Exhibition

DC Universe: The Exhibit Reviewed

Published

10 years ago

May 26, 2016

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Warner Bros. Celebrates Its DC Comics Heritage

♦Tripwire sent its Man in Los Angeles, Robert Cave, to check out Warner Bros’ DC Universe The Exhibit…

DC Universe The Exhibit

Review by Rob Cave

There are certain places you have to take in on a outing to LA. The Hollywood Walk of Fame, Santa Monica pier and a trip around at least one of the metropolis’ various film studios. Chief among this last type of excursion is the Warner Bros. Studio Tour – a three-hour jaunt around some of the studio’s sound stages as well as part of its collection of costumes, props and source material. And from 24 May 2016 the tour also adds in a new stop in the form of DC Universe: The Exhibit, freshly branded with the latest version of the DC logo, unveiled earlier this week.

The exhibit itself and focuses mainly on props and costumes relating to Batman Vs Superman: Dawn of Justice and the upcoming highly anticipated Suicide Squad movie. But this exhibit isn’t just about this year’s batch of movies based on DC super heroes. This exhibit is looking beyond that and towards showcasing DC’s own richly interconnected superhero universe as a whole.

Banners featuring the members of the planned Justice League movie are the first things that confront visitors entering the space, and under each banner, safely inside a firmly locked Perspex box, is an iconic issue of the comic in which they have featured. These aren’t first appearances (a mint copy of Superman’s initial debut in Action Comics 1 would probably warrant an even greater level of security), but it makes a bold, and perhaps overdue, statement: that the DC Universe is bigger than its most prominent movie-starring icons and that Warner Bros. are fully committed to further exploring that universe, in all its variety and richness, on the silver screen.

The excitement of being able to get up close to some of the most recent DC Universe film costumes can vary a bit – who doesn’t want to see batman up close? He has three different outfits here. Wonder Woman’s outfit is equally, if not more, impressive and both will most likely be studied in detail by any cosplayers that visit, but Lex Luthor’s civvies are a lot more mundane. Perhaps Luthor’s look is more likely to capture your concentration if you are looking for some style tips on how to dress like a super villain.

Away from the clothes there are plenty of mad props. In the case of Suicide Squad this encompasses all manner of wicked weaponry, including Harley’s massive mallet. Never mind Deadshot’s arsenal, Suicide Squad’s Joker seems to have quite a collection of guns and assorted toys himself. It is just a shame that a combination of the lighting and the ever-present plastic boxes can sometimes make it difficult to capture these objects on camera.

Interactive exhibits aren’t necessarily the focus here – that is the goal of other parts of the tour – but they do form some of the show’s most enjoyable artifacts: you can don rubber gloves and handle a satisfyingly substantial chunk of Kryptonite in another one of those secure Perspex boxes (and wonder why the alien mineral is further fastened to its plinth by one of those elasticated ropes of the kind you find attached to demonstration handsets in mobile phone shops). For me, the highlight was the chance to hang out in Harley Quinn’s Belle Reve Prison cell. Well, I say cell – there is only actually one wall of bars with a bench on one side and the prison’s logo on the other, but that is more than enough to take a prison photo good enough to scare the bejesus out of your parents, if they aren’t already accompanying you.

Yes, DC Universe: The Exhibit itself is quite compact. The whole exhibition space is probably smaller than a football pitch. But it promises to help broaden the general public’s knowledge and appreciation of the wider DC Universe, and it is likely to be the favourite part of the Warner Bros. tour for super hero-loving boys and girls of all ages.

ROBERT CAVE