Yesterday I went to see the new Superman movie. Absolutely loved it, and I’ll be going for a second watch today. I’m a die-hard DC fan—there are traces of DC in all the novels I write. The new Superman performed brilliantly; it’s been a long time since a superhero film kept me thrilled from start to finish. It was exhilarating, heart-wrenching, and emotionally resonant, with that overwhelming comic-book feel—a rousing start for the DCU. It’s not perfect, but it’s undeniably exciting.
I already gave it a five-star rating without hesitation.
This is a DC film that carries a hint of Marvel’s flavor, yet at its core remains distinctly DC. The two biggest hallmarks of DC are its depth and its tragedy. Depth may not be the film’s strength (after all, it’s not a Batman movie), but as for tragedy, the way it portrays a strong yet broken Superman—struggling from beginning to end against his inner demons and his enemies—is brutal and compelling.
For a detailed analysis, see my full review.
Today, let’s focus mainly on how to build a world and create an IP. First of all, DC has a mature universe—though one that’s constantly being rebooted—because it has been running for 91 years, with countless stories written into the DC universe. The sheer volume of works is actually one crucial direction for worldbuilding and IP creation. Even The Lord of the Rings relies on twelve books of The History of Middle-earth.
How can so many stories maintain logical consistency? It’s almost impossible. Apart from requiring comic writers to read extensively from previously published works to ensure their stories fit into the broader timeline, sometimes reboots are necessary. But for the universes we individually create, things are rarely that complex, so reboots aren’t necessarily needed.
Modern DC has its own signature style. The usual formula: Batman stands shoulder to shoulder with gods as a mere mortal; Superman can’t withstand the collapse of his own heart and becomes a villain; Wonder Woman remains ever valiant. But overall, it’s dark, serious, profound—a fundamentally different experience from Marvel. This is what I call IP consistency.
When we make AI films, it’s not just that each film has its own tone—the entire IP should have a unified tone. DC is large enough to let its world grow organically within the comics. For the worlds we build, since we don’t have that much content, we should design the tone right from the start.
Take the Computational Universe IP, for example—what kind of tone does it have? What comes to mind is: dark, serious, philosophical, and feminine… I’ve said it before, but DC has had a profound influence on me. So much so that the characters I write are all philosophers in their own way, and simultaneously all superheroes—or even anti-heroes.
What is the tone of your universe? Now is the time to figure it out.Because you need IP consistency. You want every story to take place in the same universe.
A quick note: while DC comics are semi-fictional—meaning they include Earth, America, New York, and countless real-world books—what we typically create are fully fictional worlds.
People often ask me whether my stories could happen on Earth. I tell them no, because they already happen in the Computational Universe. If the Computational Universe is a fictional world, then it’s fully fictional—it will never suddenly jump into another universe halfway through.
Next, with worldbuilding like DC’s, because there are so many stories, it mainly revolves around the personalities of superheroes as memory anchors—there are countless characters that can be reused, sometimes even more important than the stories themselves. Because we don’t have that many stories, perhaps our characters can’t be so strong as to exist independently of the narrative. But this character-centered approach—building out from heroes—is still a useful way to construct a universe.
Speaking of the core of DC’s stories, we must mention how it consistently delves into the depths of its characters within the realm of pop culture, repeatedly exploring what it finds. I’ve always believed that when portraying superheroes, the focus isn’t on character growth—it’s not about who a character starts as and who they become—but on whether the hero can remain true to themselves. In other words, no matter what hardships and pain they endure, the hero still is who they are. That’s the essence.
It means that across countless timelines and works, the hero’s personality doesn’t change—it only becomes stronger and more vivid. This writing approach is different from those who insist on character arcs focused on change. This approach emphasizes consistency of character, rather than how they transform.
For example, on the day eight-year-old Bruce Wayne’s parents were killed, the child within him also died. He became Batman. Though later, as he sat in his study and a bat crashed through the window, he formally swore to become the Bat—but at eight years old, Bruce was already forbidding himself from being happy, relentlessly training his instincts to be Batman. He grew up overnight, not gradually.
So, to sum up: when we’re using AI to create and build a world IP, we need a large body of works to support it, we need a unified IP tone, and we need characters who become ever stronger, not diminished.
Join me as we explore AI filmmaking together.
