Your ranking of the DC CINEMATIC UNIVERSE - 2021!

[Comic-Reader Lad]

Now that Wonder Woman 1984 has arrived, let's reassess our personal rankings of the DCCU -- sorry, I'm not using DC Extended Universe as it was never an official term within Warners.

However, Toby Emmerich has just used the term "DC Cinematic Universe" in his PR release about Walter Hamada extending his contract. That's good enough for me, and as close as we've gotten to an official label.

"Walter is not only passionate about story and the DC canon, he's also a thoughtful and incredibly talented executive who is fully committed to investing the time and care necessary for moviemaking on this scale," Warner Bros. Picture Group Chairman Toby Emmerich said in a statement. "With Walter overseeing our DC movies for theatrical exhibition and on HBO Max, we are excited for him and his team to bring more of these stories to life, working with new and established talent to broaden the reach and diversity of the DC cinematic universe."

Anyway, now that 2020 is over, and we can look back on the DCCU output so far, it's a good time to rethink things. Maybe some movies have grown on you over time. Maybe some movies have dropped in your estimation once the newness of them wore off.

For me, as I've said before in other threads, I think if you consider the DC films in 2 separate buckets -- the solo movies and the teamup movies -- things aren't as dire as its detractors say. I've thought, until WW84, that the solo movies have all been good to great, but the teamup movies have had their problems -- largely due to studio interference in most of them.


So, here's my rankings:

Solos:
1. Man of Steel - A-
2. Wonder Woman - A-
3. Aquaman - A-
4. Shazam - A-
5. Joker - A-
6. Wonder Woman 1984 - B-

Teamups:
1. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice - B+
2. Suicide Squad - B
3. Justice League - C
4. Brids of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) - C

For movies that have the same grade, there are still differences in my enjoyment level, so the ordered list represents how I prefer one over the other.

What are your rankings? You don't have to separate solos and teamups if that's now how your personal rankings work.

And, yeah, I know Joker isn't part of the "universe," but I'm counting all DC films since Man of Steel.

[Midvillian1322]

1.Aquaman
2.Wonder Woman
3.Shazam
4.Man of steel (As a film)
5.WW84
6.Birds of prey
7 Justice League
8.Man of Steel(As a superman movie)
9.Suicide Squad
10. BVS

Aquaman probably has the worst script of the lot but for whatever reason its my favorite. Mamoa makes the film a blast from beginning to end. Wan also embraced the comicbookyness and I love it. Wonder Woman I put in 2nd but it's really almost a tie. If it wasn't for the final battle it would be ahead of Aquaman. I didn't Include Joker because it doesn't come across as a CBM to me. If I had to Include it anyway it would be in the top 3.

[basbash99]

1. Wonder Woman
2. Shazam
3. Aquaman
4. BoP
.
.
.
5. MoS
6. BvS (extended cut only- would probably rank the theatrical cut lower)
7. JL
8. WW 84
9. Suicide Squad

lol Midvillain's list of 10 had be questioning which movie i was forgetting about for a minute.

tbh my rankings are pretty loose - basically the top 4 are somewhat interchangeable... the bottom 5 i might also rank differently if you asked me next week... but definitely a big gap between the top 4 and bottom 5, again just my opinion.

DC really has some work to do. thought they were on the right track with Aquaman and Shazam but WW 84 felt like a big step backwards. OTOH i have pretty high hopes for Suicide Squad 2, looks like fun.

I haven't seen Joker so i didn't include it... and it doesn't really feel like its part of dceu anyhow

[SiegePerilous02]

1. Wonder Woman
2. Shazam
3. Aquaman
4. Birds of Prey
5. Wonder Woman 1984
6. Man of Steel
7. Suicide Squad (For Margot)
8. Batman v. Superman
9. Justice League

[choptop]

BOP
WW
SS
BvS
JL
Shazam
WW84
MOS
AM

[Jokerz79]

1: Shazam.
2: Aquaman.
3: Wonder Woman.
4: BOP.
5: Suicide Squad.
6: Justice League.
7: WW84.
8: Zack Snyder's Justice League (While giving more depth to the characters than the theatrical version the theatrical version was mercifully short.).
9: BvS (Ultimate Cut).
10: MOS.

[Gaius]

Wonder Woman
Shazam
Aquaman
Man of Steel
Wonder Woman 1984

...

Batman vs. Superman
Suicide Squad

Will never see BOP and only saw 15 minutes of JL on a plane on zero hours of sleep. If Joker were a part I’d rank at the bottom or second-to-last.

[Killerbee911]

Solos:

1. Wonder Woman - A
2. Man of Steel - B+
3. Aquaman - B-
4. Shazam - B-
5. Wonder Woman 1984 - C-

Teamups:
1. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice - B-
2. Suicide Squad - B-
2. Justice League -B-
4. Birds of Prey-C

In all I am pretty lenient in my grading, I don't expect comic book movies to change the world just be entertaining the first time I watch it. Just about everything DC got a second watch from me except WW1984 and Harley Quinn which is death kiss for movie imo when mentally remember not to watch it again. DCEU movies have large sections of movies that don't work or have impactful bad things enough to effect the whole movie like the beginning hour of Batman V Superman or Justice League and last 10 mins of Man of Steel. Despite how I grade movies I get why DC movies has had problems as comic fan I can ignore first two hours of BVS for the sheer fun of The Trinity vs Doomsday. I don't expect people who haven't been fans all their lives to be as lenient or find enjoyment in place where I found it.

[Midvillian1322]

1. Wonder Woman
2. Shazam
3. Aquaman
4. BoP
.
.
.
5. MoS
6. BvS (extended cut only- would probably rank the theatrical cut lower)
7. JL
8. WW 84
9. Suicide Squad

lol Midvillain's list of 10 had be questioning which movie i was forgetting about for a minute.

tbh my rankings are pretty loose - basically the top 4 are somewhat interchangeable... the bottom 5 i might also rank differently if you asked me next week... but definitely a big gap between the top 4 and bottom 5, again just my opinion.

DC really has some work to do. thought they were on the right track with Aquaman and Shazam but WW 84 felt like a big step backwards. OTOH i have pretty high hopes for Suicide Squad 2, looks like fun.

I haven't seen Joker so i didn't include it... and it doesn't really feel like its part of dceu anyhow

Lol yea sorry I put MoS twice. I still don't like alot of creative choices made for the film as a Superman film. But I actually appreciate the movie alot more then I once did. 90% of my issues have to to do with it being about Superman. There are also alot of things about that film I love. Jor-el and Zod i absolutely loved in that film. Also don't like some of the disaster porn because it's Superman but that aside I've always thought Snyder knows how to frame a dynamic action scene.

[Comic-Reader Lad]

Seems like a bunch of us put the teamup movies toward the bottom -- midpack at best.

Does anyone think James Gunn's The Suicide Squad will be the film that turns things around for the teamup movies?

I think the only other teamup movie that DC has in the pipeline is New Gods from Ana DuVernay and Tom King. Given King's comic writing, I don't think he's the one to write a fun, colorful, Kirbyesque blockbuster. I really don't want New Gods to be some sullen, somber affair with lots of broken characters, but I think that's what we're gonna get there.

[Scott Taylor]

Generally Aquaman has gone down in my estimation and Man of Steel has gone up. Haven't seen BoP or WW84 yet. Joker is included in mine, but its kind of unfair to do so because its such an artsy film. DCU film in name only.

1. Joker - A
2. Shazam - A
3. Wonder Woman - A-
4. Man of Steel - B
5. Aquaman - B-
6. Wonder Woman 1984 - N/A

Teamups:
1. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice - A
2. Suicide Squad - B
3. Justice League - C-
4. Birds of Prey- N/A

The problem with DCU team films is one of establishment of characters. That really needs to be done in the solo films first and then moved into team movies, but instead they cram too much character backstory into their team films. Makes them clunky and shortshrifts the story. I fear they are making the same mistake with the new Suicide Squad. But Gunn did it well with GotG, so who knows

[Comic-Reader Lad]

Generally Aquaman has gone down in my estimation and Man of Steel has gone up. Haven't seen BoP or WW84 yet. Joker is included in mine, but its kind of unfair to do so because its such an artsy film. DCU film in name only.

1. Joker - A
2. Shazam - A
3. Wonder Woman - A-
4. Man of Steel - B
5. Aquaman - B-
6. Wonder Woman 1984 - N/A

Teamups:
1. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice - A
2. Suicide Squad - B
3. Justice League - C-
4. Birds of Prey- N/A

The problem with DCU team films is one of establishment of characters. That really needs to be done in the solo films first and then moved into team movies, but instead they cram too much character backstory into their team films. Makes them clunky and shortshrifts the story. I fear they are making the same mistake with the new Suicide Squad. But Gunn did it well with GotG, so who knows

Well, even if James Gunn's SS is not in continuity with the original, the concept has still already been established, and at least some of the characters will be the same.

In general, however, I'm ok with introducing the whole team at once if that's how it happened in the comics. The SS members are not A-listers who can carry solo movies anyway.

It MIGHT have been interesting to see the SS members as villains in other movies first before getting together, but then this would have made the solo DC heroes movies act as setups for an SS movie, and I don't think that's what solo movies of DC's A-listers should be used for.

Setting up Justice League, perhaps, but not Suicide Squad.

In any event, since James Gunn already has lots of goodwill established thanks to GOTG, I think the average moviegoer will be curious to see what he does with SS.


On another note, it's interesting that you say your estimation of Man of Steel has increased. What caused that to happen?

[bat39]

Not including Joker in the list because that's a different animal altogether...

From Best to Worst:

1. Man of Steel

2. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice

3. Aquaman

4. Wonder Woman

5. Birds of Prey

6. Shazam!

7. Wonder Woman '84

8. Justice League

9. Suicide Squad

My ranking is based on both my own enjoyment of the movies and my assessment of their overall qualities. MOS is to my mind the perfect reinvention of Superman on the big screen for the 21st century and really set the template for what a DC Cinematic Universe could have been like had they stayed the course. BvS was a flawed film, but a deeply ambitious one and a new approach to setting up a shared universe that I really appreciated (not to mention Affleck's performance elevating it tremendously). WW and Aquaman were great solo films. Birds of Prey was thoroughly enjoyable and well done IMO. I personally didn't enjoy Shazam! a lot but it was a thoroughly well-made film. I DID enjoy WW '84 as a throwback to classic superhero movies and Silver Age comics but it was far from a perfect film. And last but not least, we have JL - a movie I waited for all my life which was a thorough disappointment, and SS, which had the ingredients for a unique and interesting film and concept but ultimately didn't work out, largely due to studio interference I believe.

[C_Miller]

1. Shazam
2. Wonder Woman
3. Aquaman
4. Wonder Woman 1984
5. Justice League
6. Man of Steel






852. Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice


I have not seen Suicide Squad or Harley Quinn & The Birds of Prey

[Scott Taylor]

On another note, it's interesting that you say your estimation of Man of Steel has increased. What caused that to happen?

Its just grown on me. Originally when I saw it, I it was before BvS (which I liked) and before the WW films, so I had little context in which to appreciate it. Those movies and how they expanded the world Snyder was going for has made me appreciate Man of Steel more in retrospect. Plus, I honestly got a little caught up in the hate at the time it came out and that has worn off.