How DC FanDome just raised the bar for online cons
DC FanDome was an unmitigated success. Period.
Time and time again there have been hype events and presentations that crumbled even slightly under the weight of enormous expectations from fans and pundits alike.
For once, it was refreshing as hell to see one of them bench press those expectations like Superman lifting an island off the planet Earth. Seriously, the whole day was that good if you’ve been a hungry DC fan for the past few years. Everything we’ve wanted to see and hear from them, we saw in one eight hour long stream of domination that was repeated twice for a total of three times in 24 hours, and we might still not know what to do with ourselves now that it’s ended.
How did they do it? How did DC come through and obliterate the weekend’s entertainment and hype headlines?
1 - IT WASN’T JUST A BUNCH OF ZOOM CALLS
Unlike Comic-Con @Home, which was dozens of pre-edited Zoom call panels moderated and posted on YouTube at specific times, FanDome was an eight hour presentation with numerous pre-produced segments, all uniquely designed and executed to look like real presentations instead of people sitting in front of their webcams holed up in their houses, even though that’s exactly what they were all doing.
They made it look like people were somewhere else at times. There was art and set design, comedic timing, plenty of B-roll to support what was being said, and even though there were breaks in between, there was always something to fill time until the next panel, whether it was an interview clip, a piece of trivia or a hilarious commentary of Batman ‘66 from the cast of Batman Beyond.
2 - CONTENT IS KING
They overloaded us with information and visuals from Wonder Woman 1984, The Flash movie, The Suicide Squad, the return of Milestone Comics, Zack Snyder’s Justice League, Black Adam, The Batman and two new video games in Gotham Knights and Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, along with much more in smaller details. It’s the most major announcement in one day that DC has ever done and it hit almost every angle.
3 - THEY CONTROLLED THE NARRATIVE
Jim Lee spoke to us. A lot. He answered questions, he gave us details. Not everything, but he made it very clear what DC’s intent is going forward in all directions. So did Greg Berlanti, Walter Hamada, and every DC director that was all too excited to talk about their movies. The synergy and decisiveness between all divisions of DC was unprecedented, and we genuinely saw it on display in every panel, from every creative.
4 - SOUND BASEBALL FUNDAMENTALS
If you know baseball, DC FanDome managed its lineup extremely well, leading off with Wonder Woman, putting Zack Snyder and his Justice League film in the cleanup hitter spot, and using Matt Reeves’ Batman film as the closer. Balance across the board. They even got some timely extra base hits from James Gunn’s behind the scenes reel and The Rock challenging the entire Justice League…...especially Superman.
If there was ever a time to understand and appreciate just how much DC has now changed under the WarnerMedia label, it’s right now, after it served notice to the world that the bar has been set for online hype conventions…...and it’s extremely high, make no mistake.