Anybody who knows me will know that I’m a huge fan of comic book movies, be it Marvel or DC-based. Superhero movies tend to be a lot of fun for me. There have been a lot of really good comic book movies over the past 40+ years. From the Marvel side, we got movies like X-Men, Blade, Iron Man, and The Avengers. They’ve also gotten their fair share of bad movies like Elektra, Fantastic Four(all of them), and X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Like-wise, DC has seen their share of ups and downs with movies like Superman: The Movie, Tim Burton’s Batman and Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Trilogy. Much like Marvel, DC has stumbled a bit with movies like Superman IV, Green Lantern, and Jonah Hex. DC’s movies would be rejuvenated with Christopher Nolan’s take on Batman, but work on an expanded universe wouldn’t take place until well after Marvel’s MCU had been established. The film that would kick off the Extended Universe would be Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel, a modern reboot of Superman for a new generation. While there were some people that felt that the film was a little too dark for the Last Son of Krypton, it still managed to be successful in terms of audience reception and box office numbers. Personally, I loved the hell out of it. The casting was fantastic with Henry Cavill taking on the role that made Christopher Reeve a household name, and Michael Shannon as General Zod. I dug the approach that Zack Snyder took to realize a new version of the Man of Steel. Yeah, it was darker than most people were expecting and the final battle’s conclusion definitely got people talking, but it was still good enough for DC and Warner Bros. to move forward with a follow-up film.
Batman V. Superman: Dawn of Justice is WHERE the DCEU(DC Extended Universe) fell on its ass. WHY it happened is a bit more complicated. Instead of moving forward with another solo Superman film, which is what they should have done, DC and Warner Bros. decided to bring Batman and Superman together for the first time in a live-action film. It wasn’t really a bad idea, as it was probably going to happen at some point. What went wrong was that not enough time was spent writing a proper way to bring these two titans together. What I feel happened was that DC took The Dark Knight Returns story-line and combined it with The Death of Superman. You have two of the biggest story lines in DC comics and you try to mash them together in a 2 and a half hour film? The theatrical release of Batman V. Superman was disastrous. Warner Bros rushed the film out the doors before it was truly ready and left a lot of threads just flapping in the wind. That’s why Zack Snyder was given the OK to release an extended version of the film which would fill in a lot of the gaps and plot holes that plagued the original release. The Ultimate Edition of Batman V. Superman made it a much better movie, even if it didn’t fix all of the problems. It was still a humorless affair that went to some really dark territory. It was action-packed and had some pretty serious star power, and it also introduced Wonder Woman to the proceedings which was totally cool. But there were a lot of missteps. For one, the casting of Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor was ridiculed by audiences and critics world-wide. There was also the whole battle with Doomsday in the third act which while cool to look at, was tacked on and didn’t need to be there. I personally loved Batman V. Superman, the extended version anyway, but even I noticed that this was not the right direction for this series to go just yet. We needed more time to really introduce the principle players into the Death of Superman story-line. The fan reception to Batman V. Superman was BRUTAL. While a Justice League film was a certainty at this point, Warner Bros. commissioned Zack Snyder and his writers to do a re-write of the upcoming Justice League to better suit audience expectations.
During the production of Batman V. Superman, Warner Bros announced a number of stand-alone films in the DCEU that featured Wonder Woman, Aquaman, The Flash, Green Lantern, The Batman, and possibly another stand-alone Superman film. Wonder Woman, starring Gal Gadot, was released in 2017 before Justice League. The film was very well-received by both audiences and critics and ended up not only being very successful, but also the first live-action film adaptation of Wonder Woman. While the film had its dark moments, it was much lighter film than Batman V. Superman. Wonder Woman succeeded because it mostly ignored the events of the previous film and focused more on developing Princess Diana as a character. In November, Justice League was finally released to audiences. The reception was fairly positive as the film had a much lighter tone and had more jokes than Batman V. Superman, but there were definitely issues with the overall tone of the film. Zack Snyder had to leave during the middle of production because of a family tragedy, so Warner Bros. brought in Joss Whedon to finish up and redo a good chunk of the movie, which explains a lot of the humor. However, the conflicting tones in the film and a lackluster villain did more harm to the film than one might have expected. The encounter with Steppenwolf was supposed to lead in to a major confrontation with one of DC’s biggest and most powerful villains: Darkseid. Unfortunately, Justice League failed to perform to Warner’s expectations so any plans to continue this story-line were scrapped.
There was a huge mess going on at DC’s film division and Warner Bros. with certain execs being shuffled around in order to try and get DC’s Extended Universe back on track. During this point, James Wan’s Aquaman was in development and with Jason Momoa returning in the role that he made famous in Justice League, it looked like things were starting to look up. Guess what? Aquaman was a smash hit. While the film had some serious moments, it was a blast to watch. Visually, it was spectacular and had some really strong casting with Amber Heard as Mera, Willem Defoe as Vulko, Patrick Wilson as Orm and Dolph Lundgren as King Nereus. It was Jason Momoa as Arthury Curry, however, that brought it together. This was HIS movie and people responded very well to it, as did critics. Aquaman and Wonder Woman were the shots in the arm that DC and Warner Bros. needed, and with Shazam right around the corner, things are looking pretty good for DC and Warner Bros. and I’m genuinely excited for what’s coming. When they decide to tackle the Justice League again, I think they’re going to be in a much better position to deliver a much stronger film.
So….why did the DCEU fail as it did? Bad decision-making and bad timing. Marvel’s MCU was well into Phase 3 with Avengers: Infinity War on the horizon. DC and Warner Bros. wanted to try and compete with the MCU, forgetting that Marvel had a 10-year head-start. There was absolutely no way that DC’s Extended Universe was going to be able to compete. DC would have been wise to focus on their own thing and do the solo movies before doing Justice League. Marvel had laid out the map for how to get it done right, but DC decided to do it backwards and look what happened. Now, it looks like the right people are in place and with the stand-alone movies doing very well, it looks like the DCEU is making a comeback, albeit in a very different form. Will we ever see villains like Darkseid show up on the silver screen? It’s entirely possible, as is a sequel to Justice League, but right now DC is wisely focusing on stand-alone movies to put them in a much better position to be successful, should they do another ensemble film.
So, where does the DCEU go from here? Well….let’s take a look at what’s confirmed to be coming and what’s also being planned. Shazam! is literally right around the corner. The new Joker film starring Joaquin Phoenix is due to be released this October. The film is said to focus on who the character was and how he came to be the Clown Prince of Crime. It sounds pretty interesting and I hope that Mr. Phoenix does the character justice. Birds of Prey is set to include Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn as well as the characters of Black Canary and Huntress as they take on the infamous Black Mask. Wonder Woman is getting a sequel releasing next year that takes place in 1984. I’m looking forward to that as the first movie was fantastic. These are the ones that are currently in production. What’s being planned? Aquaman 2 is a certainty considering how well the first movie was received. There is a spin-off planned called The Trench which supposedly will deal with the creatures from the Kingdom of the Trench in Aquaman. A DC horror movie? Sounds great to me. We’re getting a new Green Lantern film, which is needed because the Ryan Reynolds-led film was a disaster. A new Supergirl film is also being planned. I hope they take their time and get it right, because the 1984 film left much to be desired. A new Suicide Squad is in the works and is being directed by Guardians of the Galaxy helmer James Gunn, so it should be a lot better than the first movie. For those wondering if Darkseid will make in appearance, a new film called New Gods is in the planning stages which will focus on Darkseid as the main villain, so it seems that we will be seeing Darkseid at some point. But that’s a ways off. Henry Cavill is still attached to play Superman in whatever film they decide to bring him in on, but I have to say, Henry’s not getting any younger, so I would say give him at least Man of Steel 2 before he decides to move on.
It seems that Warner Bros. and DC have learned from their mistakes with Batman V. Superman and Justice League. The future of DC movies looks pretty bright to me, and if they play their cards right, DC’s movies could really become something special. I’m actually looking forward more to DC’s line-up than I am Marvel’s at this point. These are just DC’s live-action films. Their animated line-up is as strong is it ever was, but that’s going to be a topic for a different day. So…yeah, DC and Warner Bros. hit some rough patches with Batman V. Superman and Justice League, but they are setting themselves up for a comeback that’s long overdue.