Thus Endeth the DC Extended Universe
After ten years, Warner Bros’ attempt at a Marvel-style franchise has reached its premature end point.
On Tuesday evening, I attended a public preview of Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, the fifteenth and final instalment in the DC Extended Universe, perhaps the prime example of a major studio mishandling one of its most important assets. I enjoyed the film, aside from having to attend the 3D showing for timing reasons, and to some degree I’m sad to see the DCEU go because overall I liked these versions of the characters and the actors playing them. On the other hand, it was clearly time to put the franchise out of its misery.
It all began in June 2013, when Warner Bros. released Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel: ostensibly a mere reinvention of the Superman mythos for the big screen, in a vein similar to Christopher Nolan’s take on Batman (in fact, Nolan produced the film and co-wrote the story with David S. Goyer), it was also the first building block in what was meant to be Warner’s response to Disney’s highly popular Marvel Cinematic Universe. Or at least, that’s what it became: whether the people involved were just being coy remains up for debate, but during production Snyder was adamant the already announced Justice League movie (then scheduled for 2015, with Ruben Fleischer directing and Will Beall writing the script) would not feature his version of Superman.
When Man of Steel proved a hit, the studio quickly gave the go-ahead for a sequel, which rapidly expanded the universe by introducing Batman and Wonder Woman in major roles, as well as cameos for Aquaman, Cyborg and the Flash. So confident was WB it had a Dark Knight-sized juggernaut on its hands, it also handed Snyder the Justice League project and scheduled it so he would start shooting it mere weeks after the premiere of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.
There was just one problem. Well, two: firstly, the second entry in the franchise wasn’t quite the hit everyone had expected (although it grossed a respectable 873 million dollars worldwide, half of that was on opening weekend, meaning audience interest diminished significantly after the first few days); secondly, it was now clear, at least internally, that Snyder and the studio were not on the same page. While the filmmaker had a specific, finite story arc in mind, the corporate mindset was to have a continuing universe in the vein of the MCU.
As such, Justice League was mandated to have a lighter tone and reduced runtime, an assignment Snyder reluctantly agreed to until a family tragedy drained him of all energy to put up a fight with executives who no longer supported his vision. Six months before the film’s scheduled release, he stepped down to deal with his personal matters.
The studio hired Joss Whedon to overhaul the film – the official statement was he was simply handling standard issue reshoots and the remainder of post-production – while retaining the original release date. The widely mocked final result caused fans to demand the release of the original edit (eventually unveiled in 2021) and Warners to rethink the DCEU strategy.
While the previous films, with the partial exception of Wonder Woman, had all built towards a major event, much like Marvel’s various Phases, the new philosophy was to make the movies more standalone, with no overarching storyline. A good idea on paper, but a veritable revolving door of people in charge and the existence of projects that were unconnected to the DCEU (Todd Phillips’ Joker, Matt Reeves’ The Batman) led to a situation where audiences were understandably confused about what they were watching and grew increasingly disillusioned with the franchise. Even allowing for the fact that the pandemic and the disastrous hybrid release system implemented in 2021 affected the box office, the DCEU’s commercial fortunes – in theaters, at least – ended with Shazam!, released in 2019.
Perhaps most grotesque of all was the studio’s handling of The Flash: originally planned for 2018, it went through so many iterations and delays even the actors were not sure they were going to be part of it (in an unusual display of candor, Michael Keaton – who did eventually reprise his role as Batman from the 1989/1992 Tim Burton movies – openly admitted, months before the start of filming, he was still waiting for the latest script revisions before committing to a months-long shoot in the UK during a pandemic).
Even more confusingly, while it was clearly set up as the film that would put an end to the DCEU by resetting the whole universe (a consequence of the main character’s meddling with the flow of time), it ended up being the third-to-last movie in release order. Not that it really mattered: the other movies having standalone narratives meant they could be enjoyed on their own terms, without having to worry about interconnected ramifications.
And now, ironically, the franchise ends the same way it began: with the story of a hero struggling with his dual heritage, directed by a filmmaker whose style is cleverly blended with the usual superhero trappings. And that’s it for a while, as the upcoming Joker sequel will be the lone DC theatrical release for 2024 and the new incarnation of the continuing universe gets ready for a 2025 start. So, farewell, DCEU. Despite your best/worst attempts, it was fun to know you.