Over the weekend, a pretty reliable rumour started doing the rounds online suggesting that The Flash would end by resetting the DC Extended Universe Flashpoint-style, wiping Zack Snyder's movies from continuity in the process. Superman would become Supergirl, a new Justice League would be formed, and Warner Bros. could finally move on from the "SnyderVerse" era.
We'll find out later this year whether everything since 2013's Man of Steel truly no longer counts, but the response to this news - particularly from supporters of the #RestoreTheSnyderVerse movement - has been a vocal one. Ezra Miller has gone into damage control mode, and there are already campaigns to stop this from happening (something tells us it's a little too late for that).
Regardless of how you feel about the SnyderVerse, this reboot of the DCEU really isn't as bad as it seems on the surface. In this feature, we take a closer look at why it doesn't matter if the reset button is hit on this corner of the DC Multiverse along with the exciting possibilities it opens the door to.
To take a look at this breakdown, all you guys need to do is click on the "Next" button below!
5. Zack Snyder's DCEU Is Already Dead
As someone who appreciated Zack Snyder's vision for the DC Extended Universe, it somewhat pains me to say this, but it's a fact I can accept. From the moment Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice opened to negative reviews and Warner Bros. enlisted Joss Whedon to then remake Justice League in his image, the so-called "SnyderVerse" has been dead.
Batman v Superman was a very expensive movie, and its failure to crack $1 billion sent Warner Bros. into panic mode. That's why Suicide Squad underwent such major changes and explains the studio's attempts to do anything and everything possible to move on from Snyder's gloomy, violent take on superheroes (Aquaman felt like a Marvel movie and grossed over $1 billion).
Is The Flash potentially closing the door on the DCEU we first visited with Man of Steel really that big of a deal when Henry Cavill clearly isn't coming back as Superman? Ben Affleck abandoned plans to direct and star in The Batman several years ago, with the new version of that project taking place in a separate world, anyway. The Suicide Squad was blatantly a reboot with just a few of the same characters, so making this "erasure" official just feels like a formality at this stage.
4. Warner Bros. Won't #RestoreTheSnyderVerse
Zack Snyder's Justice League arrived on HBO Max last year, and while it did respectable streaming numbers, it wasn't the game-changer for that service many fans expected it to be. The filmmaker dropped a bunch of teases that set the stage for the rest of his planned trilogy, but nearly a year later, it should be apparent to everyone that an announcement of a sequel isn't coming.
Had Warner Bros. been that blown away by the Snyder Cut's performance, the studio would have capitalised on the buzz and immediately started moving forward with more movies. Even the director himself appears to have moved on and it's been made clear on multiple occasions that the decision to #ReleaseTheSnyderCut was done to, well, basically shut fans up and stop a lot of the toxicity.
While it may seem a shame to fully move on from the SnyderVerse by resetting the DCEU in The Flash, it probably makes more sense to do that than continue trying to distance future movies from what's come before by ignoring continuity we currently know is there (see: The Suicide Squad).
3. A Fresh Start Might Be For The Best
It's easy to forget that Man of Steel was originally planned as a standalone Superman franchise before the decision was made to include Batman and start rushing towards a Justice League movie. That was a backwards approach to creating a shared comic book movie universe, but Warner Bros. was desperate to catch up with Marvel Studios and the result obviously never gelled with fans.
Love or hate the SnyderVerse, it feels like a failed experiment. None of these movies were massive critical and commercial hits, and the studio did find greater success by moving away from that tone with the likes of Shazam! and Aquaman (weirdly, Wonder Woman worked much better adopting a darker approach to the material than the campy Wonder Woman 1984 rejected by moviegoers).
A new DCEU that keeps many of the same actors but frees up future filmmakers from being beholden to previous creative decisions will be no bad thing. Steve Trevor could be brought into the present day; Doomsday could get the big screen treatment he deserves; the door may even be open to "Batman Beyond" with Michael Keaton back as Bruce Wayne. Right now, none of that is possible, so if hitting the reset button in The Flash helps, then it feels like the right decision.
2. It's Not Really Being "Erased"
As harsh as it might sound on the surface that the SnyderVerse movies will no longer be "canon" after The Flash, the simple fact Warner Bros. is keeping many of the same actors around is a good indication that this isn't a full-blown reboot. Like the Flashpoint comic book, we're clearly just going to end up with a new version of the same world. That's actually exciting in a lot of ways.
Black Adam will introduce the Justice Society of America and we're betting their sudden appearance is a result of The Flash (even with that movie coming after). Even if it's not, a reset means that unexpected characters (like Supergirl) can appear and others can return in fresh ways. Snyder's Martian Manhunter, for example, wasn't exactly the take on that hero many fans had been waiting for.
All that aside, and Snyder's work will never fully be erased. The movies are still there for fans to enjoy and, as mentioned, the fact that the same actors are still around means the filmmaker's DCEU isn't truly gone. We're sure some past events will also continue being referenced, just in different ways. Ultimately, this isn't the end of the world (at least, not the real one we all live in).
1. It's Not Like Warner Bros. Knows What It's Doing, Anyway
2021 might have been one of the worst years for any studio in recent memory. Nearly every movie Warner Bros. released was a commercial failure thanks to the strategy of having the slate debut on HBO Max at the same time, and the likes of Mortal Kombat, The Matrix Resurrections, and Space Jam: A New Legacy were all critical disappointments as well. However, their biggest misstep was arguably The Suicide Squad, a critical darling that bombed at the box office.
The movie itself was terrific, but a weird title and muddled marketing campaign that made it seem like a sequel and reboot left audiences confused about a franchise they didn't want to return to, anyway. Over the past few years, Warner Bros. has delivered some DC hits (Aquaman and Joker), but when they make a misstep, it's often a huge one that drives home a very simple point:
This is a studio that has no idea how to handle a shared comic book movie universe.
Whether the SnyderVerse is reset or Zack Snyder's Justice League 2 is released next year, Warner Bros. has proven time and time again that they don't get these characters. Expecting the same level of success from them as Marvel Studios is delusional at this point, and we're already seeing some big blunders. Don't believe us? Well, The Batman looks like a masterpiece in the making, and the response from this studio is to basically bring back Gotham as two new shows on HBO Max. Yikes.