Why The DCEU Was Anything But Super

If I win, Bruce said something about you having to take us all to brunch

Oh, see, now that's cold. That's a betrayal. This was the moment it all went off the rails

Could the powers that be have fixed the DCEU up until this point? Frankly, despite numerous missteps, yes, they could have

But releasing a bizarre concoction of re-filmed footage and poorly thought out re-characterizations sank the entirety of the DCEU

There was just no coming back from the travesty that was Justice League

So that begs the question, what exactly went wrong with the DCEU

Like brunch. Like, what is brunch? You wait in line for an hour for essentially lunch

Following the massive success of Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy, the pressure was on for DC to create a shared universe of films

to compete with Marvel's rapidly blossoming MCU. Warners went to Nolan and asked to feed Godfather a new Superman movie

And therein lies the original sin that poisoned the well of the DCEU

Nolan is an amazing director, no doubt, but his sensibilities obviously don't align well with the

Man of Tomorrow. Add to this gumbo of misunderstandings the Randian directorial

stylings of Zack Snyder, and you're just fundamentally starting off on the wrong foot

I'm here to help, but it has to be on my own terms. Man of Steel, the film chosen to launch this new shared universe, climaxes with Superman snapping

Zod's neck. Gone was the Boy Scout who saves cats from trees. Here was a new Metropolis Marvel

one forged of anger and death. This grim take on the character was a bold new direction

and one that risked alienating the ardent fans of the character. The box office didn't care, though

The film was a resounding hit for the studio, and they doubled down on Snyder

They knew they needed a spiritual godfather charting the direction of their new universe

and he was there, willing and able. We just felt like it was an original and interesting concept

to pit him against another hero, but a darker hero. and Batman was the perfect foil

The next film released was Batman vs. Superman Dawn of Justice, another dark and brooding take on the characters

which attempted to launch them into a cataclysmic battle. The problem here was that we hadn't had enough time

with these big screen icons to feel like this crossover was truly earned

Bruce Wayne meets Clark Kent. I love bringing people together. Lex, it is a pleasure

Ow, wow, that is a good grip. You should not pick a fight with this person

To compare it to Marvel for a second, It's like releasing Iron Man and then releasing Avengers Age of Ultron next

Add to this poorly thought out mix the introduction of Lex Luthor, Wonder Woman

and a very strange digital dossier that featured a bunch of logos and security camera footage of

the Justice League members. The film leaves you with the ultimately unsatisfying feeling of

well, at least they're trying to catch up with Marvel, I guess. This thing is from another world. My world

I've killed things from other worlds before. She with you? I thought she was with you

At this point, the digital room temperature was beginning to heat up on Snyder

There seemed to be a distinct push and pull between what the fans were vocal about and what DC and Warners were willing to allow Snyder to get away with Did the Batman footage in Batman v Superman rule Absolutely Was it also really dumb that Batman indiscriminately used guns and murdered people

Also yes. And while Snyder was fighting political battles on the direction of his subsequent films

David Ayer had been adapting Suicide Squad to the big screen, which by all accounts was initially heralded as a creative triumph

Then, as the fans became more vocal about how much they weren't responding

to Snyder's dark and brooding tone, Warner's execs decided to pivot the film

Seriously, what the hell's wrong with you people? We're bad guys, it's what we do

A new marketing campaign was quickly put together, with recut footage that made the project seem

like something much closer to Guardians of the Galaxy. Reshoots were ordered, and the

in-product feels like what it is. A film that was made by an auteur that was then cut to shreds

and made into a jukebox musical. Captain Boomerang and Harley Quinn each have like three introduction scenes in the film

It's almost laughable. This is now three examples in a row of how DC was ostensibly a captainless ship

There was no creative or universe-wide architect that was there guiding things

in a non-boots-on-the-ground creative way. Harley Quinn, nice to meet ya. Love your perfume

What is that, the scent of death? The next summer, 2017, saw the release of Wonder Woman

which proved to be a much-needed box office and critical win for the studio

This film is still looked back on fondly, or at least the first half of it is

And here's where things fully go off the rails. At this time, while Suicide Squad and Wonder Woman

are in production, Snyder has been working away creating his version of the Justice League

Should DC probably have waited to have their team-up movie? You know, give the world more narrative runway

In hindsight, yes, absolutely. they didn't want to put the legwork in to build their crossovers the way Marvel had

They seemed to be battling both internal and external expectations of what these films

should be, and it all caught up to them with this project. So you're fast

That feels like an oversimplification. I'm putting together a team. Stop right there

I'm in. You are? Justice League stormed its way into theaters, but not before Snyder was pushed out and massive

sections of the movie were reshot by Joss Whedon. Would tripling down and just releasing a darker Justice League have worked

Who knows? Putting out this abomination, where 40% of Henry Cavill's scenes were reshot with a CGID mustaching

filter on? That's obviously not what anyone wanted. Well, I knew you didn't bring me back because you liked me

I don't. Not. The film, in turn, underperformed drastically at the box office, and that's to say nothing

of the drubbing it received critically. The fact that Warners botched the rollout of arguably the biggest superhero team of all

time this hard is almost inconceivable. It's the type of potential squandering that should have ended everyone's careers

From here, the DCEU was adrift. What was it building towards? Who was in charge

That would change from week to week. Aquaman would pull in a billion dollars Shazam would be well received Then in February of 2020 Birds of Prey would pull in only million on opening weekend shocking many commentators and

Warners alike. What was the lesson there? Did audiences want more light-hearted characters

Did they not want Margot Robbie's inarguably iconic Harley Quinn outside of the Suicide Squad

Well, none of that really seemed to matter because a global pandemic enveloped everyone

causing Wonder Woman 1984 to be released straight to streaming platforms. And for a moment, it seemed that the DCEU was in stasis

They didn't have a Kevin Feige or George Lucas masterminding the entirety of the universe

In an effort to convince people to sign up for HBO Max, they decided to give Snyder $70 million to produce the ultimate director's cut

known in fan circles as the Snyder Cut. Extended sequences, seemingly hours of slow-mo

and newly added cameos all created a product that's objectively better than the Frankenstein's monster

that is the theatrical cut of Justice League. But isn't anything even remotely resembling a classic superhero film

The film has its defenders, no doubt, but we can all agree it's a bit self-indulgent, right

That all being said, the Steppenwolf design is so much better. Did it work to get a surge in subscribers to the fledgling streaming service

Oh, absolutely. But what it also did was stoke the ire and discontent of the most hardcore of Snyder supporters

which frankly is understandable. Warner says, we're not going in this direction anymore

and then puts out an objectively better product, which is met with a near-standing ovation

and then they still don't follow up on that. What a perfect way to piss off your most ardent supporters

Big round table. Six chairs right there. But room for more. So now the DCEU is fully directionless

There's no de facto leader. The waters were muddied. Where do you go from here

The answer Warners decided was, let's not worry about universe building. Let's just try and make some successful movies

From here, we got James Gunn's The Suicide Squad, an overtly fun and poppy rendition of the characters from the previous film

It's better than most of the late stage DCEU movies, but still never quite reaches the heights you can feel it striving for

No one likes to show off. Unless what they're showing off is dope as f**k

Then you have Black Adam, which is a train wreck of blandness masquerading

as something more than a vanity project for Dwayne Johnson. The less said about this project, the better

We also got Shazam! Fury of the Gods and The Flash, both financial and critical failures

The Flash, specifically, had multiple controversies, rushed CGI, and a very strange approach

to making a universe-correcting crossover. The project was supposed to be a full universe course correct

They were going to reposition a new status quo with Supergirl and Batgirl as the new dynamic duo

at the heart of the universe going forward. That obviously didn't happen. And the Batgirl film was never released

despite having completed production. The final two entries in the DCEU Aquaman and The Lost Kingdom and Blue Beetle were both dead on arrival They were too little too late No one cared that the first Aquaman made a billion dollars

At this point, Warners had run the DC brand into the ground. They say everybody's good at something

Me? I talk to fish. And we all know what happens from here

James Gunn and Peter Safran were called in and hired to revamp the DC Extended Universe

They renamed it to the DC Universe, which is not confusing or annoying at all due to

the fact that this is the exact name for the underlying source material

So back to the original question, what went wrong with the DCEU

Naoui. Hand? Yes, that is your hand, Naoui. Very good. First, Warner's never selected a producer to oversee the whole thing that had the creative

vision that Marvel's Kevin Feige has. They handed the reins to a director who got carried away with building out his vision of what DC could be

The strength and ultimate weakness of Marvel is that it is a shared storytelling experiment

It's hundreds of people working across many films to craft a shared creative vision

That's why having a producer at the head is actually a really great decision, because he's not going to impose a stylistic remit

He's only going to pull back on a specific creative team's more outlandish idea or impulses

When DC opted to give the figurehead spot to Snyder initially, they didn't think through just how difficult it could be to deal with a creative person without any checks or balances

Another obviously glaring flaw in the process was the fact that DC didn't want to openly mimic the Marvel playbook

They were self-conscious about being seen as cheap imitations. However, the structure that Marvel pioneered is objectively the best way to attempt to accomplish a shared universe

start out with solo movies, usually Origins, then evolve into a crossover movie

and then build up to a climactic conclusion involving a big bad like Thanos in Endgame

Rushing to a Justice League team-up before properly laying the groundwork bit them in the ass in more ways than anyone could have anticipated

This is crazy. What, now it's crazy? You lunatics better know what you're doing

And then on top of all these myriad poor choices, the choice to try and reboot the universe with The Flash

and then instantly abandon it, as well as never actually picking a creative figurehead

to shepherd things forward could just never be overcome. Up until Gunn and Saffron, DC literally never had a figurehead

that wasn't involved in the actual production of the films. This brings us to the obvious question at hand

Are Warners repeating the same mistakes they made with Snyder by installing Gunn as the head of the studio

and its chief creative force? Only time will tell. So far, it seems to be working out for them

But what happens when Gunn directs something that doesn't land or isn't critically acclaimed

Who's going to say no to him? Thankfully, Gunn appears to be attempting to leave space for other creatives to tell stories in their own style

having repeatedly said that there is no house style for the DC films

that he wants the individual writers and directors to bring their voices to the universe

which again, in theory, sounds great. But isn't that how we got in hot water in the first place

Only time will tell