Fixing The DCEU - My Version Of How The DCEU Should Have Gone (Part 1)

Fixing The DCEU - My Version Of How The DCEU Should Have Gone (Part 1)

The DC Extended Universe has had a rough beginning but here is my idea on how it could have been handled better and how the DCEU should have built up for 'Justice League'!

Editorial Opinion
By aliharris - Sep 11, 2018 12:09 AM EST
Filed Under: DC Studios
The DCEU has undeniably a lot of issues mainly due to Warner Bros. wanting to catch up to the Marvel Cinematic Universe and it's a shame too as DC have an amazing roster of characters that we haven't seen depicted on the big screen. The issues of the DCEU were implanted immediately with the first movie which gave us a Superman origin story. While, I do quite like 'Man of Steel', the problem is with the lack of understanding on what they wanted after. 

When 'Man of Steel' was released back in 2013 the idea was to create an individual movie that wouldn't try too hard to set up a universe because at the time Warner Bros and DC Comics didn't know how the audience would react towards the Superman origin. 'Man of Steel' is one of my personal favourite origin movies for a superhero simply because it doesn't try to be something it isn't. It's an origin story for Superman and it is as simple as that, the villain was good and the character of Superman was written quite well. There were a few issues with the pacing, with the third act of the movie but overall, it was an enjoyable movie. 

Here's where the problem comes in, this movie was NOT a set up for a universe, at least that's how Warner Bros and DC Comics saw it at the time. This movie was a test to see if the audience would appreciate enough for them to have the green light on creating a universe. Warner Bros and DC Comics should've had a plan, or at least some sort of concept which would've given WB and DC a better idea on what they wanted to do with this universe that they were now creating. 'Man of Steel' was a good origin story, there was nothing horrible about it that made the movie necessarily bad but WB just didn't know where to go from there. Instead of giving us a sequel or another origin story for a different superhero, they went ahead and gave us 'Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice' and that's when it all went downhill. 

Personally, I enjoyed BvS for what it was but that doesn't mean I can't see the many flaws this movie had and with those flaws, it brought issues into the overall DCEU. For this, I have two ideas that I think could've worked better than what we got in BvS and by no means am I pretending that I'm a better story-teller than Zack Snyder or the people involved with writing BvS. Take away the whole Batman going up against Superman as it is far too early into the DCEU for a movie as big as this. Instead, have it be a proper sequel to ‘Man of Steel’. Keep the whole arc of the public reacting badly to the destruction of Metropolis, as well as the death count, keep the political opinion on whether there should even be a Superman as this way it truly shows Superman struggling to find his identity in this world. He’s sad, confused and feels like he’s alone. The main bad for the sequel would be Lex Luthor, who obviously blames Superman for the destruction of Metropolis and as a result, he is working on a project called ‘The Bizarro Project’. Throughout the movie, we see Lex working on this project as he uses the DNA of General Zod to create a Superman clone that he could control.

Now, throughout the movie Clark Kent becomes less active as Superman because he truly believes he isn’t doing any good. Of course, Superman can’t just get away with all the destruction in Metropolis though, right? Keep the scene in which Superman goes to the courtroom to discuss and finalise what will happen with him and BAM, the courtroom explodes as it did in BvS and of course it was set up by Lex Luthor to make Superman look bad. Lex Luthor goes on record and states to the public that Superman must be stopped, the people who are now even more afraid of Superman are with Lex Luthor on this. When Superman goes to confront Lex Luthor, ‘The Bizarro Project’ is revealed and before the fight happens, Lex and Superman talk about why Lex is doing this and that he sees Superman as a deterrent to the city. This way Lex isn’t really just a villain doing villainy things. This way Lex seems like the guy fighting for the people of the city rather than just fighting for the survival of the city. When the fight breaks out between Bizarro and Superman, we see the two of them causing havoc once again in Metropolis… Superman realises that he is fighting the wrong fight and instead of only focusing on Bizarro, throughout the fight he saves as many people as he can. After a short while of fighting through the city, Superman pushes the fight away from the city as much as he can and into space. After a long, exhaustive fight, Superman defeats Bizarro and as a result, Lex is sent to either Blackgate Penitentiary in Gotham or Arkham Asylum. The movie can either have a montage or one specific scene where Superman helps to rebuild Metropolis due to any destruction caused during the fight, it can also show Superman saving several people and we see the people’s thoughts on Superman transition and they finally begin to trust him. 


For an after-credit scene, they could have a cameo/Easter Egg of Batman if they want to set up Batman's existence in the DCEU at that point. My idea for the after-credit scene would be that Batman vists Lex in prison except we wouldn't see Batman himself. The lights go out completely, it's pitch dark except for this little light flickering, we see a shadow with a bat-symbol on the chest area and the shadow continually gets closer to Lex. He threatens Lex that he'll be watching him from now on and that's it! Like I said earlier, I don't pretend to be a writer or a better story-teller, especially as I have the advantage of hindsight but this is just an idea. I will be making a few articles like this one where I share my ideas on how the DCEU could have gone and probably would have worked better as making it all into one article would be far too long. 
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AgeofHeroes
AgeofHeroes - 9/11/2018, 1:27 AM
can we just stop with this articles, dceu has done just 5 movies...they already have a better leader, lets wait till aquaman before we start criticizing them again!
Feralwookiee
Feralwookiee - 9/11/2018, 1:54 AM
The DCEU has been a trainwreck and after Aquaman flops/underperforms it's probably a good idea to take some time off and totally reboot, but the execs at WB aren't that smart.

Speaking of trainwrecks...
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/olivia-munn-says-predator-colleagues-shunned-her-after-calling-out-sex-offender-steven-wilder-striegel/
Nebula
Nebula - 9/11/2018, 2:02 AM
@aliharris - dude, nobody's gonna read it organised like this. Also, in the editor, you need to put it in the fanfic section.
RageDriver2401
RageDriver2401 - 9/11/2018, 2:06 AM
@Nebula - that's true. Too long to read, needs restructuring.
aliharris
aliharris - 9/11/2018, 2:17 AM
@Nebula - We usually put opinionated articles in featured. However, if you have any idea on restructuring then I’m all ears. Not being defensive (sorry if it seems that way), I actually want to take criticism to get better!
Nebula
Nebula - 9/11/2018, 3:00 AM
@aliharris - I mean, like, you need subheadings and points. You can't just have long-winded paragraphs. TL;DR basically - just make it seem not as long as it is.

And an opinionated article would be an editorial.
aliharris
aliharris - 9/11/2018, 4:31 AM
@Nebula - Got it, I’ll keep these things in mind in my next part of this article!
RageDriver2401
RageDriver2401 - 9/11/2018, 2:03 AM
Waiting for the Snyder cult to show up and suggest that re-hiring Snyder is the only way to fix the DCEU.
obarium
obarium - 9/11/2018, 2:22 AM
Didn't read...

My plan - remove BvS, Suicide Squad, and Justice League from continuity/canon. Maintain MoS and Wonder Woman, pick up from Aquaman, recast Batman and slot Matt Reeves' film into the timeline however he sees fit. Go from there.

The lack of "news" in regards to the DCEU is super promising in my mind. Since Walter Hamada stepped in shit has been on lock down and while there are still many films in apparent active development, things feels more certain with Hamada steering the ship.
JDL
JDL - 9/11/2018, 3:33 AM
It appears to me that that characterization of Supes in the DCEU has been divisive. The people who hate him in MoS are a lost cause on anything but a reboot. They would be better off without him at this point.

Pantherpool
Pantherpool - 9/11/2018, 3:52 AM
Nearly all of the DCEU's problems will go away if they act like BvS, Suicide Squad and Justice League never happened and if they cancel most of their "in development" films.
99OPTIMISTPRIME
99OPTIMISTPRIME - 9/11/2018, 3:57 AM
Damn! You were doing so well, before the part about Superman being "sad, confused and feels like he's alone".
aliharris
aliharris - 9/11/2018, 4:30 AM
@WAKANDABATMANFOREVER - Mainly so that Superman can continue to develop rather than have him being happy, unstoppable and a God-like figure. This way Superman is brought down to human level and we can see that things do impact him.
TheClungerine
TheClungerine - 9/11/2018, 4:24 AM
Good read I would have done something similar myself but instead of bizzaro use metallo or someone otherwise it would have been supes fighting his equal twice in a row.

I would have kept the Batman vs Superman stuff but left out the doomsday and death of superman parts. In my version Batman and supes would have fought twice...(one after the batmobile chase where superman basically owns batman easily resulting in Batman taking an L but leaving a sneaky tracking device on supes, then later when Clark gets home he finds it cutting to Batman standing on top of a building watching like the opening of TAS and that's how he finds out superman identity . 2nd fight would be in the armoured suit but the fight is basically to put superman in his place and bring him down to Human level instead of to kill him)

Batman would have never set out to kill superman just to teach him a lesson and as he is doing so lex unleashes metallo who half kills superman Batman obviously Not about killing teams up with supermannto stop lex and metallo which would result in them having an understanding. Wonder woman would have been an after credits scene the flash and Aquaman would have small cameos in the movie or something I haven't planned it out fully lol
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