Breja: You're being needlessly combatitive about this, and you're misenterpreting my stance quite a bit. I don't begrudge what you enjoy, and while I see a lot the "grimdark edgy" stuff as silly and over the top, it's certainly not true that it "earns all these pejoratives and dismissiveness" from me. I hold the overly jokey, nothing-but-comic-relief stuff like many of the Marvel films in just as low regard, and I'm a fan of the Snyder films that people so often call overly dark and violent. I love both the dark, gothic Disciples 2 and colorful, fairy-tale-ish HoMM 2, because I feel they both nail their chosen tone without taking things too far.
I respect that but honestly I don't think I am, as for me it is not unlike defending DRM-free gaming. That is to say, those of us with my particular taste (DRM-free gaming / "edgy grimdark" ... you can add AO games too since I feel they are in a similar spot, at least among the community here) are essentially quite marginalized and don't have that much truly catering to us. Any further encroachment I feel can make the marginalization even worse going forward. You were participating in that lovely "Should GOG accept Epic Fail achievements system" topic and are one of the stalwarts calling out DRMed bs where you see it, so I know you can relate :)
I like some of those DC movies for what they are but that's also an example I have brought up in the past, when people were complaining about "edginess" and "grimdark". To me, the fact that so many folks find the DC movies to be, supposedly, so dark, is a comment on how far the range is firmly planted towards the comedic side of things. I mean ultimately these movies are about characters who in other places have their likeness on cereal, macaroni, and underwear. That's not their "fault" but barring an Elseworlds type story I think it is very hard to push grimness/darkness farther than Batman v. Superman when we are talking about mainstream characters of that kind.
To go back to my DRM-free analogy, I like when games are DRM-free all the way and have DRM-free multiplayer too (for games that include a multiplayer mode, that is). So, while I do appreciate a game getting released on GOG but then I learn the multiplayer is locked behind some sort of online requirement and no option for hotseat/LAN/etc, it's not exactly what I am looking for. I might still well buy it and enjoy it if the singleplayer content has enough of what I am looking for, but I won't feel fully satiated. That is basically how I feel about the DC movies, and about games/movies I feel could have pushed farther.
Granted, not everything needs to! I just wish that more would is all :)
+1 for good convo and for referencing those good old games