Does The DCEU Rebooting Make Watching The 2023 Movies Pointless?

[Amadeus Arkham]

Now that it seems that the DC movie universe is rebooting after Aquaman 2 with a new continuity does that make the 2023 DC movie slate kind of pointless to watch to you, or are you still excited about them despite knowing that none of them are going to go anywhere? I know my answer is that it doesn’t change my feelings one way or another. I’m still excited to see these movies as I’ve never cared that much for the shared universe model and I don’t watch movies for connections to a wider universe but how about you?

[bat39]

Now that it seems that the DC movie universe is rebooting after Aquaman 2 with a new continuity does that make the 2023 DC movie slate kind of pointless to watch to you, or are still excited about them despite knowing that none of them are going to go anywhere? I know my answer is that it doesn’t change my feelings one way or another. I’m still excited to see these movies as I’ve never cared that much for the shared universe model and I don’t watch movies for connections but how about you?

I'm on the same page as you.

If anything, this universe ending motivates me even more to watch The Flash, since it looks like it'll be the quasi-finale for this universe (despite Aquaman 2 coming out later). Though I really hope they keep all the cameos they've reportedly cut. Its the least they can do to honor Cavill, Gadot and everyone who worked on these movies over the past decade.

I'll watch Aquaman because I liked Momoa's take on the character and want to see him in action one last time. Shazam 2 because I enjoyed the first film and I'm sure it'll be a fun time at the movies. Not so interested in Blue Beetle per se, but I might still watch it cuz its a DC film goddammit!

Also, I really hope these films do reasonably well because it does have long-term implications. The DCEU's day might be done, but nothing is lost forever in the world of comic-book mega-franchises. The enduring love for the Burton films had Michael Keaton back in the cowl today. I hope that these iterations of the characters get enough love and prove to be at least lucrative enough for DC/WB to think, years down the line, that maybe these actors deserve at least an extended cameo/'legacy' return in a future project. My dream now is to see Cavill as Superman again someday, ala Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield in NWH.

[Jon Clark]

The current slate is largely unaffected for me. Anything I'd planned on seeing was more for the movie's character and story more than how it fit into the DCEU,

But I can see that if they were doing somethihing like Justice League 2 or a Batfleck movie dealing with how Robin died, the DCEU ties might have made me see them prior ro the announcement where I would skip them now.

[Sutekh]

The expectations of the modern movie audience are baffling to me. I have zero issue with a movie being a stand-alone, and have enjoyed many movies that stood on their own and never kicked off a franchise, or were part of a 'shared universe,' successful movies like Fight Club or Tombstone, smaller movies like the Thirteenth Warrior or Lost Boys. James Bond movies get rebooted all the time, with every new actor, and they are just sunsetting their *fifth* Bond actor in my lifetime! (And I'm not even counting George Lazenby, 'cause, who?)

If the Flash movie or the next Aquaman or Shazam movies turn out to be awesome, I'll enjoy them for what they are, regardless if the DCEU gets rebooted.

I'm a Legion of Super-Heroes fan. If I can't handle DC ripping the rug out from under me with (yet another) reboot, why am I even still here?

(Stockholm syndrome, some might argue.)

[married guy]

I'm looking forward to the Aquaman and Shazam sequels.
I also have high hopes for Blue Beetle as I love Jaime.
I've stuck with the Flash for way longer than I should have, so I'll stick out the last season. Seriously though, it should have ended the same time as Arrow. Everything post season 2 has varied from good to god awful.

[DragonPiece]

For me, it ultimately doesn’t matter. I’m genuinely excited for more of James Wan Aquaman because the visuals for the first were so good, I don’t really care if it’s tied to anything else. I am also hearing Flash is incredible and really wanna see that one in action. I do hope blue beetle is connected to the new universe, since it’s a clear solo film with no ties to anything else.

[Jekyll]

The only one I would be seeing is the Shazam sequel. At this point I've lost all interest in what DC is putting out, they have continually fumbled the ball.

[exile001]

I liked Aquaman and SHAZAM! so will go see the sequels. I like Blue Beetle so will give his film a go if it looks good. Probably going to see Flash as it sounds like a batshit insane clusterfuck, so could be fun.

I couldn't care less about a shared DC universe, so it doesn't really affect me.

When I was growing up we just had 3 different Batmen (Batmans?) playing the same wildly inconsistent guy in vastly different movies. The city changed entirely between years, as did the people in it (except Gordon and Alfred). They didn't feel a need to reboot between them or restructure, they just pumped out increasingly poor movies until the franchise was dead.

Wait, maybe having a plan is a good idea?

[bat39]

I liked Aquaman and SHAZAM! so will go see the sequels. I like Blue Beetle so will give his film a go if it looks good. Probably going to see Flash as it sounds like a batshit insane clusterfuck, so could be fun.

I couldn't care less about a shared DC universe, so it doesn't really affect me.

When I was growing up we just had 3 different Batmen (Batmans?) playing the same wildly inconsistent guy in vastly different movies. The city changed entirely between years, as did the people in it (except Gordon and Alfred). They didn't feel a need to reboot between them or restructure, they just pumped out increasingly poor movies until the franchise was dead.

Wait, maybe having a plan is a good idea?

LOL

Having a plan is a good idea. But each individual movie needs to stand on its own two feet and not just rely on being ''part of a plan''. The audience doesn't care if something is ''part of a plan'' or not unless that something is a good or great installment on its own merits.

Iron Man for instance is a great solo movie. If there had never been another Iron Man movie or the MCU never took off, it'd still be a great film in its own right.

Iron Man 2 on the other hand, while it does have some good stuff in it, mostly feels like it exists to set up the shared universe. Its there to introduce Black Widow, flesh out Nick Fury and SHIELD, tease Captain America and generally build up the anticipation for further MCU movies, the Avengers, and the whole idea of all these characters co-existing.

DC's Iron Man 2 was BvS. Again, it had some great stuff. But it basically existed to do shared universe heavylifting - introduce Batman and have him clash with Superman, introduce Wonder Woman, tease the existence of Wonder Woman, Flash and Aquaman, introduce a post-apocalyptic future timeline that one of the Justice League sequels will address (that'll never happen now), kill off Superman to set the stage for Batman to form the Justice League etc. It feels like a movie that exists because it needs to set up other movies rather than a movie that needs to tell a complete story on its own.

You see this trend not just with DC and Marvel, but pretty much with every franchise now. I just watched Avatar 2 and while it was a fun movie, it felt like it was treading water (quiet literally!) and basically introducing characters and ideas to play around with in the sequels. The last three Terminator movies have all been, to varying degrees, about setting up new characters, ideas and timelines to be explored in future installments (that never happened!)

[achilles]

It does feel like that to me. Sort of like the Black Widow movie, with a dead character. Makes it seem to me that WB don't care about these movies, so why should I? Nor did any of the movies that did see the light of day grab me at all; I pretty much forgot much of each one within five minutes of leaving the theater. Really for me the only cast member that stood out was surprisingly Mamoa's Aquaman, who seemed almost more MCU in tone than the rest of them.

[Gaius]

Was only watching Shazam 2 which ideally like the first one would have only had loose connections to the rest of the DCEU.

[Holt]

No. As much as I'm a fan of Marvel I kind of hate that it's convinced audiences (and Hollywood) that a comic book movie's not worth watching if it isn't part of some grand 20-film plan that culminates in a big crossover. I'll watch Shazam 2 and Blue Beetle because I loved the first one and am a big fan of the character, respectively. My sole interests in Flash were always Michael Keaton and Supergirl, so that hasn't changed either.

Blue Beetle might also retroactively be incorporated into the new universe. WB has been sending film journalists a poster for the movie with the tagline "This is just the beginning."

[M@Bowers2014]

No because the DCEU Multiverse has already been established. All of the continuity between the movies counts, they're just on different Earths. No need to over think it. Enjoy the DC movies you like and ignore the rest.

[Alan2099]

It's not anymore pointless than watching the Adam West, Micheal Keaton, or Christian Bales Batman movies after Ben Affleck put on the costume.

if a movies good, it's never pointless. Also considering things like Spider-man: No Way Home and the Arrowverses Crisis there's no guarantee that you won't ever seen those particular actors play those characters again.

[Koriand'r]

There's no real point to seeing Aquaman 2 or the Flash in theaters. Besides I'm still mad I wasted money on Black Adam last month when I could have simply waited 30 days to see it on HBO Max. As upset as I am at Warner Brothers Discovery canceling Batgirl, WW3 and especially Man of Steel 2 (they've also ruined CNN for me) if they mess up HBO Max too, I'll be LIVID if I can't watch The Sopranos every night after work.

I hope all these changes backfire and blow up in their face. They've angered too many fans in too many sectors to be successful.