‘Justice League,’ ‘Wonder Woman’ and ‘Suicide Squad’: The Warner Bros. and DC Entertainment course correction

In the great superhero movie arms race, Warner Bros. and DC Entertainment are in the unenviable position of having to play catch-up to its distinguished competition, Marvel. It’s not their fault that Marvel recalibrated the way sequels work with their cinematic universe. And it’s not their fault that Marvel had a nine-movie head start in building it.

So how did WB/DC respond at Comic-Con 2016? By bringing out the whole bloody Justice League: Ben Affleck’s Batman, Henry Cavill’s Superman, Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman, Jason Momoa’s Aquaman, Ezra Miller’s Flash and Ray Fisher’s Cyborg.

Oh, and they delivered the Suicide Squad too: Will Smith, Margot Robbie, Jared Leto, Joel Kinnaman, Cara Delevingne, Jai Courtney, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Karen Fukuhara along with the great and powerful Viola Davis.

Star wattage goes a long way, to be sure, and the lights were bright in Hall H. But what makes or break a presentation like this is the footage. And the footage – a first look at 2017’s Justice League, the first official trailer for 2017’s “Wonder Woman� and a special Comic-Con sizzle for August’s “Suicide Squad� — was heartening.

Heartening because the chief knock against Warners’ DC output has been that it is excessively grim and humorless. And watching the jokes parade across the “Justice League� footage — some from Affleck’s Bruce Wayne, no less — was welcome. And the sweep and majesty and bone-crushing awesome of the “Wonder Woman� trailer was stirring, not pummeling.

With one panel in Hall H, it was clear that the theme of 2017 at Warner Bros — at least when it comes to DC — is “course correction.�

Apparently, they heard the complaints about “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice,� evaluated their plans in the light of day (rather than the dead of Gotham night), looked across the hall to see what works for their chief rival and made a decision: Maybe we should treat these modern myths like actual myths. Perhaps their stories don’t need to be bound by reality.

Let legends be legendary.

@marcbernardin

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