The DCU, formerly known as the DCEU, appears to be dead. While the franchise will certainly continue in some shape or form given the recent announcement of James Gunn and Peter Safran as the new co-heads of DC Studios, it appears the franchise in its original plan is coming to an end. Following the cancelation of Patty Jenkins’ Wonder Woman 3 and Henry Cavill being let go as Superman, along with the status of Ben Affleck’s Batman up in the air the original pillars of the franchise appear to be gone and a new DCU is being created.
DC Comics has some of the most iconic and recognizable superheroes in the world, and with the superhero genre, the most popular film genre currently at the box office one would appear they had an easy road to success. But the franchise, which properly began in 2013 with the release of Man of Steel, has had its fair share of speed bumps. The franchise has had its fair share of highs (Wonder Woman, Shazam!) and extreme lows (Suicide Squad, Black Adam). Despite the best efforts of everyone involved, it never became a real competitor to the quality or success of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. As a new year approaches and James Gunn teases his new DC plans, it essentially closes the book on the DCU as originally conceived ten years ago so look back and see where it all went wrong.
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
Rushing to Catch Up with Marvel
Warner Bros.
One of the earliest mistakes Warner Bros. made with the DCU was rushing to catch up with the Marvel Cinematic Universe. By the time Man of Steel was released and Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice was announced in 2013, the MCU had already released seven films over five years. Marvel spent four years building up to The Avengers, releasing solo films for the main group of heroes before The Avengers. DC on the other hand, after Man of Steel, decided to introduce a whole slew of new characters with Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice.
By the time Justice League was released the only characters to have solo films were Superman and Wonder Woman, with Batman sharing co-lead with Superman in one film and Suicide Squad not having any impact in setting up Justice League. This meant that film had to introduce three new heroes (Aquaman, Flash, Cyborg) while also introducing a massive world-changing plot. While superhero team films like X-Men and Guardians of the Galaxy proved not every hero needed an individual solo film before uniting, Justice League was tasked with too much.
In an attempt to catch up with Marvel, DC also quickly speed through many storylines that might have been better saved for future films. They adapted “The Death of Superman” comic in Superman’s second appearance, which felt premature. The DCU version of Batman was heavily influenced by “The Dark Knight Returns” version of the character which is set far into his future at a later point in his life typically a hypothetical end for the character making for interesting while also the frustrating decision to be the point they introduce him in the DCU. These were storylines the DCU rushed through hoping to win over audiences, failing to see that Marvel took its time to gain audience trust.
Rocky Creative Decisions from the DCU’s Start
Warner Bros.
The issues with the DCU can be traced back to the beginning with Man of Steel. Warner Bros. attached Christopher Nolan and David Goyer to reboot the Superman franchise, following the massive success the duo had with relaunching Batman in The Dark Knight trilogy. Yet while the pitch of imagining a Superman movie as a first contact story might have been intriguing, Superman and Batman are two different characters that tonally cannot be approached the same way.
Then the studio hired Zack Snyder to direct, and while Snyder certainly seemed like an ideal pick for the franchise given his working relationship with Warner Bros. his prior comments about Superman and superheroes made him seem like an unfit person for the job. Snyder was likely primarily hired due to his experience as an action filmmaker and a lack of action was a common criticism of Superman Returns.
In traditional Warner Bros. fashion, they overcorrected and focused on the wrong issues. An argument can be made that Man of Steel is more a Nolan-style Superman movie, with Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice being the point Snyder is given more free rein by the time Superman snapped General Zod’s neck the franchise was in trouble. The first film of the franchise had a controversial moment, one that quickly divided fans and turned some people off of the series before it even began.
Failure to Be Consistent with Releases
One factor in the MCU’s success is how consistent they are with releases. Except for 2009 and 2020 (due to COVID-19), Marvel Studios has released at least one movie every year. Starting in 2012 they released two films a year, and by 2017 they had three releases. This made for a consistently growing universe and had the impact of making audiences think they had to go see each new entry.
DC on the other hand let a three-year gap go between Man of Steel and Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice, almost equal to the four-year gap between Iron Man and The Avengers. Since Justice League, the DCU released one movie in their shared universe each year except 2020 where they got two in with Birds of Prey and Wonder Woman 1984. While they did release non-DCU films like Joker and The Batman alongside their connected franchises, it made the DCU grow at a slower pace and began to trail behind Marvel in terms of anticipation. The fact that Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom will now be released five years after Aquaman, which grossed $1 billion worldwide, shows a frustrating ability for Warner Bros. to strike while the iron is hot.
Poor Leadership On Warner Bros. Part
One of the biggest factors in the DCU failures was the leadership at Warner Bros., both in their failure to adjust their plans while also being too reactionary. Someone should have realized after Man of Steel’s disappointing critical and audience reaction instead of examining their approach to Superman they instead doubled down on Zack Snyder’s controversial creative decisions for the franchise with Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice and further plans for the DCU. Then they were shocked by the reaction to Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice and quickly went into panic mode, even though they knew what they were getting into when they agreed to his take.
They panicked, booted Snyder from the franchise, and spent millions of dollars to redo Justice League only for it to be a critical and box office flop and by that point destroyed much of the audience goodwill. They tried to fix mistakes they made too late in the game, trying to redirect a franchise already in motion, and blamed the filmmakers when they delivered what they were asked for by the studio. The studio didn’t care about the quality, they cared about the iconography and potential box office profits thinking audiences would go see anything regardless of quality, and they paid the price for it.
While it was admirable for Warner Bros. to try to give the filmmakers more creative freedom, they also did it in half measures and quickly tried to over-correct far too late and ended up pleasing nobody and effectively destroying the franchise where now it needs to be drastically reworked.
