ScreenCrush: The Podcast! - How to Tank a Franchise in 11 Movies: The History of the DCEU

Episode Date: July 10, 2025

The DC Extended Universe began as a grimdark take on the interconnected superhero universe of the MCU. But, after behind-the-scenes drama and several hard pivots, the franchise is being rebooted with the release of Superman. But how did we get here? In this documentary, the ScreenCrush team dives deep into the creation of this forgotten franchise, the controversies, and questions how much of it will live on through the new DCU. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Agent Nate Russo returns in Oracle 3, Murder at the Grandview, the latest installment of the gripping Audible Original series. When a reunion at an abandoned island hotel turns deadly, Russo must untangle accident from murder. But beware, something sinister lurks in the Grandview's shadows. Joshua Jackson delivers a bone-chilling performance in this supernatural thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat. Don't let your fears take hold of you as you dive into this addictive series.

Love thrillers with a paranormal twist? The entire Oracle trilogy is available on Audible. Listen now on Audible. Callal, no. Hey, welcome back to Screen Crush. I'm Ryan Erie, and this is the definitive history of the D.C. extended universe, the interconnected universe of D.C. films

that began with Man of Steel and ended with Aquaman the Lost Kingdom. We are going to explain how this universe began with such lofty ambitions, but ultimately went the way of the dark universe. Honestly, I want to talk about what the hell happened to this franchise? How did Warner Brothers squander having the most recognizable superhero IP available during the golden age of superhero movies? So we're going to go step by step at this franchise, look at how it was formed from the beginning, and what exactly went wrong along the way.

And I am not just going to blame this on... Martha! So the DCEU was Warner Brothers' first attempt at creating a shared cinematic universe featuring characters from DC Comics. Technically, Warner Brothers had been working on this concept long before 2008's Iron Man, but the success of Marvel's MCU helped the money people get the ball rolling on these movies. Now, throughout its entire run, this franchise infamously fought an uphill battle to be as popular and critically acclaimed as the MCU. Now, it kind of fizzled out, canonically speaking, to a confusing end before Guardians of the Galaxy writer-director James Gunn was

hired to essentially reboot the franchise. And we're also going to talk about what comes next for DC's cinematic universe, including what, if any, parts of the original DCEU will live on. Just as Baby Calell was sent hurledly down to space to survive the catastrophic collapse of Krypton. So, Marvel hit the ground running with the MCU in 2008 with Iron Man. But even before then, both Marvel and DC had bits of shared cinematic universes in earlier films. The concept comes naturally to comic book movies because the source material also relies heavily on crossovers and shared universes. George Clooney's Bruce Wayne mentioned Superman in 1997's Batman. and Robin. This is why Superman works alone. And of course, the Ramey Spider-Man films also mention

Dr. Strange. Dr. Strange. That's pretty good, but it's taken. And D.C. had already found success with a vast shared animated universe that began with Batman the animated series in 1992 and eventually encompassed dozens of members of the Justice League. Similarly, many of Marvel's animated shows in the 1990s, including X-Men, Spider-Man, and the Fantastic Four took place in the same universe, even if they didn't overlap that often. Warner Brothers first tried to create a live-action cinematic shared universe way back in 2002, just as the Golden Age of Comic Book movies was kicking off with X-Men, Spider-Man, and Blade. Now, before those hit films, D.C. had pretty much had a monopoly on successful movie adaptations, with Marvel not having much success beyond the

Incredible Hulk TV series. DC had Superman with Christopher Reeve and the Batman franchise that started with Tim Burton and Michael Keaton back in 89. But the fourth movie in that franchise, Batman and Robin, was ground zero for a geek uprising against the corporations. It was a box office disappointment, critically reviled, and it killed the series faster than Joe Chill with a revolver in an alley. Warner Brothers knew that Batman was a lucrative property, as was Superman, which hadn't had a movie since these similarly disappointing Superman 4, The Quest for Peace. So they were ready to start from scratch and make new movies that weren't sequels to the original franchises. Remember, even in 2002, this was still a relatively new idea. There hadn't been

many movies that rebooted famous IP, and studios weren't sure of all. audiences would be confused or even on board with this kind of idea. Now, we're not going to get into Warner's attempts at these individual reboots like Superman Liz with Nicholas Cage or Batman Year 1 with Darren Aronofsky. We do have other videos releasing soon about those projects. But we do need to mention that in 2002, Warner Brothers was serious about making a Batman versus Superman movie. They hired Wolfgang Peterson, director of Doss Boot, Air Force One, and The Perfect Storm to direct.

Now, potentially, the film would spawn several sequel franchises with the title characters, as well as expand with other Justice League members in the future. The idea made sense, bringing comic books two biggest figures together in one movie to bring audiences back that they lost with Quest for Peace and Batman and Robin. And Warner's was serious about making this movie happen. It was even briefly referenced with an Easter egg in 2007's I Am Legend, although by then the concept had mostly been shelved. Instead, the studio decided that it would be better to focus on individual reboots.

Christopher Nolan was eventually hired to make Batman begins and crass Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne. And obviously, that was the right to do. decision. The Dark Night trilogy was a massive commercial and critical success. Superman Returns came out one year after Batman Begins and didn't have any references to the Nolan movies. There was no post-credit scene where Michael Cain's Alfred approached Brandon Ralph and tells him about the Justice League initiative. Yeah, that would have been pretty cool there, especially if Michael Kane had an eye patch. Now, you're not wrong, but Batman Begins success seemed to have given Warner Brothers a

little bit of confidence. In 2007, they started planning an epic rockbuster called Justice League Mortal. For the writer and director, the studio tapped legendary filmmaker George Miller, the guy behind such classics as Babe, Happy Feet, and a few weird Australian post-apocalyptic car movies called, what they call like Mighty Matt, something like that. Miller's Justice League movie came really close to getting made, with a full script written and the entire main cast was hired. Army Hammer as Batman, Adam Brody is the Flash, common as John Stewart, and Hugh Keyes Burn, who played toe cutter and Orton Joe in Miller's Mad Max films as the Martian Manhunter. Notably, it was decided to replace Brandon

Ralph and the role of Clark Kent. That way, the film would not be associated with the lackluster Superman Returns. Now, because Chris Nolan's Dark Knight movies were intended to be very grounded, they didn't seriously consider including Christian Bales Bruce Wayne in the Justice League, although they were open to the idea. The main villain was to be Maxwell Lord played by Jay Barshell. Now, I know what you're thinking. Barchelle, who was only 25 at the time, seems like an odd choice to play the big bad of the biggest comic book movie of all time. But with Lex Luthor eventually being depicted as a Mark Zuckerberg type, and with what's going on with today's Silicon Valley Tech moguls, this was actually prescient casting.

Obviously, that movie never happened. Miller wanted to film it in Australia, but the studio wanted to film it in Canada. The 2007 Writer Strike also meant that the script couldn't be refined before production. Eventually, it all fell apart by 2008. Meanwhile, Iron Man came out with Samuel Jackson's Nick Fury showing up at the end and hinting at a larger universe. I'm here to talk to you about the Avenger Initiative. And fans got really excited. Less grounded and more fantastical superhero movies were beginning to dominate the box office.

And the appetite for a comic-like shared universe was, there. Warner Brothers started thinking about its DCverse again, which is probably why a big part of the 2011 Green Lantern movie had such a big cosmic storyline. Most origin movies try to keep things small before expanding into a larger world. Green Lantern, on the other hand, did the opposite. Now, this makes sense when you realize that it was intended to be the first movie in a shared universe with the other Justice League members. The plan was to follow Marvel's blueprint with individual films like Green Lantern before an eventual epic Justice League team up. Again, Brandon Routh Superman was going to be replaced. And while the door was open for Christian Bill's Batman to return, the studio probably knew that was unlikely. Green Lantern even featured Black Panthers Angela Bassett as Amanda Waller, a character that appears across many DC titles and could have been the Nick Fury of this universe. However, once again, their plans were foiled by the movie being a big, stinky, green glowing piece of shit. Now, you can see how frustrating this must have been for Warner Brothers in DC. Sure, the Dark Knight trilogy was a success, and on TV, the interconnected C.W. Aroverse had a really

strong fan base. But their chief rival, Marvel was banging out hit after hit after hit with the first phase of the MCU. And while Marvel Studios wasn't behind the popular X-Men and Spider-Man movies, their success was still associated with the brand. DC, on the other hand, kept having false starts, either with movies that never got past pre-production or franchises that died right out of the gate, like Superman Returns and Green Lantern. Warner was also trying to get various individual movies off the ground that couldn't seem to get any momentum, including Flash and Wonder Woman films. In 2008, after the failure of Superman returns, Warner Brothers was taking pitches from everyone, including comic book writers like Grant Morrison and Jeff Johns. So these guys lobbied for a

total reboot, which WB wasn't crazy about. Remember, this was before Amazing Spider-Man came out just five years after Ramey's Spider-Man 3. So it was a relatively untested idea if movie audiences would understand that a reboot of a very recent movie was not a sequel, but instead was a brand-new universe. Studios didn't want another Superman bomb on their hands. But in 2008, The Incredible Hulk, which was kind of a soft reboot of 2003's Hulk, came out, and it didn't bomb. So Warner Brothers decided to give a totally new Superman movie a go, especially since, in a lawsuit with Superman co-creator Jerry Segal's family, a judge ruled that if Warner Brothers didn't begin production on a new Superman movie by 2011, the Siegel estate could sue for

lost revenue. One potential idea was a trilogy pitched by Matthew Vaughn, who directed Kickass and Kingsmen and X-Men First Class. Vaughn wanted Charlie Cox to play a golden age like Superman in the 1930s, and years before Charlie Cox was even considered, two other actors auditioned to play Clark Kent for Superman Flyby. This was the Superman movie written by J.J. Abrams that nearly got made in the early odds, with directors like X-Men The Last Stand's Brett Ratner and Charlie's Angels Mick G. attached at various points. Now, the two actors I'm talking about, the ones that auditioned for Superman in the early 2000s, were Brandon Routh and Henry Cavill. Routh's audition was a big reason why he eventually got the role in 2006 as Superman Returns. And several years after getting rejected for flyby,

Cavill was cast as Clark Kent. Warner Brothers decided to go with the title they originally planned for Superman Returns 2, called Man of Steel. In 2008, Christopher Nolan had proved that she didn't need Batman in the title of a Batman movie with the Dark Knight, which made over a billion dollars to the box office, so this made the studio confident that they didn't need Superman in the title of their movie. And this was not the only influence the Nolan had on this new project. David S. Goyer, who had written Dark City, Blade, and Batman Begins, was tasked to write the new Superman movie. While working on the Dark Night rises, Goyer talked to Chris Nolan about his idea for a modern Superman movie. Nolan loved it and pitched it to Warner Brothers, and soon the movie was on the fast track to be made with Nolan as a producer.

So you can see why, after years of stops and starts, Man of Steel found momentum once Nolan was on board. He had just had massive success with Batman Begins in the Dark Night, and he was a main producer on this new movie. In fact, he even has a story by credit. When you watch Man of Steel, especially compared to the Post Justice League movies, you can see Nolan's influence. Man of Steel, besides its Alien Planet and Spaceships and Uber Beans is a relatively grounded movie that's meant to feel like what would happen if Superman existed in our real world. You can almost even excuse the blatant product placement in the movie like the IHops if you consider that, well, hey, I go to IHop. There's an IHop in my town. Tasty, tasty Ahoop. Now, with Batman Begins, no one had helped to kickstart a wave of dark and gritty

reboots of everything from Judge Dred to Alice in Wonderland. The tone allowed Man of Steel to set itself apart from the Christopher Reeve movies, and, perhaps more importantly, Superman Returns. It also allowed DC to make a movie that didn't feel like it was copying Marvel's successful new MCU. Starting with Iron Man and coalescing with the Avengers, Marvel has established the MCU brand to be relatively lighthearted, filled with witty, well, that just happened, humor in nearly every scene. Man of Steel, on the other hand, was pretty light on the jokes. You don't see Michael Shannon asking for his bird, like some other supervillains might. I want my board.

And you don't see Kevin Costner's paw Kent making line of the fact that he's not Clark's biological father. He's adopted. I mean, I guess there's some jokes in Man of Steel. Remember that time that General Zade called Superman kind of hot? I just think he's kind of hot. And there's also, help me out here, Doug. Well, let's see. There's, see, funny bits.

Okay, side note, guys. The plan here really was to have Doug give us another example of a joke in Man of Steel. But, well, we look, there really aren't any jokes in this movie. I mean, there's a few sort of joke-like combinations of words, but that's about it. And hey, that's okay. Not every movie needs to be quippy every single minute. But, you know, if you're going to go see a big action superhero blockbuster, you probably don't mind having a little bit of fun at the same time.

I will say that the whole point of Superman is usually to be bright and positive, but instead, Man of Still was a grounded, serious, bleak, superhero film. It's a superhero movie about a guy who hates being a superhero. But it is nice that it is not a carbon copy of the MCU. And Dark and Gritty worked wonders for the Dark Night trilogy. Although, to be fair, while the jokes in those movies weren't every five seconds, they were also pretty funny when you get one. You think you could steal from us and just walk away?

Yeah. But Chris Nolan wasn't the only reason Man of Still was darker and grittier. After all, David S. Goyer made the first modern comic book movie Blade that kicked off the Hollywood era that we're still in today. And that movie is plenty grim dark. But Man of Steel is also very much a product of its director, Zach Snyder. At the time, he'd already made a name for himself making The Dawn of the Dead remake in 300, as well as 2009's Watchman adaptation.

Now, Watchman had been in development hell pretty much since the comic book was released in 1986. And whether you love it or hate it, the fact that Snyder got it made was actually a small miracle in itself. So it makes sense that D.C. would trust him with the new Superman reboot. However, he wasn't exactly their first choice. Gailmo del Toro, who had already made Blade 2 and two Hellboy movies, turned down the position because he was trying to make an adaptation of HP Lovecrafts at the Mountain of Madness, which unfortunately for us never happened.

Other directors that Warner Brothers considered for Man of Steel were Robert Zemeckis, Darren Aronofsky, Jonathan Leibsman, Duncan Jones, and Tony Scott, as well as Ben Affleck and Matt Reeves. Those last two fellows were also both attached to the eventual post-Nolan Batman solo movies, with Reeves, obviously being the one who actually ended up making it. Zach Snyder was hired in October 2010, and Henry Cavill officially landed the role in January 2011. The movie began filming later that August. Notably, Man of Steel was filmed in Illinois, California and Vancouver. Which is funny because one of the main reasons

the Superman Flyby reboot collapsed a decade earlier was arguments over shooting it in Australia. Tax purposes. Anyways, you know the rest. It's a Superman origin story. The first live action feature film origin since Richard Donner's original Superman in 78. Just as in Donner's film,

we get a lengthy prologue set on Krypton. Although, since this is the Zach Snyder movie, it is a lot louder with more explosions. But nonetheless, it's pretty cool since it wasn't really something we had ever seen before. We see how Clark learns his powers, finds his Fortress of Solitude, which is a crash-cryptonian spaceship in this version, and also how he introduces himself to the world.

On my world, it means hope. He meets Lois Lane, played by multiple Academy Award nominee Amy Adams, and faces off with General Zod. For some reason, I guess because there was so much story to set up, Clark doesn't even don his trademark glasses and join the Daily Planet until the very end of the movie. So, keeping with its naturalistic style, the cinematography of the film, especially the action scenes, were heavily based on documentary style.

You know, handheld shaky cam. In fact, a lot of the camera moves were directly inspired by the 2003 reboot of Battlestar Galactica and the way they shot Space Battles. We did not deserve that show. We really didn't. Another important contribution to the film was its score. Now, after all, John Williams' Superman March is one of the most famous movie themes of all time. And, you know, it's hard to imagine a Superman movie without it.

Even Superman Returns didn't risk messing with the formula, and James Gunn's Superman movie heavily references it. However, Man of Steel was intended to be a total reboot, score and all. That in itself is risky, but the studio and filmmakers hedge their bets by hiring Han Zimmer, the Academy Award-winning composer who had countless movie soundtracks to his name, including the Dark Night trilogy. Like many of Zimmer's scores, it is a bit repetitive, and it's no John William's Superman March, but it is epic and catchy, and it fits the tone of Man of Steel. The rest of the cast included some heavy hitters like Diane Lane, Russell Crow,

Lawrence Fishburn, Law & Order's Christopher Maloney, who plays an army colonel who distrust Superman at first before helping him stop Zod. Now, Maloney was a perfect choice for the stubborn soldier, as you can see in this scene. Oh, sorry, wait. No, that's Wet Hot American Summer, where he played Vietnam Vet, Gene Jenkinson. This is the Christopher Maloney scene I'm talking about.

Somehow Palpatine returned. Man of Steel's cast also included Daredevil's Eilat Zerer and Richard Schiff, who played Superman ally Dr. Emile Hamilton. Now, Dr. Emil Hamilton is associated with Star Labs and shows up a lot in various Superman stories, including the animated series, Smallville, and Lois and Clark. By casting renowned character actor Richard Schiff, DC made it clear that Dr. Hamilton was going to play an important role in this expanded DCEU.

Obviously, oh wait, you know what, never mind, they blew them up. Now, when the film was finally released in 2013, it had mixed reactions from fans. Some guys loved it. They loved seeing a darker Superman snapsod's neck, while other fans, like myself, were screaming in the parking lot, Superman doesn't kill! And then embarrassing our girlfriends. I love or hate it. The film was not a universal crowd pleaser like Iron Man or The Avengers. A lot of the audience didn't take to the no-jokes grittier vibe of the movie, even though this tone sold the Dark Night trilogy.

And again, maybe that's because Batman is a very different character from Superman. There was also Henry Cavill who looked the part, but for a lot of people, his performance was kind of flat and wouldn't. And I personally credit that to the fall of the script and not the actor. I think he's great. The plot was heavily focused on Superman's Kryptonian origins and his backstory on Earth, so it didn't leave a lot of room for his relationship with Lois or his connection to mankind, which are both key aspects of the character.

Snyder was clearly interested in depicting what it would actually look like if super-powered humans fought each other on Earth, whether it was in a small town or a big city. And to be fair, it's pretty accurate. Like a lot of people would be killed as collateral damage and a lot of skyscrapers and eye-hops would be destroyed. But a major criticism leveled at the movie

was that Superman didn't do more to save lives, like we've seen in the past. Now, you can argue that Clark was thinking of the greater good and needed to stop Zod and his work, engines before he could save anyone else. He saved billions of lives and it cost a few million. You can't make a tomlid without breaking some greggs. But again, when you're going to the movies to escape for a bit and enjoy a silly superhero movie with an iconic character like Superman, maybe you don't want to witness a CGI recreation of 309-11s. The complete and total destruction

of Metropolis left such a bad taste in enough mouths that several Hollywood movies that released after Man of Steel went out of their way to avoid casualties. The entire third act of age of Ultron, which came out two years later, is literally the Avengers evacuating a city. Justice League, one of the direct sequels to this film, made sure to focus on a single family being saved amid the usual mass destruction. Another related story beat that rubbed the lot of Superman fans the wrong way was when he kills Zod at the end of the film. It happens in Metropolis's version of Grand Central Station,

when Zod, pretty much just despite Clark, decides to obliterate a random family with his heat vision. He's basically daring Superman to betray his own morals and kill him for reasons. And Clark does just that. zap Zod's neck before he can burn this innocent family alive. And to his credit, he feels really bad about it for a little bit until he makes out with Lois Lane. But audiences chafed at this scene because, as a rule, Superman doesn't kill. Now, to be fair, in the comics, Superman has been forced to kill a few times, including Zod. Christopher Reeve also, you know, kills Zod and Superman too.

But it's still a big deal. In fact, Zod was originally supposed to be sucked back into the phantom zone. But Snyder thought that that didn't pack enough of a punch to end his epic movie. Chris Nolan, God bless him, didn't love the idea of Superman killing anybody, but David Goyer convinced him by making it a do-or-die-choice with the innocent family at stake. The filmmakers then got permission from DC, so the most controversial scene in any superhero movie was able to come to life. Now, even though it kicks off the entire DC-EU, Man of Still really is its own self-contained independent movie. That's particularly refreshing when you consider how rare that is in the MCU these days. But that doesn't mean that Man of Still wasn't

made with an expanded universe in mind. Remember, it started production well into phase one of the MCU, and it came out after the huge success of the Avengers. But it's nice that Snyder did not fill the film with setups for the franchise, which a lot of people complained about with the Marvel movies as far back as Iron Man 2. I've been reassigned. Director Fury wants me in New Mexico. Fantastic. The very few references to a larger world that Man of Steel does have are really subtle. At one point, you can see a Wayne Enterprise's satellite in space, hinting that this world does indeed have a Batman. Zach Snyder, who is a comic book fan, also felt it was important to include a reference to booster gold of all people. That never even paid off because, despite plans for a

booster gold series, the character never even made it to the DCEU. Now, this movie sets the tone of the entire universe, and Zach Snyder's style would influence all of the early films in this franchise. But the grim dark vibe of this movie and its lukewarm reception would eventually lead to a big course correction for the DCEU. But first, Warner Brothers gave Snyder's grimdark take on the DC Universe one more college try with his next film, the second movie in the DCEU, Batman v. Superman, colon, Dawn of Justice. Now, Man of Steel was not universally loved by fans, but it made enough money for a sequel. Early on, though, Warner Brothers decided that they wanted a Batman versus Superman movie instead of a full-on Superman sequel. They saw the box office the Marvel was making

with their crossovers, but remember, the MCU had several years of a head start. So rather than release a slate of phase one solo superhero movies culminating in a Justice League movie, they'd decided to bring everybody together early and jump right ahead to the good stuff. Once audiences got to see characters like Wonder Woman and Cyborg and action in a team-up movie, they would be more likely to see their solo movies later on. Now, Batman v. Superman was called Dawn of Justice, because in addition to being a Man of Steel sequel and a Batman versus Superman movie, it was also there to set up the Justice League crossover.

Early titles they considered made this even more explicit, including Justice League Foundations and Justice League Rising. Although apparently one option was also Son of Son and Nighting, of night, which, oh, God, that's terrible. Zach Snyder said that they made it Batman v. Superman instead of versus, because the movie ultimately isn't about the two of them fighting one another, although V is typically used in court cases where it's still two opposing sides. So, whatever. Now, once they decided to make Batman a main character, they had to decide which Batman. They thought about tying it

into the Dark Night trilogy, but that ended with Christian Bales Bruce Wayne retiring, so it would have been tricky. They ended up going with Ben Affleck, who was in his 40s as a seasoned older Batman, to contrast with the new Young Superman. And this also makes sense since the story sort of adapts Frank Miller's Dark Knight Returns, which has an older Batman fighting Superman. Now, there are several other references to the comic in the movie as well. Plus, Galgadotte's Wonder Woman becomes a supporting character, which is actually the first live-action feature film appearance of her character,

over 70 years after her comic debuted. Now, there is some effort to tie Diana into the plot. She doesn't just show up out of nowhere at the end. And it also makes this movie a better Justice League prequel since Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman are considered the company's big three. However, the movie does stop cold at one point to set up the rest of the Justice League. Diana goes through Lex Luthor's files and we see brief glimpses of Jason Mamo as Aquaman, Ezra Miller's Flash, and Ray Fisher's Cyborg.

And as if that wasn't complicated enough, they set up an injustice-based storyline for later movies, where Superman is evil and Darkside is taken over the earth. An older Flash tells Batman that he has to stop Superman, change the timeline. It's kind of like if the first or second Avengers movie immediately went, to the alternate timelines in the multiverse, which is kind of a lot to ask a movie audiences who aren't regular comic book readers. Oh, and the movie also incorporated the seminal death of Superman storyline with Doomsday, and it ends with Clark Dine and Batman getting the idea for the Justice League. So, yeah, Batman v. Superman had a lot going on. I will give them credit where credits do,

though. It's not inherently bad to reboot comic book characters over and over. But if it does have to happen, I am glad we get different takes rather than just the same thing again and again. Like Tim Burton gave us a gritty Gothic Batman, Schumacher gave us a modern take on the 60s camp, and Nolan's Dark Night series was grounded in the real world. And this Batman was actually closer to the comics in terms of his super advanced bat tech and more superhero-like qualities. Although, while previous filmmakers have broken the no-kill rule Batman is supposed to have, Ben Affleck's Batman does come across as particularly brutal and violent. It's a valid story choice if you make it work, although it kind of takes some of the fun out of a fun comic book movie.

It's hard to imagine a seven-year-old buying a Ben Affleck Batman action figure, and yelling, do you bleed at his Superman action figure? You know what I mean? Now, before we move on to the next movie, we might as well mention this since you probably will in the comments. But yes, Batman having a sudden change of heart because his mom and Clark's mom have the same name is pretty fucking stupid. You have the same first name.

Also, how does the world's greatest detective not do a background check after discovering Superman's identity? He probably should have already learned that Ma'n's name was Martha at some point in between his CrossFit training. Even before Batman v. Superman came out in 2016, DC announced a slate of upcoming films over the next several years, just as Kevin Feige started doing with the MCU. Hey, remember when Kevin Feigy announced a new Blade movie six years ago? It's been 84 years.

Now, most of the slate of films that DC announced ended up being made, as far up to even the Flash, which came out nine years after it was announced and five years after it was supposed to come out. The films they announced in 2014 that never got made were Cyborg, Man of Steel 2, Green Lantern Corps, and Justice League 2. The movie kicking off this slate of DC movies was Suicide Squad, which came out as planned in 2016. Written and directed by David Ayer, who wrote Training Day and directed End of Watch and Fury, among other films, Suicide Squad focuses on several DC villains. So his style is pretty tough and gritty, and it made sense for him to helm a movie that was about bad guys. However, Batman v. Superman underperformed at the box office, and critics disliked it even more than Man of Steel.

Plus, putting salt in the wound, Batman v. Superman came out within weeks of Captain America's Civil War. Civil War also had Marvel's top heroes facing off against each other and introduced Spider-Man and the Black Panther. The MCU was really firing on all cylinders, making DC struggles seem even more pronounced. So now DC had two back-to-back tent pole movies that whiffed, all while the MCU was becoming more and more popular. In response, Warner Bros. created DC films to specifically focus on the cinematic universe, just as Kevin Feige ran Marvel Studios as its own studio within Disney. W.B. Exec, John Berg, and comic book writer Jeff Johns ran the studio, and they immediately tried to course-correct the dark and serious tone of Snyder's films. Suicide Squad had already

filmed, so it needed extensive rewrites and reshoots to make it more lighthearted and fun, you know, like a Marvel movie. It's been described as the dirty dozen with comic book characters, an ensemble of mostly B&C list villains forced to team up and save the day when Superman is MIA or dead or whatever. But this movie was cursed almost from the start. According to the Hollywood reporter, David Ayer was forced to write the script in just six weeks. Ayer's vision for the movie fit the somber, grim, dark tone that Snyder had established. But after Batman and Superman failed to hit a billion dollars in grosses, the studio wanted to pivot. Then the trailer for the Suicide Squad was released set to Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody,

and it promised a fun, lighthearted movie. What was that? I should kill everyone and escape? Sorry, the voices. So Warner Brothers saw there out. The studio Ashtray Trailer Park, the company that made that teaser to cut their own version of the movie. And to this day, there are fans who still clamber for that original Ayer cut of the film that promised a dark, somber, serious movie. But this definitely won't be the last time that fans rebelled against Warner Bros. But Suicide Squad did expand the DC-EU.

Batman has a cameo, and we first meet this universe as Amanda Waller, now played by Viola Davis. Oprah Winfrey was actually considered for this role at one point, which would have been kind of awesome since she would get to break tight by playing this nefarious. plotting character. The film also gives us our first live-action version of Harley Quinn, who was first created by Paul Denny and Bruce Tim for Batman the animated series in the 1990s. Now, her character was inspired by Paul Denny's friend, voice actress Arlene Sorkin. Sorkin had a snappy, bubbly personality, and once she played a jester on the soap opera Days of Our Lives.

No knock-knock jokes, no funny hats. Let's do what they do on the castle down the block. We'll throw the peasants in the boat and watch them drown. Sorkin voiced Harley Quinn, slightly exaggerating her own. new york accent harley became instantly popular and was soon introduced into the actual dc comics canon so because of this harley was one of the bigger selling points of suicide squad and it was important to nail the casting emma roberts was considered but the role eventually went to margot robbie so robbie's take combined arline's original harley character with more recent comic takes on the character she was more independent of joker and more morally gray than flat out evil but had a feminist

girl boss vibe the character once again was a huge hit was a big part of suicide squad's success Another big selling point of Suicide Squad was the casting of Will Smith. Will Smith is considered to be one of the biggest movie stars of all time. The guy turned down The Matrix and Inception. So for him to say yes to a DC-EU sequel and not even play a well-known character, this was a big deal. Smith plays Floyd Lawton, aka Deadshot. Deathstroke? No, but we are going to talk about Deathstroke later.

Deadshot. Dead Pearl? No. Deadshot. He might not be as famous as the real lyric or the penguin, but he's been a key part of Batman's Rokes Gallery since all the way back in 19th. And he's actually based on a concept by Batman co-creator Bob Kane. Technically, though, this film's lead is Rick Flagg, the commander of Suicide Squad. Originally, Tom Hardy was going to play Rick Flagg, but scheduling issues with the Revenant got in the way and he had to be recast.

The role was also offered to Jay Gillenall, who turned it down. Joel Keneman, who broke out on AMC's The Killing, ended up getting cast as flag. Now, when Ben Affleck briefly makes an appearance, it is the first time a live-action cinematic Batman showed up and was not the lead character, which is a big step in expanding the DCEU. Even more notably, the film introduced the DCEU's Joker, played by Jared Leto. Now, this casting was a big deal at the time. Joaquin Phoenix had not yet won an Oscar for playing the Joker, and we were still years away from Barry Keogan's Cress Punk Joker.

It had been seven years since Heath Ledger's Joker, one of the most iconic Hollywood performances of all time, that also won Heath a posthumous Oscar. His death, which occurred after shooting the Dark Night, but before it released, also added a mythological air to this character. The idea of recasting him so soon was controversial, and it was a lot for Jared Leto and suicide squad to live up to. Again, it was a smart move to go in a different direction than to try to mimic Ledger's performance. And boy, was Leto's Joker different, but almost nobody liked it, including me.

Jared Leto? You can't just put on some tattoos and some fake teeth and make me think that you're some kind of crazy person? Then no one is buying it. His first promo image showed Joker covered in tattoos that were very, very on the nose and on the forehead. Like it literally said damaged on his forehead. Subliminal, liminal, and superliminal. Actually, even less subtle on his abs is a giant tattoo that just says, Joker. Now, these tattoos already set up audiences to find Leto's Joker and Suicide Squad kind of

expected and lazy. But despite the most negative critical reviews, Suicide Squad made a lot of money at the box office. And it helped boost Margot Robbie into Hollywood A-list status. At the very least, it allowed DC films to take a breath. Perhaps the DCEU wasn't going to die after just three movies. The last minute reshoots to make it more Marvel-like didn't lead to Marvel-like success, but Suicide Squad was received better than Man of Steel and Batman v. Superman. What also helped was the success of the next movie, which came out the next summer, Wonder Woman. Now, although she only had a few scenes in Batman v. Superman, Gal Gadot stood out in that movie. Now, ironically, she'd actually been offered the much smaller role of this Kryptonian in Man of Steel, but she had to turn it down because she was pregnant at the time. Before she was cast for B.V. producers considered Elodie Young, Ogacuri Linko, and Thor's Jamie Alexander. DC had seriously tried to make a Wonder Woman movie around 2005 with Joss Whedon. Names tied to that project included Kobe Smolters and Kate Beckinsdale.

Weeden described the character as basically Angelina Jolie. After that film fell apart, producer Joel Silver considered making a Wonder Woman film set in World War II, but decided that he didn't want to make a period piece. For the 2017 version of the movie with Gal Gadot, DC wanted a female director, and there had been female-led comic book movies before, like Supergirl and Tank Girl, but Wonder Woman is by far the highest profile female superhero in comics. Hollywood was currently reckoning with its lack of diversity when it came to writers, directors, and stories, so a woman directed a Wonder Woman movie was the right move.

DC originally asked Michelle McLaren, who directed Game of Thrones and won back-to-back Emmys for Breaking Bad. She said no, but then Patty Jenkins, who directed the Oscar-winning film Monster, ended up getting the job. Jenkins wanted to make an old-school superhero film closer to Richard Donner's original Superman. Instead of World War II, the movie was set in World War I and kept far away from any of the events of Batman v. Superman or suicide squad. And this allowed it to also serve as an origin story since she was already Wonder Woman and Batman v. Superman. Now besides Diana Prince, a major character in Wonder Woman's mythology is her romantic love interest Steve Trevor. Trevor was played by Chris Pine. The only one of the Chris is

not to appear in the MCU, although he is in the multiverse as Spider-Man. DC films really wanted Chris Pine, and it's not hard to blame them. Reportedly, they even let him choose which role he wanted to have, Steve Trevor or Hal Jordan in a potential Green Lantern core movie. Now, originally, Pine didn't want to play Wonder Woman's boyfriend, but Patty Jenkins changed his mind when she compared their love story to Casablanca, telling Pine that he could play it as a romance and not as a superhero action movie. Wonder Woman was an even bigger box office success than Suicide Squad,

and it won critical praise. After a rough start, it looked like the DCEU had finally righted the ship. Now, visually, all of the films retained that same desaturated, dark aesthetic that Snyder had established. But that color palette was about to take a wild tonal shift with their next film. Justice League was the make-or-break moment for the DC-EU. This was literally DC's Avengers. They were more popular, more well-known than the Avengers. Now, by now, Chris Nolan was no longer a producer on this franchise. Man of Steel was way back in the rearview mirror. The original Justice League script was written by David S. Goyer, but was rewritten by Chris Terrio, who also

did a rewrite on Batman v. Superman. DC films head Jeff Johns also did some rewrites as they were shooting. The movies that came out under the revamped DC films, Suicide Squad and Wonder Woman, were much better received than Zach Snyder's two darker films, Man of Steel, and Batman v Superman. So that made it awkward when Snyder was filming the Justice League, which was essentially the third movie in his DC-EU saga. But then, due to a personal family tragedy, Snyder had to leave the film at the start of post-production. Of all people, Joss Whedon was brought on to replace Snyder and oversee post-production. The DCEU clearly wanted to be a version of the MCU, so DC films brought in the guy who directed the first two Avengers films. Whedon ended up reshooting and adding a lot of

new footage, mixing it with what Snyder shot to make a much more lighthearted and fun team-up movie, you know, like the Avengers. But these were not your typical reshoots. Warner Brothers reportedly spent more than $25 million, which is several times more than typical reshoots cost. This brought the budget of Justice League to a whopping $300 million. Weiden changed so much that he was even given a co-writing credit. And during reshoots, Henry Cavill was also filming Mission Impossible, and he was contractually obligated to not shave his mustache. So they filmed all of Superman's scenes with him having a tasty flavor saver,

and then CGI'd his face to look like this. Okay, shut up. Weiden also dumped that serious pounding score that Junkie XL composed for the film and brought in Batman composer Danny Elfman. Now, Elfman reused the light motifs from past DC films. films like Superman's March, and from his own Batman's score. Originally, Zach Snyder planned on a two-part Justice League film, like Avengers Infinity War and Endgame. In the end, though, the $300 million Justice League, a live-action crossover movie that DC fans had waited decades for,

was a single movie that was just under two hours, and it sucked. They may have lost Warner Brothers up to $60 million. People didn't necessarily hate it, but like nobody liked it either. If this was some one-off comic book movie, that would have been one thing. But this was the Justice League. People had been waiting forever to see these icons. Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman Flash, team up on the same screen. In theory, this movie should have been bigger than the Avengers.

Like in terms of cultural impact, Batman and Superman are a lot more iconic than Iron Man and Thor. Justice League was such a disappointment that it was the first time the DCEU seriously looked like it might completely collapse with a total fresh start and reboot. Man of Steel 2, which was loosely in the works, was put on hold. Now, this was the beginning of the end, although as we'll see, it was the first of several beginnings of the end because Warner Brothers really wanted to make this franchise work. So the big shakeup came in January 2018, just two months after Justice League bombed. John Berg was out as co-head of DC films and was replaced by Walter Hamata in January 2018. A few months later, Jeff Johns resigned. Now, if Snyder's grim, dark take was the first phase of the DVD, then this new Lightheart attack is the second phase of this franchise. They decided that instead of the movies being so intertwined, which Marvel was doing more and more, DC films would do the opposite and make its films more independent. That way, if one bombed, it didn't bring the rest of the franchise down. The first move was to completely put Justice League 2 on hold. After all, it represented the epitome of a shared cinematic universe. Walter Hermato also decided that Zach Snyder and his

input were now completely out. The guy who started it all with Man of Steel and Batman v. Superman would never release another theatrical DCEU film. Snyder had envisioned an extended saga with the Justice League series that adapted the injustice storyline, with altered at timelines and a flashpoint paradox film. He didn't take the rejection lightly and kept his saga alive in the minds of fans for years. He released storyboards from his original cut of Justice League and for his planned Justice League sequel and also shared excerpts from Junky XL's Justice League score. But we'll dive into all of that drama a little bit later on. Instead, the next DCEU film was Aquaman with Jason Mamoa, which is a more traditional origin story with jokes, adventure,

fun action, and a few dramatic moments here and there. Ironically, HBO's Hollywood satire entourage jokingly envisioned a big budget Aquaman movie over a decade earlier. This fake Aquaman was directed by the most obvious blockbuster ocean theme director there is, James Cameron. Jason Mamoa, who is Hawaiian, was a perfect fit for the role of Arthur Curry, aka Aquaman, even if he didn't have the character's trademark blonde hair. As per the newest DCEU style, the movie was more or less unburdened by any of the story threads or characters from the larger universe. Mamoa's laid-back, fun-to-hang styles, center the tone of the film, which also had some A-listers like Nicole Kidman and Willem Defoe. The CGI heavy movie also benefited from

having director James Wan, who had directed the first Saw movie and was coming fresh off of Fast and Furious Seven. Before he was hired, Peter Jackson was asked not once but twice if he would take the job. Maybe he should have taken it because Aquaman was a huge success. Juan made this movie like the world would never see another Aquaman movie again. There was an octopus playing the drums, Mary Poppins voicing a Crackin, crab people, a whale, headbutting a spaceship. And in every other scene, a conversation was interrupted by a wall exploding. Aquaman earned $1.15 billion to the box office.

of spring 2025, that means that it's not only the most successful DCEU movie, but the highest grossing DC movie ever, more than any Superman movie or any of the Dark Night films. In fact, it is the third highest grossing Warner Brothers movie ever. Only Barbie and the final Harry Potter movie made them more money. It was so successful that Warner Brothers even considered making a spin-off series based on the trench, one of the cooler set pieces in the film. If the DCEU didn't collapse and the movie would have come out just a few years later, maybe that series would have actually been made, because Warner Brothers has recently made a habit of making TV spinoffs of its films, like The Penguin, Dune Prophecy, Peacemaker, and Welcome to Dairy.

However, James Wan later said that the trench were never the actual subjects of this, and this news was a misdirect for a different secret project, a spinoff Black Manta film. The Aquaman villain Black Manta, who appeared in both movies, was played by up-and-coming actor Yahya Abdulmeteen II. He also ended up starring in HBO's Watchman series and will be playing Wonder Man in an upcoming MCU series. Then, four months after Aquaman's set records, the next DCEU movie was Shazam. Now, this film marked the complete 180 tonal opposite of all the Snyder movies and the new direction for the DCEU. Shazam is a 12-year-old kid in a grown man's body and his childlike nature

shone through every scene. I'm not even looking! I'm not even looking! Oh! Oh, and done, finished him. Now, originally, this hero was called Captain Marvel, which frankly is a confusing name. For one thing, DC's main rival in the comics is called Marvel. And for another, Marvel already has its own Captain Marvel. Hell, they have at least two Captain Marvels. Hell, they have at least three Captain Marvels. This is why in 2011, DC just said to hell with it and changed the character's name to Shazam. Now, New Line Cinema originally owned the movie rights, and in the early 2000s, they tried to make a Shazam movie as an action comedy. Peter Siegel, who directed Tommy Boy and

Nutty Professor 2, The Clumps, was attached. Now, that film fell apart after Warner Bros. absorbed New Line Cinema, and The Dark Night created an appetite for serious superhero movies. However, it's still important to note this very early Captain Marvel project because, at one point, Dwayne the Rock Johnson was in talks to play the film's villain, Black Adam. Now, Black Adam is Shazam's arch nemesis and a kind of mirror version of the character, so it made perfect sense for him to be the Big Bad. The Rock was already making hit movies, although he wasn't yet the box office giant that he would become. In 2014, a new Shazam movie was announced, but this time, The Rock said that he hadn't decided

whether he would want to play Black Adam or Shazam. Either one would work, considering all three have similar physiques. The Rock loved the idea of playing Black Adam, but because he was an even bigger star in 2014, he didn't like the idea of playing second fiddle to the film's hero. The solution, eventually, was to make Black Adam its own movie, so the Rock could play Black Adam and stars its anti-hero lead. Without Black Adam, the new Shazam movie would be even more lighthearted than Aquaman,

more of a coming-of-age comedy like Big. That's why, instead of an action star, they cast comic actor Zachary Levi, who also had some action chops from TV shows like Chuck and Heroes. Now, before he was cast, one of several actors considered was John Cena, which would have totally worked. Henry Cavill was also supposed to show up as Superman and a cameo, but scheduling conflicts got in the way. Instead, we got a headless Superman, which still works better than the CGI mustache Superman. The movie was another success for the DCEU. While it didn't blow the box office away, it had mostly good reviews and made a profit.

In February 2020, right before we all started sanitizing our groceries, DC released its next film, Birds of Prey, and the fantabulous emancipation of one Harley Quinn. The film served as a sort of sequel to Suicide Squad that focused on Harley Quinn and featured a bunch of misfits reluctantly teaming up. But instead of the Suicide Squad, it was Gotham City's Birds of Prey, a team of various female characters mostly from the Batman canon. In 2002, before C.W.'s Aeroverse, there was a short-lived Birds of Prey TV show, with Ferris Bueller's Mia Sarah playing Harley.

This new film brought back Margot Robbie after she stole all of her scenes in Suicide Squad. It included the live action feature debuts of popular characters like Huntress, Renee Montoya, and Black Canary. One of Batman's biggest rogues, Black Mask, was the movie's villain played by Ewan McGregor. Birds of Prey is one of the only R-rated movies in the DCEU lineup. It's also the first superhero film ever directed by an Asian woman, Kathy Yan. Now, originally, Penguin was going to be the villain, but DC decided to save him for the next solo Batman film. That way, we could get amazing moments like this. Bad Girl was also supposed to be prominent like she was in the Birds of Prey Comics,

but instead, D.C. decided to give her her own film, and she was never heard from again. We'll talk about that later. Now, a lot of actresses were considered to play the other birds, including Vanessa Kirby as Black Canary and Kristen Miliotti as the Huntress. Now, it's a shame that Milliotti didn't get that role. I feel like she would have been really good as a Gotham City mob daughter. And my side is that unlike everyone here, I was innocent. Reviews for Birds of Prey were mostly positive, but it underperformed at the box office, even for an R-rated film.

In fact, it had the lowest opening for a DC film since Jonah Hex, and that is saying something. Did you dare say that name to me? Immediately after its release, COVID shut the entire world down. And because of this, the next DC film had a very limited release and simultaneously went to streaming. It debuted on Christmas Day 2020 on HBO Max, which is also almost. by Warner Brothers. Wonder Woman in 1984 was a prequel slash period piece with Gowell Godot and director Patty Jenkins returning. Instead of the muted colors of the World War I film, 84 was filled with bright colors and shiny new armor. It was also more lighthearted,

keeping in line with this new and improved DCEU. The film found a way to bring Chris Pine back as love interest Steve Trevor, despite his death at the end of the last movie. Pedro Pascal plays villain Maxwell Lord, who was originally going to be the main villain in George Miller's Justice League. Instead of a bratty tech nerd, Pascal plays Lord as a sleazy 80s Donald Trump-like figure. Ironically, before he was famous, Pedro Pascal was cast as a leading character in the 2011 failed Wonder Woman TV pilot. You know, I really don't like that look I see in your eyes right now. Now, if that show had been a success, he may not have gone on to star in shows like Game

of Thrones, The Last of Us, or The Mandalorian. Instead of Pedro Pascal and the Mandalorian, we might have gotten this guy instead. Or this beloved TV star. Or imagine if she ended up playing Mando. Critical reviews and audience response for 84 were, eh. Like, I still can't get over how unethical it was for Steve Trevor to hijack another man's body and for Wonder Woman to then have sex with that body against that man's will. Even though the movie brought in aspects of the comics like Wonder Woman's Invisible Plain and Her Kingdom Come Armor, fans were let down and plans for a sequel stalled. The DCEU's high of Aquaman and Shazam seemed to already be coming down. Plus, during this era of colorful, lighthearted films, there was still a vocal online contingent of fans who were

unhappy that Man of Steel and Batman v. Superman were consigned to the dustbin of history. These fans were upset that the DCEU was trying to become more like the MCU and the Zach Snyder's influence was removed. Even Man of Steel too was still in development hell. And this is when Snyder and other insiders started to leak that Joss Whedon's cut of the Justice League was very different from his original vision. These fans then blasted the internet with the release the Snyder cut hashtag. They bought ad space in Times Square and review bombed these lighthearted DC films. Snyder egg the fans on by releasing storyboards of deleted scenes from his Justice League and it's a boarded sequel. Like fans picked up on every online gesture he made, for instance,

when he liked an Instagram post stating that Joss Whedon had left DC's Back Girl film. Eventually, Warner Brothers did in fact release the Snyder cut in March 2021. Not only that, but they poured another $70 million into extensive reshoots in post-production. So what we got was a four-hour episodic version of the original Justice League movie. But what they did, different color correction, look, different music, and of course, much different scenes. The Snyder cut gave a much bigger backstory to characters like Flash and Cyborg. Cyborg was particularly interesting as actor Ray Fisher openly talked about how Joss Whedon was a problematic director and abused himself and other actors on set, and he was

very vocal about how his theatrical cut completely undermines his character. The Snyder cut is also rated R, and it's much more violent. Other changes include Superman wearing the black suit that the character wears after his resurrection in the comics, and that's something that a lot of fans. were disappointed did not appear in the theatrical cut. In fact, they color corrected the suit to make it appear more colorful in the Whedon version. Snyder also wanted to expand the universe by introducing Green Lantern, but DC shut this down because they were already interested in a Green Lantern television series. Instead, we got the first live action depiction of Martian Manhunter, a shapeshifter and core member of the Justice League. Apparently, he was the general from Man of Steel, which I guess is supposed to be some shocking reveal that Martian Manhunter was in the DCEU from the very beginning.

The whole time, the whole time, you would... The whole time! Both versions of Justice League have these very brief moments where you really feel the scale of the DC-EU. In the flashbacks of both movies, we see green lanterns and Greek gods like Zeus in a battle. Snyder also added an extended epilogue that took place in the Nightmare timeline, that's Nightmare with the K.

Now, we briefly got a look at this alternate future in Batman v. Superman, where Darkside had conquered the Earth and Superman was evil. Originally, this was supposed to be the main story of the Justice League trilogy, completing Snyder's five-film arc that started with Man of Steel and Batman v. Superman. The Snyder cut gave us a sort of Cliff Notes version of these sequels never to be. Loisling dies, which breaks Superman and turns him fascist.

Aquaman and the other heroes are killed. Batman leads a resistance, teaming up with characters that he never would in other circumstances, like Deathstroke and Jared Lettow's Joker. Joker is the most significant addition to the epilogue and the Snyder cut. Snyder added him in because he knew this was likely the last chance for Lettos Joker and Ben Affleck's Batman to share a scene together, Despite both of them appearing in Suicide Squad, the DC-E-U versions of Batman and Joker never actually met until this moment. I'll be the bigger man.

A truce. Bruce. Instead of the sleazy, slick tattooed Joker, Jared Leto plays this post-apocalyptic version a little differently. He's got long, wild hair, and he comes off even more creepy and menacing. He and Affleck played pretty well off each other, and you can really feel the hatred between these two iconic characters. it gave Snyder a chance for Batman to say the F word. And make me mistake, I will kill you. So, after pumping $70 million into the project,

Warner Brothers really never saw a return on their investment. The film was released straight to their streaming platform, HBO Max. Now, Samba TV released figures saying that only 2.2 million people watched it in the first week, and even then, only 36% of viewers finished it. The release of a black and white cut probably didn't shift the movie into the profitable column either. So all the Snyder fans were happy. No, believe it or not, the fan base was not satiated. They continued to cry out to restore the Snyderverse,

and some of them even planned to try to sabotage James Gunn's new Superman movie. But elements of the old DCEU would survive through the next film released in August 21. Unlike the Snyder cut, this film is DCEU Canon, and it was called The Suicide Squad, you know, like The Wolverine or The Batman. And the Flintstones. Yes, like that. High Five. So, The Suicide Squad is a direct sequel to the film. Although nearly all of the cast are replaced with different supervillain anti-heroes.

Will Smith and directed David Ayer were originally going to return, but then they opted not to after all the chaos and drama that came before. DC even considered Mel Gibson to direct at one point. Several stories and characters were considered, including The Rock is Black Adam and the return of Deathstroke. Now, when Ben Affleck signed on to play Batman, it was on the condition that he would also direct a solo Batman film, and Deathstroke was originally cast to be the villain,

which obviously that film never happened, and we'll get to that a little bit later. Deathstroke also appears in the post-credit scene of Justice League, which sets up Lex Luthor creating the Legion of Doom, the evil version of the Super Friends. But the new Suicide Squad finally came together when James Gunn was brought on to write and direct. He had huge success with the first two Guardians of the Galaxy movies,

which also feature ensemble misfit, C-list characters. But before he can make the third film, he was fired by Disney for some resurfaced Twitter jokes made in bad taste. and then he made the switch to D.C. However, Marvel ended up hiring Gunn back for Guardians 3 just one day after he agreed to do Suicide Squad. He worked out a deal with Kevin Feigy to do Suicide Squad first before finishing his final MCU film. DC even gave James Gunn full creative control over the Suicide Squad, allowing him to use and even kill off any DC characters he wanted to. The Suicide Squad is R-rated and has the snappy back-and-forth dialogue

and crude and quirky jokes that James Gunn is known for. Amanda Waller, Harley Quinn, and Rick Flagg returned from the first film. Although, in a shocking twist, Joel Kinneman's flag is killed by John Cena's character, Peacemaker. The central characters are Harley, Peacemaker, and Edra Elvis's Bloodsport, a villain-turned anti-hero with Daddy-daughter issues. It is not, I repeat, not the same character as Will Smith's villain turned anti-hero with Daddy Daughter Issues. Critics and audiences really like the Suicide Squad, which gave James Gunn his third major cloud pleaser in a row after Guardians 1 and 2. Now, Gunn was a huge comic book fan, and he said that he saw this movie as an extension of the original John Ostrander books from the 80s.

The movie seemed like a hybrid of these two versions of the DCEU. It had the bright color palettes and humor of Shazam and Wonder Woman 84, but also the grim, dark ultraviolence of the Snyder film. By blending the two, Gunn was able to create a world that felt like a comic book, but remained emotionally authentic. DC was so happy with Gunn that they gave him a spinoff sequel TV series to focus on John Sina's peacemaker. This was the next DCEU project to release.

coming out on an HBO Max in January 22. The show brings back Amanda Waller and her team from the Suicide Squad as well as John Cena's peacemaker. Peacemaker, feeling extreme guilt over killing Rick Flag under false pretenses, struggles with his identity as a hero and a stone cold killer. It has eight episodes which are all written by James Gunn. It also has the same R-rated, darkly comic tone as the Suicide Squad, and fans who love the movie also love the series. The first season ends with a cameo from the Justice League. Now, Superman and Wonder Woman are just seen in silhouette, but Ezra Miller and Jason Mamoa reprised their roles as Flash in Aquaman. This also gave audience as the chance to see Aquaman say the F word.

I'm so sick of that rumor. Now, Ben Affleck was supposedly not only to star, but also to write and direct a solo film in the DCEU called The Batman. Now, he dropped out of directing in 2017 with Matt Reeves taking over. And eventually, Affleck also dropped out of even starring in the movie. He just kind of seemed over the whole thing. With the DCEU already struggling, Warner Brothers let Matt Reeves set his film in its own universe with a new actor, while still keeping the title. Instead of Batman, the next film in the actual DCEU was Bat Girl, or at least it would have been if Warner Brothers Discovery hadn't decided to permanently shelve the movie.

Back Girl was intended to be an HBO Max streaming original film, but Warner Brothers wanted to focus on theatrical films after the COVID lockdown ended. And so, reportedly, the company decided they would save money by never releasing the movie. Something to do with writing it off on their taxes, I guess. Jerry, all these big companies, they write off everything. You don't even know what a write-off is. But they do. To this day, Warner Brothers refuses to show audiences this movie, despite it being nearly completed. It's pretty baffling, especially considering who is in the movie.

Along with Leslie Grace as Barbara Gordon, the film features J.K. Simmons as her father, Commissioner Gordon. Now, Simmons previously appeared in the Justice League as Gordon. Now, casting an Oscar winner in the Justice League makes more sense when you realize he was supposed to do more than have a cameo appearance. Another Oscar winner in the Backgirl cast is Brendan Frazier, who played Firefly, a Batman villain who is yet to be seen in live action. But most interesting of all was the fact that Michael Keaton is also in the movie as Bruce Wayne. Bruce Wayne, why you dressed up like Batman?

Since this would have been before The Flash, this would have been Keaton's first return to the role in 30 years. It also opened up questions about where Backgirl fits in the DCEU canon. Simmons is the Gordon of the DCEU where Ben Affleck is Batman. Now, Backgirl may have been a one-off Elseworld film, although the DCU hadn't really done anything like that before. More likely is that Backgirl was intended to take place after the Flash. Originally, Barry Allen was going to cause changes to the DCEU timeline,

including Keaton replacing Affleck as Batman. Not only was the flash delayed, but the filmmakers decided to use George Clooney as the new Batman instead. So we may never know exactly what was going on in Backgirl because we may never actually get a chance to see the damn movie. Now, the reason Back Girl wasn't in The Birds of Prey was because DC Films wanted to give her a solo film. Joss Whedon was originally attached, although fans were pushing for a female director. Now, another movie that saw lots of delays was Black Adam, which did eventually release in October 2022, 15 years after The Rock was first attached to the role. 84 years. Now somehow, Shazam did not have a post-credit scene teasing Black Adam. His first solo

appearance is in his solo film, which shows Black Adam being an anti-hero reluctantly joining forces with the Justice Society of America. Now, in the end, Black Adam was DC's last big swing to course correct the DCEU and keep it alive. So the idea was to center this new universe around Black Adam, played by super popular star Dwayne Johnson, instead of centering the saga on Henry Cavill Superman, which fans have been very mixed about. As the Rock himself put it, Things will never be the same, because the hierarchy of power in the DC universe is about to change. So, this myth of Black Adam would be as powerful, if not more powerful than Superman in the DCEU, but also that the character would be the focus of the next big team-up movie.

It would be like if in the middle of Marvel's Infinity saga, the MCU switch focus from Tony Stark to Killmonger. Now, to be fair, the Rock had sort of done this thing before, joining the Fast and Furious franchise midway through, which then became a lot more successful. in words, he did become Franchise Viagra. However, none of that happened here. Black Adam came and went and had a strong opening before kind of fizzling out at the box office. Critics and fans both found the film to be pretty cookie cutter, not really offering anything new or exciting to the superhero genre. Right about the hierarchy of power. Did it change? Nope, Amanda Waller and Superman do appear in the end credit scene, setting up an epic battle between Calell and Black Adam. And then, Cavill announced

on Instagram that he was back. But then, just a few days later, DC reversed course and decided to go another way. Now, if Black Adam had been a massive hit, the DCEU could have still very well been alive in kicking today. Perhaps we'd be seen a Justice League, Justice Society crossover film going up against a vendor's doomsday. But DC film's last big swing was a strike. Strike three, apparently, because James Gunn and Peter Safran were hired to replace Walter Hamada just days later. DC films became DC Studios. So with the same creative control he had over the suicide squad, James Gunn eventually decided to end the DCEU completely and replace it with a new cinematic universe. Before that could happen, though, several movies were already still

in production or just ready to be released. A few months after Black Adam, Zachary Levi returned as Shazam and Shazam Fury of the Gods. Just as the first Shazam didn't tease Black Adam, somehow Black Adam didn't tease Shazam too, despite coming out just a few months earlier. In the end, we never even saw the two rivals share a scene or appear in the same movie. A post-credit scene in Black Adam was supposed to connect Shazam to the Justice Society, but the Rock vetoed it. Another Black Adam's scene was supposed to see characters from Peacemaker appear. But the Rock gave this idea the people's elbow. The scene was then moved to the end of Shazam 2 instead. I just want to be in the Wonder Woman group, so that's you guys, right? The movie placed more focus on Billy's

foster siblings who also had similar Shazam powers, but it was not nearly as well received as the first film. It was a box office failure, despite a last minute cameo from Gal Gadot that was supposed to be a surprise, but they shoehorned it into the trailer. The Rock's refusal to connect Black Adam with Shazam may have heard its chances, but considering the Black Adam was also a dud, who knows. Either way, it was becoming increasingly clear that the DCEU was going out with the whimper and not with the bang. If there was any hope for this universe, it was the Flash. A DCEU Flash film was one of the very first planned projects for the universe, and it had actually been in the work since 2013, with a 2016 release in mind. It went through

several directors and story ideas before finally releasing in 2023, helmed by IT director Andy Mochetti. Before him, writers and directors attached to the project included Phil Lord Chris Miller, while the studio also considered or asked Robert Zemeckis, Matthew Vaughn, Sam Ramey, Mark Webb, Jordan Peel, and Ben Affleck. James Wan was also given a choice to direct either Flash or Aquaman, and pretty correctly chose Aquaman. Now, before the DCEU, Hollywood had tried to make a Flash movie as far back as the 1980s. David S. Goyer and Sean Levy were both attached to a flash film in the early 2000s, with Ryan Reynolds attached to play Wally West. So for a long time, the DCEU Flash Movie was supposed to be called Flashpoint. Now Flashpoint is a major event in

the comics where Flash messes with timelines and revamps the entire canon, like Crisis on Infinite Earths once did. So because of this, once the DCEU started flailing and Ben Affleck publicly stated that he didn't want to return, many fans assumed that the Flash movie would be used to retcon the DCEU. Now, this would allow the universe to change actors or even swap out unpopular storylines, like Metropolis being wiped out a Man of Steel or Batman being middle-aged. As the DCEU continued to struggle, it seemed like Flashpoint would change more and more of the original Snyderverse. Since it was released after the James Gunn takeover was announced, fans were certain that the Flash would set up a new DC universe, but...

I was wrong. So, rather than adapt the comics, where Thomas Wayne becomes Batman, DC brought back Michael Keaton to the role, hoping that nostalgia for the original Burton films would reinvigorate the franchise. Now, because Back Girl was killed, we don't know if this is the same Michael Keaton Batman as the one that was going to be in that movie. In The Flash, he is a hermit who has long since retired. The Flash seeks him out to stop General Zod's invasion because in this universe, Cal Lever never became Superman. Instead of Superman, they're a Supergirl played by Sasha Calle. They team up and stop Zod, but not before Michael Keaton's Batman is killed by a Kryptonian slamming him into the ground, which, oh, ouch.

That's what happens when you ask a big alien if they want to get nuts. Now, as the Flash resets the timeline, he and the audience get visions of many different DC universes that are in danger of collapsing. This included the Adam West Batman, the Nicholas Cage Superman, and the Christopher Reeve and Helen Slater, original Superman and Supergirl movies. These were mostly done with Deepfake CGI, which was a pretty controversial move by the filmmakers, considering they did not ask the families for permission. Now, whether it was in good taste or not, it did serve as a love letter to the various cinematic interpretation of DC Comics. Now, this was fitting considering the Flash was near the end of another DC Cinematic Universe. It ends with the Flash returning to what he thinks is his original timeline.

However, not everything is the same as the film reveals that Bruce Wayne is now played by George Clooney, who remember Don the Cow in 1997's Batman and Robin. Now, since The Flash is a more joke-heavy superhero movie, this does work as a funny button, although it does leave open the question of whether or not the DCEU still has George Clooney as Batman. A Ben Affleck actually does appear in The Flash before the timeline changes, as Galgadotte's Wonder Woman, Jason Momoa's Aquaman, and Jeremy Irons as Alfred. The Flash was one of the first movies planned in the DCEU and ended up being one of the last. a lot of ways, it is the true swan song of the DCEU. Blue Beetle came out just a few months after

the Flash. Now, it's a much smaller scale film that was originally meant to release straight to streaming, like That Girl. Fortunately for us, Blue Beetle did not get buried by Warner Brothers. It is very much in the lighthearted, fun tone that the DCU tried to set after Zach Snyder left. Sholo Meduena plays Jaime Reyes, who is the third Blue Beetle in the comics. In fact, Blue Beetle is the first live-action superhero film with a Latino lead, and it's directed by Puerto Rican filmmaker Angel Manuel Soto. Now, Blue Beetle's fun, bright vibe was really well received by critics and audiences. I loved it. It was no Iron Man, but it had better reviews than a lot of other DC films. However, it did not do well at the box office, and it's the lowest

grossing film in the DCEU. Some believe that fans just weren't interested in the movie because by then, it was already clear that this universe wasn't going to be around much longer. I mean, what was the point of getting invested if this was the only movie? Now, that is despite earlier rumors that Blue Beetle would in fact launch the James Gunn DCU. It didn't, but Gunn did say at one point that Sholo would play the Blue Beetle in his new universe. Aquaman 2, on the other hand, is very much tied to the old universe and not the new one. Released at the end of 2023, over 10 years after Man of Steel, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom is the final movie in the DCEU. James Wan returns to direct, and it's exactly what you would expect from an Aquaman sequel. It has the

same fun hangout vibe as Jason Momoa's first film. Most of the cast returns and it continues the story beats that it set up. Now, while it's not a total bomb, it didn't do nearly as well as the first Aquaman with critics or audiences. Aquaman 2, though, doesn't feel like a finale because it was never intended to be one. So the DCEU pretty much died as it lived with a shrug, a shrug and a bug, because the final shot of this cinematic universe is Patrick Wilson's Reformed Ocean Master eating a bug. But for what it's worth, the DCEU isn't a complete failure of a franchise, like say Universal's Dark Universe or The Amazing Spider-Man. It has over a dozen movies, an army of loyal fans.

It launched careers, and it gave us some really great cinematic moments along with all the bad stuff. James Gunn, who is now running DC Studios with Peter Saffron, is creating a totally new canon. To differentiate itself from the DCU, it's simply called the DCU. Now, while the slate of films and ongoing storylines are loosely planned for the next several years, only two have actually been made so far, Superman and Supergirl. The new Superman movie is coming out soon, and Supergirl is in post-production, and stars House of the Dragons Millie Alcock as Kara Zorrell, replacing the DCEU, Sasha Kale. Now, Jason Mamoa is also in the film, but not as Aquaman.

Instead, he is perfectly cast as the fan favorite character from the comics Lobo. Don't struggle now. You'll just make them vengeful. Jason Mamoa playing a different character is pretty clear evidence that these two franchises do not take place in the same universe. However, even with this seismic change in the DC movie canon, there is still some DNA of the DCEU, left in this new cinematic world. Like how part of me is still the noble savage wolf. Right. Exactly, but it's still unclear just how much of the old DCEU will live on in the DCU.

For instance, Peacemaker Season 2 is coming out, and it's going to take place in the DCU, despite season one taking place in the DCEU. And like Peacemaker, the DCU series Creature Commandos, is in many ways a sequel to the Suicide Squad. The show, which is animated, is the first official story set in this universe. The main character, Rick Flagg Sr., runs the team after his son was killed. presumably in the same events that we saw in the DCEU Suicide Squad. And Weasel also returns after surviving in the post-credit scene of that movie. Creature Commandos also features the voice of Viola Davis's Amanda Waller,

who has also been part of the DCU since 2016. And there's also talk about Waller getting her own HBO Max spinoff, which would be set in the new DCU. So as we see more and more projects from the DCU, we may see additional elements of the DCEU carry over, some small, some big, like if Jolo Mereduena were to return as the Blue Beetle. And even if the DCEU is dead and buried,

hey, there's always the multiverse. Maybe one day the DCU flash will enter the speed force and see a deep fake Ben Affleck playing Batman once more. Well, guys, that is the entire history of the DC extended universe. What were your thoughts on this franchise? Do you want to restore the Snyderverse? Are you excited for a semi-clean slate with the DCU? Big shout out to Jack Bacone who wrote this video.

You can find his social links below, and you can let me know what you think down in the comments or at me on Twitter, Blue Sky Threads, or on our free-to-join Discord server. And if it's your first time here, welcome to the channel. Please subscribe and smash that bell for alerts. For Screen Crush, I'm Ryan Erie.