and The Punisher currently sits at 73%. I am excited to binge The Punisher this weekend, not only to see how Marvel and Netflix kick off Phase Two of their street-level heroes but to possibly witness the long-awaited introduction of another fan-favorite Marvel hero.  

Senior Vice President of Creator and Content Development at Marvel, C.B. Cebulski teased "Another Marvel hero may be showing up." when being interviewed about The Punisher series at Asia Pop Comic-Con.

 Rumors have been out of control but nothing has been confirmed, despite dozens if not hundreds of reviewers and YouTube nerds having already seen most of the series. I guess we just have to wait.