When Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice introduced moviegoers to all the members of the Justice League, Warner Bros. announced solo movies for all of them. However, although Wonder Woman and Aquaman have enjoyed those promised solo outings, the Flash and Cyborg’s movies have been perpetually delayed.
The first standalone film for Ray Fisher’s Victor Stone a.k.a. Cyborg was supposed to be released in 2020, but while it hasn’t officially been canceled, it doesn’t seem like it’ll be making that date. Here are 5 Reasons Why Ray Fisher’s Cyborg Should Still Get A DCEU Solo Movie (& 5 Why We Don’t Need To See It).
Should still get a solo movie: We still haven’t seen Cyborg’s origin story
Batman v Superman gave us a brief version of Cyborg’s origin story and then Justice League gave us a slightly less brief version that contradicted the previous version. That’s not good enough. Cyborg is one of the greatest characters in the DC Comics universe. He deserves a fleshed-out big-screen origin story.
He got one in Zack Snyder’s original script for Justice League – establishing him as a college football star who loses his mother and a lot of himself in a car accident before being revived as Cyborg by his distant scientist father – but Warner Bros. cut it, so it should be retooled as a solo movie.
Don’t need to see it: The DCEU is moving away from Justice League
Ever since the critical and box office failure of Justice League, the DC Extended Universe has been moving away from the plotlines that it established, especially the ones that tie the franchise together in a shared universe. This is due to the success of movies like Wonder Woman and Aquaman.
However, since his origin involves a Mother Box – the MacGuffins at the center of Justice League – and his only appearances so far have been in the controversial bigger team-up movies, Cyborg might be a little too close to the former interconnectivity of the DCEU to survive in the series’ current climate.
Should still get a solo movie: He’s a complex character to explore
After Victor Stone was involved in a car accident that was almost fatal, he was reconstructed as Cyborg. While that made him a great candidate to be a superhero (or “meta-human”), it also made him a social outcast.
In the way that the X-Men movies explored the discrimination against mutants as an allegory for discrimination against real-life minority groups, a Cyborg movie could use Victor being part-machine to explore how people who are “different” struggle to fit in. Victor is just a kid, attending college, so everyone else his age is brutal when it comes to making fun of others.
Don’t need to see it: He’s not been very interesting so far
While Ray Fisher has always done a great job of playing Victor Stone in the DCEU, he simply hasn’t been given enough material in these movies to be interesting. Warner Bros. insisted on more Batman and Wonder Woman in Justice League, since they had become the most popular characters in the franchise.
But Cyborg had never been given a chance to become popular, so that wasn’t very fair. Zack Snyder’s original script for Justice Leaguemade Cyborg the “heart” of the movie, which would have properly serviced the character and given Fisher an actual chance to shine. Say what you will about Snyder, he was taking care of his cast.
Should still get a solo movie: There’s a lot left to explore with his father
Absent father figures are an interesting topic to explore in science fiction, from Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader to Tony and Howard Stark. The relationship between Victor and Silas Stone, especially in how it’s been set up in the DCEU, has an abundance of potential to be as memorable as those father-son pairings.
Silas has never really been around for Victor, leading to serious resentment, but then he saved his life by turning him into Cyborg, so there’s a lot of their relationship left to explore. Ray Fisher and Joe Morton have shown palpable on-screen chemistry in their previous, albeit brief DCEU appearances, so a solo movie could take that to the next level.
Don’t need to see it: Other mooted DCEU installments are more exciting
Warner Bros. and DC Entertainment are fast-tracking sequels to the likes of Wonder Woman and Aquaman, because they’re sure-fire hits, while James Gunn’s soft reboot of Suicide Squad and Robert Pattinson’s Batman movie are expected to shoot soon, but the rest of their development slate seems pretty murky.
They have a whole bunch of announced projects that are moving forward at a snail’s pace and it seems as though only a couple of them will make the cut. As fun as a Cyborg solo movie would be, other mooted DCEU movies like the Flash’s time travel movie and the buddy cop-inspired Green Lantern Corps sound more exciting, so DC should focus on them instead.
Should still get a solo movie: He’s woefully underdeveloped in the DCEU
While the DC Extended Universe has seen Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman develop over multiple movies, Cyborg has been left crushingly underdeveloped in the franchise. Granted, he’s only really had to chance to grow in one movie, but for most movies, one movie is enough to get a character from point A to point B.
In Justice League, Cyborg was just sort of there. He went from point A to point A, and point A wasn’t even properly defined. For this character to have some actual development and be fleshed out, he’ll need to get a solo movie in the DCEU.
Don’t need to see it: It would be so expensive that it might kill the DCEU
The box office failure of Justice League almost singlehandedly ended the DC Extended Universe – in fact, some would say that it did, because the connective tissue of the franchise is gone – and that “failure” was a $657 million worldwide gross on a $300 million budget.
Ray Fisher has said, “[A Cyborg solo movie] would be a very, very costly movie to make, because it is so CGI heavy with Cyborg, because I’m the only member of the League that’s not in a practical costume. You’re going to be looking at $200 million just to make it.” And that’s before marketing costs. A Cyborg movie would definitely be a risk, and with a risk this expensive, it could make or break the entire DCEU.
Should still get a solo movie: DCEU movies based on obscure characters are the best
With movies like Batman v Superman, Warner Bros. has relied on the fact that the most popular superheroes in the world had their names in the title. Since a movie named Batman v Superman basically sells itself, the studio felt no need to strive to make it a great movie.
However, when adapting more obscure characters like Shazam!, the studio has put more work into the movies themselves. They hire a director who will put in the care and attention the film deserves (in Shazam!’s case, it was David F. Sandberg) and conduct test screenings to strike a consistent tone. Since a Cyborg movie would have to win over audiences, the same effort would be required.
Don’t need to see it: He should appear in the Flash’s solo movie instead
The Cyborg solo movie would’ve only really worked out if Justice League had been a big success and Victor Stone had played a large role in it (both of which would’ve happened if Warner Bros. just stuck to Zack Snyder’s vision instead of panicking and trying to copy the MCU).
However, since Justice League bombed and Cyborg is still unknown to the general population, that’s just a hypothetical scenario. Because of the studio’s missteps, Cyborg isn’t in a position where he can carry a whole movie. But he should still appear in the DCEU, possibly in a sidekick capacity alongside Ezra Miller’s Flash (although that’s another solo movie that’s been continually stalled).
