Will You Miss The DCEU?

[comicstar100]

This is the best way I can think of my reaction to the DCEU being over.



🥳 🎉 🎊 🍾 🥂 🥳

[Cyberstrike]

No, I will not miss it because in the end 90% of it was never made for me to like and it never appealed to me. And the 10% I do like I can still watch on Blu-Ray and/or streaming. If you're wanting a more in-depth reason why I didn't like it you can want on I'm not feeling well right now.

[comicstar100]

No. It’s a mercy killing, should’ve pulled the plug after JL but the sink cost fallacy (and WW & Aquaman’s surprise success kept it going) pushed this zombie franchise forward.

I do agree it needed it be put out of its misery since Justice League. It's limped on ever since.

[Goldrake]

I do agree it needed it be put out of its misery since Justice League. It's limped on ever since.

It was conceived badly and died with BvS. That movie destroyed it.
Justice League was the final nail in its coffin.

Wonder Woman and Aquaman are the only exceptions, but exceptions aren't the rule. Some DC fans are also to blame, they don't support all movies that are released. They care only about their favorite characters and nothing else. Unlike Marvel fans who threw their support behind any movie, granted it was easier as they had better movies done. We also had a cult that did their utmost to stir division.

That said, it will probably always be regarded as a wasted opportunity, I doubt superhero movies will be a trend for much longer. We cannot hide our heads in the sand, everything is pointing in that direction, those who keep denying that there is fatigue don't want to admit it. Before this fatigue was restricted to comics, now it includes movies not just DC made ones.

[DochaDocha]

Some DC fans are also to blame, they don't support all movies that are released. They care only about their favorite characters and nothing else. Unlike Marvel fans who threw their support behind any movie, granted it was easier as they had better movies done.

Isn't that just smart consumption, not paying money to watch something you're not that interested in?

[Morgoth]

I'm gonna miss the idea of it and some castings, like Affleck's Batman, Gadon't Wonder Woman and Robbie's Harley.
But in general, it was a mess and it should have been rebooted years ago.

[Doctor Know]

Some DC fans are also to blame, they don't support all movies that are released. They care only about their favorite characters and nothing else. Unlike Marvel fans who threw their support behind any movie, granted it was easier as they had better movies done. We also had a cult that did their utmost to stir division.

That said, it will probably always be regarded as a wasted opportunity, I doubt superhero movies will be a trend for much longer. We cannot hide our heads in the sand, everything is pointing in that direction, those who keep denying that there is fatigue don't want to admit it. Before this fatigue was restricted to comics, now it includes movies not just DC made ones.

I posted this earlier in the year when it was announced Gunn was severing ties with all DCEU actors and movies after the Flash bombed. It bears repeating now that Aquaman 2 and Blue Beetle are bombs as well.


~What a difference 7 years and mismanagement can make. I don't blame Zazlov for the current state of DC. I blame the previous administration of Hamada and Sarnoff. They were the ones responsible for charting the DC film's course after they fired Snyder in 2017 in the middle of Justice League. But they never found a new captain or came up with a new plan for their connected film universe.

Let us take a walk down memory lane of death by a thousand cuts.

Financial flop after repeated flop. Hamada greenlit a series of movies that had no connection to one another, outside of being comic book properties.

Theatrical Justice League (2017) - Flopped. This after WB execs bring in Whedon to make a clone Avengers film and reshooting large portions of the film. Inflating the budget.

Birds of Prey (2020) - Flopped. Who was asking for a Harley and Friends movie? WB however, submitted this film for Oscar nomination and it was rejected for nomination.

WW84 (2020) - Flopped. WB also submitted this film for Oscar nomination. For EVERY Oscar category, including best picture and it too was rejected for nomination.

The Suicide Squad (2021) - Bombed and according to Gunn there are no plans for a sequel. Despite Peacemaker season 2 and plans to migrate those characters to his new universe.

Black Adam (2022) - Flopped

Shazam 2 (2023) - Bombed

Flash (2023) - Bombed - Hey, remember when James Gunn and a host of other celebrities talked up The Flash as one of the best CBMs ever? Trying to gaslight the audience into going to see it.

Blue Beetle (2023) Bombed

Aquaman Lost Kingdom (2023) Bombed
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Don’t forget about the projects that Hamada had in development.

The cancelled Batgirl film that was fully filmed but reportedly awful. Reduced to a tax write off.

The cancelled Supergirl movie with Sasha Calle.

The pitched Wonder Twins movie that was canned for being too obscure.

The canned New Gods movie that had Ava DuVernay directing and Tom King writing. Best of luck to people expecting his collaboration on Supergirl Woman of Tomorrow to pan out better.

The Justice League Dark movie JJ Abrams was signed on to do back in 2019.

The black Superman movie JJ Abrams signed on to do back in 2019. With Ta Neishi Coates writing.

The plans, The Plans, THE PLANS WB reportedly and repeatedly stated they had for Green Lantern and Green Lantern Corps.

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The scattershot approach of comic book properties, with no overarching plot or “Avengers level event movie” to bring the characters together was a colossal mistake.

WB did this to themselves and for what reason, idk why. The audience wanted more Superman and Batman and WB was steadfast in rejecting that idea.

WB had it all and did nothing with it but waste it. They have no one but themselves to blame. What a waste of and opportunity, talent and audience good will.

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Look at how Marvel and Sony reacted to fan/audience demand.

When the audience wanted Spider-Man in the MCU after TASM2. Sony and Marvel came together to make it happen for Civil War. Less that 18 months after TASM2 hit theaters.

For new MCU Spider-Man both studios were keen to keep audience investment up. So RDJ’s Iron Man is heavily present in the marketing and alluded to throughout both Homecoming and Far From Home. Even after the character of Iron Man had died.

When audiences and fans demanded a live action Spider-Man crossover film between the 3 live action Spider-Men. Sony and Marvel listened and made that happen with No Way Home. That film making just under 2 billion at the box office.

Audience wanted Hugh Jackman to play Wolverine again. With Deadpool 3, Ryan Reyonlds and Marvel have talked Hugh Jackman back to reprising his role as Wolverine. Another fan favorite that audiences love and everyone is excited to see.

Imagine if WB had listened to its audience demands.

A World's Finest movie with Cavil and Affleck to make up for BvS.

Man of Steel 2 featuring Supergirl and Brainiac.

A John Stewart Green Lantern movie.

A Static Shock movie in the wake of Black Panther's success. Super-charged and superbad with the might of Soul Power!

Another Justice League movie. Either a sequel to Snyder's movie with Darkseid or have the League come together against another threat. Adapt the New Frontier or something else grand.

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There's an old video of George Lucas talking about how executives and studio heads are not creative people. They only know that an IP makes money, but they don't understand how. So they end up greenlighting every project they can to replicate another person's success.


Case in point, the DCEU trying to replicate the MCU formula. With WB not understanding why the MCU was successful. The MCU started with it's big name characters (Captain America, Thor, Iron Man) and kept them at the center of the Infinity Saga story events. They used them to introduce smaller characters, kept them (mainly Iron Man) the focus of the Avenger's mega-events and then slowly phased in the obscure characters. Looking at how the MCU is on the decline now with Phase 4 and Phase 5. As they have run out of big name characters to tell stories about.


The WB studio heads and executives thought all they needed was to produce any comic book property and it would sell like hotcakes. Instead their plans are imploding for everyone to see.

We can't ignore the reality that the Superhero phase is over. WB/DC with its string of box office bombs (see list above) and Marvel/Disney with it's own list of bombs and flops killed it.

[Multiverse]

The answers BOTH Yes and No!

On one hand there were some great ideas and lovely world-building! However, the combination of Editorial mismanagement, Behind-the-scenes controversy and tonal shifts left many of us blowing a blood-vessel.

As of watching the last film yesterday, here is my final ranking of the DCEU as a whole:

1 Zack Snyder's Justice League
2 Aquaman
3 Man of Steel
4 The Suicide Squad (Peacemaker S1 slots nicely in here as well)
5 Wonder Woman
6 Blue Beetle
7 Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom
8 Shazam!
9 Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice
10 The Flash
11 Black Adam
12 Shazam! Fury of the Gods
13 Wonder Woman 1984
14 Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn)
15 Joss Whedon's Justice League
16 Suicide Squad (Even with Extended Edition)

[The Darknight Detective]

The answers BOTH Yes and No!

On one hand there were some great ideas and lovely world-building! However, the combination of Editorial mismanagement, Behind-the-scenes controversy and tonal shifts left many of us blowing a blood-vessel.

As of watching the last film yesterday, here is my final ranking of the DCEU as a whole:

1 Zack Snyder's Justice League
2 Aquaman
3 Man of Steel
4 The Suicide Squad (Peacemaker S1 slots nicely in here as well)
5 Wonder Woman
6 Blue Beetle
7 Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom
8 Shazam!
9 Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice
10 The Flash
11 Black Adam
12 Shazam! Fury of the Gods
13 Wonder Woman 1984
14 Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn)
15 Joss Whedon's Justice League
16 Suicide Squad (Even with Extended Edition)

Pretty close to what I have. The worst for me is the theatrical Justice League, which annoys me to no end.

[Thirteen]

The overall DCEU never came together as the efforts to create it were rushed and slapdash, unfortunately, so I'll regret the wasted potential but I won't miss it in light of having a new opportunity to tell better stories with a clean slate.
However there are certain spot on memorable elements/portrayals that I will miss...
DCEU missing.jpg

[Odd Rödney]

I don't hate the DCEU, but I certainly don't love it. I could stomach Man Of Steel but BvS was just hot garbage to me, and that first Suicide Squad was somehow even worse. I liked Wonder Woman but I guess not enough to watch the sequel because as I write this it dawns on me that there was a sequel I completely forgot about. Blue Beetle was rad, though, loved that. I watched Aquaman, the first one, and it was doing alright until I genuinely thought it was ending only to realize I was in the middle of the film and not the end at all so I turned it off. I enjoyed Snyder's Justice League more then Whedon's, which surprised me. Shazam was ok but I felt the kid Billy acted more mature than adult super Billy and it kept breaking the immersion for me. The Batman (is that even DCEU?) had a really dumb script, had they worked on it more I think it would've been a much better film. I didn't watch Birds of Prey. The Suicide Sqaud by Gunn was great and that Flash movie was a pretty good Batman film.

All of this bums me out because I love DC comics and I want to love their movies. So I'm super keen for Superman Legacy, can't wait to see what Gunn is going to do there.

[JAG2045]

Nope, have barely enjoyed any of the films (in fact the only ones I liked and have seen more than once are Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Shazam & The Suicide Squad)

With Batman being my fave DC character I hated what they did with him and am so glad they did better with "The Batman" - I just hope they rest of the DCU can be course corrected as well!

[Doctor Know]

Nope, have barely enjoyed any of the films (in fact the only ones I liked and have seen more than once are Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Shazam & The Suicide Squad)

With Batman being my fave DC character I hated what they did with him and am so glad they did better with "The Batman" - I just hope they rest of the DCU can be course corrected as well!

@bold
Casual reminder that firing Snyder back in 2017 and the aforementioned scattershot approach of the last 6 years was the “course correction”. A series of diminishing returns, bombs and flops all contributing to killing the superhero genre.


At this rate, will anyone care when Gunn’s C-Lister DC projects start in earnest next year? I doubt Creature Commandos will win the hearts and minds of the general audience.

Matt Reeves Batman sequel and Gunn’s Superman Legacy (featuring an ever expanding roster of Justice League characters as more details are revealed) are far off in 2025. If the superhero genre survives from what Disney and WB have done to the genre/brand.

[JAG2045]

@bold
Casual reminder that firing Snyder back in 2017 and the aforementioned scattershot approach of the last 6 years was the “course correction”. A series of diminishing returns, bombs and flops all contributing to killing the superhero genre.


At this rate, will anyone care when Gunn’s C-Lister DC projects start in earnest next year? I doubt Creature Commandos will when the hearts and minds of the general audience.

By "course corrected" I meant an entirely new reboot with no connection to the DCEU like "The Batman"

I think Gunn still has enough fans that will be interested in Superman Legacy when it comes out

[Sutekh]

At this rate, will anyone care when Gunn’s C-Lister DC projects start in earnest next year? I doubt Creature Commandos will win the hearts and minds of the general audience.

I feel that way *now* (did anyone even want this?), and yet, I felt the same way about the announcement of the Guardians of the Galaxy, a team I did not like or want, particularly the Bendis-ized versions that bore no resemblance at all to the original Star-Lord, Gamora, Groot, or the lean, intelligent flying zapper Drax of yesteryear. (Rocket, I have no idea, he might have gotten him spot on for all I know.)

And Guardians was amazing! So I was wrong about that. And I was wrong about Peacemaker, which I also pre-emptively scoffed at and dismissed. Maybe, just maybe, I should take the L and accept that he *might* be able to surprise me yet again. If it sucks, I'll curse his name then. For now, I'll recognize that my pre-judging of his stuff has been 0 for 2, and I should at least wait to bitch about the flavor until after I've tasted the food (although I reserve the right to complain if I don't like the smell coming out of the kitchen!).