We recently learned that DC Studios co-CEOs James Gunn and Peter Safran have pulled the plug on Wonder Woman 3, Man of Steel 2, and even Batman Beyond, signalling an end to the DCEU as we know it. There have even been claims about a full-blown reboot, with the actors we know as these characters signing off after next year.
While there's a great deal of uncertainty right now, it's become clear that the DCU will have little in common with the DCEU.
This wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing after the movies we've seen from Warner Bros. over the past decade, and we have some thoughts on why now is the right time to move on courtesy of DC Studios. However, we also share a couple of reasons why completely forgetting the past could be a very costly mistake.
To take a look through this breakdown, all you guys need to do is click on the "Next" button below!
Why It's Right
5. A Fresh Start Is Desperately Needed
Warner Bros. never had a plan for what fans would eventually dub the "DCEU" (a moniker originally created as a joke by a journalist). Man of Steel was just a Superman movie until the sequel threw Batman into the mix...along with a bunch of cameos that set up a Justice League project far too quickly.
Along the way, the studio started adding to Zack Snyder's vision for a four or five-part story, introducing the likes of Wonder Woman and Suicide Squad to the mix.
It never really made much sense, and we've seen had to sit through movie after movie with barely any connective tissue, and no real endgame. That was starting to change with The Flash, but primarily so the characters played by actors like Ben Affleck and Henry Cavill could be wiped from canon. None of this needs to be carried over into the DCU.
4. There's Too Much Baggage
By now, you should realise the DCEU in its current form has far too much baggage. Imagine if, when Marvel Studios acquired all those Marvel Television and 20th Century Fox characters, they had to stick to the previous creative team's decisions?
We'd have an MCU with Dark Phoenix's X-Men shoehorned in, and Finn Jones still playing Iron Fist. Those are just a couple of examples that spring to mind, but the point is that Gunn and Safran are inheriting an awful lot of baggage from the DCEU. That's one hell of a burden to carry when you're looking to turn around the fortunes of a damaged franchise.
Throw in some of the DCEU's questionable creative decisions (like The Flash movie switching out Superman for Supergirl or enlisting a 71-year-old as Batman), and it's clearly time to move on.
3. A New DCU Requires New Faces
While we're sure the DCU will introduce a lot of new heroes and villains, you can't build a successful cinematic universe around Gunn's favourite B and C-List characters from the comic books.
We need Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman to be at the forefront of the stories being told moving forward, but doing that with the actors who have played them in critically panned movies doesn't seem like the smartest idea. Moviegoers will associate Cavill, for example, with Man of Steel, a story that ended with him snapping General Zod's neck.
If this slate of movies is truly meant as a fresh start for the franchise, then fresh faces to head it up are required, and there are plenty of great young actors out there who would do amazing things with The Trinity and the rest of the Justice League.
2. It Will Help Eliminate The Toxicity
By releasing the Snyder Cut of Justice League, Warner Bros. hoped to move on from the toxic side of the #ReleaseTheSnyderCut movement. It worked...mostly.
Unfortunately for the studio, there are many very vocal fans out there who continue to campaign for Zack Snyder's Justice League sequel and even the director's cut of Suicide Squad, a movie released six years ago. Even now, we've seen The Rock stir up many of his fans, sending them to fight Black Adam's corner after the experts declared it a box office flop.
There will be those who are unhappy with a completely fresh start, but by moving on from the SnyderVerse, those fans are going to have no choice other than to accept what they want to happen isn't going to.
1. A Reboot Is Overdue
Next year will mark Man of Steel's 10-year anniversary, while it will also have been half a decade since Wonder Woman and Justice League were released.
The DCEU is getting up there in years, but 10 years into the MCU's existence, we were looking forward to Avengers: Infinity War after a series of critical and commercial hits. For the DCEU, it's been a decade of flops, a handful of hits, and a lot of movies considered among the worst the genre has to offer. What about that doesn't make you think it's time for a reboot?
While it will be a little strange for this shared world to be overhauled so soon after the likes of The Flash and Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom are released, the time is right.
Why It's Wrong
2. What About 2023's Movies?
2023 will see the release of Shazam! Fury of the Gods, The Flash, Blue Beetle, and Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom. Normally, we'd be massively excited for all of them, but it's hard when there's so much uncertainty surrounding what comes next for the DCU.
With the Aquaman sequel coming out right at the end of the year, there's no way to reveal this slate of DCU projects without massively undermining the movies that are on the way. Jason Momoa as Aquaman? Great! Now, remind us why we should bother checking out Momoa's final appearance as Arthur Curry...
These remaining projects from the DCEU era are a problem, but releasing them if they have no bearing on the future does them a real disservice, particularly when it comes to a hero like Blue Beetle.
1. Those Actors Deserve Better
While we're admittedly struggling to think of any reasons to not scrap everything that's even tentatively tied to the DCEU, Warner Bros. risks parting ways with a lot of great actors.
Putting the Justice League actors to one side, does this mean no more John Cena as Peacemaker? Is Margot Robbie done as Harley Quinn? Putting it in those terms, we find it hard to believe everyone will be recast, unless the idea is to use the Multiverse concept to bring those actors back as different characters (an undeniably intriguing prospect).
We'd hate to say goodbye to the likes of Cavill and Gadot, but how do you keep them and not Affleck? And, how do you get rid of them, but not everyone else? Gunn and Safran have one hell of a mess on their hands, that's for sure.