Sony Marvel struggles because it doesn’t have Disney behind it. Disney and its platforms gives Marvel films an automatic advantage over all the competition especially 4 quadrant movies. I am still shocked that the Marvels bombed so badly. The Disney name kept it from bombing like Joker 2. The best example of this is a rated R Deadpool movie with Wolverine. Two box office characters that never cracked a billion destroys the all time record for rated R movies with the Disney bump.
I think
@routhman's point is that the general public is much less familiar, not to mention concerned with all the various distinctions between brands like Marvel Studios (Disney), Marvel (Sony), DC (WBD), etc., than we are. For example: When 20th Century Fox was still in business, you would have been hard-pressed to find casual fans applying the term Foxverse to the X-Men films. Rather, they would just say something like, "I'm going to check out the latest Marvel movie." General audiences tend to lump all comic book films together, and since Marvel (Disney) was largely successful in its heyday, it sort of became the face of all these different brands and properties. That's just the nature of the beast. Once an IP achieves a certain level of success, it crosses over into the mainstream. One indication is when it becomes a talking point for casual viewers in the most unlikely places: Your wife will switch on
The View and hear someone mention your favorite superhero actor with reverence. Just the other day, I saw Ali Larter's character from
Landman make fun of another character in the show by derogatorily likening her name to an unspecified Marvel hero.
Don't get me wrong. The DCEU probably distinguished itself as a brand apart from Marvel more successfully than Sony or Fox ever did, but it still never managed to become this huge cultural phenomenon. Actually, go ahead and scratch that. Insofar as DC films are concerned, you know what matters even more to casual viewers than some all-encompassing brand? Intellectual properties, namely Batman and Superman. Don't believe me? Okay. Ask yourself another question. Which one of the following statements is most likely to be heard by someone who doesn't regularly follow comic book movies or shows? "
That new DC film with Robert Pattinson was effing incredible!" or "
That new Batman movie with the guy from Twilight was an absolute banger!" In 90% of cases, it's choice two.
Along those lines, the DC [films] brand hasn't suffered any real, lasting harm because it was never that big of a thing in the collective consciousness to begin with. Moreover, casual viewers who didn't enjoy the Snyderverse films or
Joker 2 are more likely to associate their experience with the actors rather than a logo that flashes by at the start of a movie. (The new DCU logo, by the way, is much more eye-catching and memorable than the previous one, IMO.) Final thought: I firmly believe that people will show up for
Superman, provided that it's well-produced and effectively marketed to the appropriate demographic groups. The release date and superhero fatigue are my only major concerns.