A lot has changed since the DCEU (DC Extended Universe) first announced its roster. After Man of Steel, there was Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice followed by Suicide Squad, Wonder Woman, Justice League, Aquaman, Shazam! Birds of Prey, Wonder Woman 1984, The Suicide Squad, and Black Adam. There was also supposed to be The Flash starring Ezra Miller and Cyborg starring Ray Fisher. There were plans for a Batman movie starring Ben Affleck as well as a Man of Steel 2 with Henry Cavill. There was also supposed to be Justice League 2 as well as Green Lantern Corps. These projects had release dates set. The Flash was supposed to come out in 2018. Cyborg was originally set for 2020 as was Green Lantern Corps. Justice League 2 was originally supposed to be 2019 and at one point the title was Justice League Part 1 and Justice League Part 2. Man of Steel 2 and The Batman movie were the only ones that did not have set dates. The Batman was trying to aim for 2019 at one time. That does not include a handful of projects that were announced. At one point there were plans for A Joker/Harley Quinn movie that would have starred Jared Leto and Margot Robbie. There was also supposed to be Gotham City Sirens which would have starred Margot Robbie as well as having Poison Ivy and Catwoman and there were rumors that Jared Leto would have a role as the Joker. There were also plans for a spinoff of Aquaman with a film called The Trench. The Trench would have focused on the trench and the creatures who lived there. The location and the creatures were in a small part of Aquaman. Also, The Trench would have been more of a horror movie. There were also plans for a Deadshot movie with Will Smith in the works as well as Deathstroke with Joe Manganiello.

Fast forward to 2023 and clearly things did not go as planned as everyone knows. You don’t have to be someone who follows DC to know the basics of what had happened over the years. Whereas the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe) became a huge success, DC faltered numerous times. Now, they are trying to revamp the DCU (DC Universe) again and it has a new name. Peter Safran and James Gunn are now the heads of DC Studios. By the end of this month James Gunn has stated they plan on revealing some of their plans for the future of the DCU. While we all wait on those announcements. I figured now would be a good time to take a look back at what could have been if things did not fall off the rails.

Batman

I love the Superhero genre and I am a Marvel and DC fan. I have grown up on Batman since being a child. I watched the classic 90s cartoon. I own the complete series on DVD. Batman is one of my favorite heroes. I have seen all of the Batman movies including the recent version The Batman with Robert Pattinson. One thing I love about Batman is the characters. Batman has a strong rogue gallery and in my opinion, has one of the best of all time. Batman has the Joker, Harley Quinn, Catwoman, The Riddler, Mr. Freeze, Bane, Poison Ivy, Penguin, Ra’s Al Ghul, Scarecrow, Two-Face, Killer Croc, and a ton of others. Batman has also had video games including the popular Arkham Games for Xbox. For a character that has been around for many years in media, there was the Adam West 60’s show, it is both shocking and sad to say that there was not a DCEU Batman movie. Ben Affleck never got his solo movie. He is not the only one, but he is the only one after the main trio to not get one. Henry Cavill who plays Superman had Man of Steel while Gal Godot had Wonder Woman and Wonder Woman 1984. A lot went wrong which led to the eventual death of Ben Affleck’s solo film. He was originally going to write the script, then he was hired to direct the movie as well and obviously he would have starred in it. As time went on it became a lot for him and he backed out of directing it. He already wrote the script which rumors have suggested that it was very good. I don’t work there so I have not seen the script. Obviously, some people had. The Batman movie would have had Joe Manganiello as Deathstroke. Not much was known about the plot and how it would fit into the bigger picture at the time. A timeline wasn’t known either. Would this be a prequel similar to Captain Marvel set before Man of Steel or would this have been in the present set in between whatever movies would have been released before or after this? Would Jared Leto’s Joker have been in the movie along with Harley Quinn and every other Batvillian roaming around? Maybe. Jeremy Irons who was Alfred and J.K. Simmons who was Commissioner Gordon definitely would have been in the movie. There is so much mystery surrounding Ben Affleck’s Batman movie. Maybe one day the script will be released for fans to see what could have been. Highly doubtful but stranger things have happened. A more realistic thing would be if Ben Affleck at some point decides to share a little of his plans for the movie on what the plot would have been and what characters would have been in the script. Even now Ben Affleck’s future is in question. He is currently set to be in The Flash movie that is finally coming out this June and Aquaman: The Lost Kingdom coming out December this year. I say currently because by the time those films are released, he could wind up cut out of the films. There have already been rumors of other characters being removed from The Flash, more on that later. Out of all the films that were announced or in development, this was one of them that I was really looking forward to. I also thought Ben Affleck did a good job in the role and should have been given more of a chance. I think that is something that caused a lot of issues with the mess of DC. Some of the character portrayals were controversial. There was mixed reception to Ben Affleck. He has his supporters but for every supporter there are people who felt and still feel he is one of the worst ones. Some also feel he should stay away from superhero roles. His last superhero role was Daredevil that was pre MCU. That film was not well received, and a planned sequel never materialized.

The Holy Trinity

Batman, Wonder Woman, and Superman are supposed to be the holy trinity for the franchise. Out of the three, Wonder Woman is the only one to have a well-received movie. However, there were mixed reactions to Wonder Woman 1984. Henry Cavill only got one solo movie in Man of Steel. Man of Steel came out in 2013 three years before Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Man of Steel was directed by Zack Snider who originally had an elaborate plan mapped out for these films. There were big plans for the holy trinity as well as many other characters. At this point I have not seen Zack Synder’s Justice League. I have not gotten around to it yet. Part of it is because it is a four hour movie which means I have to cut out a big chunk of time for it. I want to see it and I will see it. It just might take a while. I have read up a lot of what Zack Snyder has had to say in terms of what would have been next after Justice League. More has been said about Batman and Superman’s roles in the bigger picture especially if the Justice League films had continued. Not much has been said about Wonder Woman’s role. All that was really known is that she would have had a big role and that is based off of her being part of the trio with Batman and Superman.

Superman

Man of Steel was not well received when it initially came out. The film has its fan and there are a lot of people who want a Man of Steel 2. Man of Steel was not universally loved the way multiple Marvel movies have been. I think there was a lot of confusion when Man of Steel came out and Man of Steel’s placement in the DCEU. First of all, Man of Steel came out after Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy which were hugely successful and well received. They are still considered one of the best Batman iterations of all time. I happen to agree. Man of Steel was the year after The Dark Knight Rises. This is also a year after Marvel’s Avengers came out concluding Phase 1 of the MCU. When Man of Steel came out, it was not even known that this was supposed to kick of the DCEU. Iron Man was known as the official launch to the MCU from the beginning. Iron Man even had a credits scene that sets up the bigger picture. Man of Steel was thought to be its own thing. It was thought to be the launch of new Superman movies. When the DCEU was officially announced, Man of Steel was pretty much shoehorned in. It has been stated in the past that if it was known that Man of Steel was meant to be the kickoff to the bigger world, more would have been done to set that up a bit. Whether that would have been a credit scene or a few easter eggs here and there, we will never know. Man of Steel was treated as a separate movie for the most part. I have seen some things more recently on websites suggesting when taking a deep dive into the film that there are some easter eggs to the bigger DC world. In a way Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is really the kickoff to the DCEU. Batman v Superman introduced Wonder Woman, the Flash, Cyborg, and Aquaman as well as Lex Luthor and had tons of easter eggs and references. I believe another confusion was that Man of Steel was believed to be similar to The Dark Knight trilogy. Christopher Nolan served as a producer on the film. Based off that, people may have believed that Christopher Nolan would do for Superman what he did for Batman which would also explain a bit of the approach Man of Steel took. Man of Steel is a little similar to how Batman Begins was. Batman Begins was also a fresh take on the character. The last film that came out was Batman and Robin which was not well received and is laughed at by many. I did like the movie, but I was also eight or nine when I saw it. The last Superman movie to come out was Superman Returns which opened the year after Batman Begins. However, it was known that Superman Returns was meant to be a sequel to the Christopher Reeve films. Batman Begins was meant to be a fresh start. Also, Superman Returns was not well received either. I saw that movie and I found it fairly boring to be honest. I am not the biggest Superman fan. Batman was always my favorite DC hero. I do think Henry Cavill is a good Superman. I don’t dislike Superman. I don’t have a lot of experience with the character. I never saw the Christopher Reeve films. My main experience comes from the TV side of things. I watched Smallville which was about how Clark Kent becomes Superman. He didn’t become Superman until the end of the series. My other experience is when Superman was introduced in the Arrowverse shows for the CW. In terms of Man of Steel, I did like the movie. I think I liked it because it was different. I think that is also what hurt the movie reception wise. It has also been said more recently that there were plans for Man of Steel 2 again. Henry Cavill reprised his role in Black Adam which was meant to serve as Henry Cavill’s return to the role. James Gunn has announced that Henry Cavill will no longer be Superman and they are going with a younger Superman for the DCU. It was said that Man of Steel 2 was going to feature Brainiac. A lot of people were excited and disappointed to learn that we could have gotten to see Brainiac which is a villain a lot of people have been wanting to see. I also presume Lex Luthor would have been in the movie. Maybe Wonder Woman or Batman would have made an appearance. Not much is known about the plans for Man of Steel 2 or the original plans for the film. The sequel was at one time aiming for 2018. Those were rumors that were never confirmed. Once Justice League came out and was a disaster, it killed off any plans for Man of Steel 2 as well as pretty much everything.

Justice League

Everything was supposed to lead up to Justice League similar to how Marvel did it with Avengers. Justice League was hated by both critics and fans alike. Justice League suffered from studio interference which destroyed Zack Synder’s original vision. That is also why there is a Snyder Cut of the film. Zack Snyder’s Justice League was released a few years ago after a fierce campaign by fans who wanted to see what he had truly intended. Joss Whedon took over as director to finish the movie when Zack Snyder stepped down due to personal issues amongst other things. Lots of rumors and theories from fans, but I’m not going to get into all that here. Joss Whedon and Warner Brothers destroyed the film by redoing half of it. Even without seeing the Snyder cut of the film, it is obvious a lot had changed. When Justice League released its first trailer at Comic Con, it was substantially different than later trailers for the movie. A huge chunk of scenes from the first trailer were not in newer trailers. Also, there was a color change in the later trailers. In the original trailer, the night scenes had a dark background and dark skies. The later trailers as well as the film itself changed those scenes to make it brighter and they had red skies. There were rumors and theories that a reason for changing this was because of the complaints that the DC movies were too dark. Add the fact that Marvel at that time, was entering Phase 3 and was continuing to find success with their films, which are known to have brighter color pallets. Personally, I felt Justice League would have looked better if it kept the original pallet the first trailer had. There were a multitude of issues regarding Joss Whedon and the hire ups that the cast has since vocalized. If Justice League was successful, there was at least supposed to be a second one but really the intention was to have three Justice League movies. The story that was mapped out seemed to be too big for only two Justice League movies, in my opinion. There were also rumors that Justice League 3 would potentially be Justice League vs the Suicide Squad. I don’t know if those were ever real rumors or if it was fan wish fulfillment. From what is known and has been said, Green Lantern probably would have been in Justice League 2. Martian Manhunter would have been in Justice League 2. Darkside was going to be the villain. As seen in the Snyder Cut, Darkside was in the movie whereas the Joss Whedon version cut him out entirely. Darkside was only alluded too. The knightmare sequence that was in Batman v Superman was supposed to have a real payoff in the later movies. Cyborg was also supposed to have a much larger role in Justice League. His storyline was cut out severely in Joss Whedon’s Justice League.

Darkside was supposed to be the Thanos for the DCEU. Unfortunately, that did not happen. Zack Snyder’s Justice League is a one and done. There was hope that once the Snyder Cut was released it would resurrect the Snyderverse. That did not happen. It most likely is not going to happen since there are plans to reboot the world entirely. To what degree no one knows yet. We all have to wait for James Gunn and Peter Safran to reveal what they have planned for the DC Universe.

Suicide Squad

So much has gone wrong with the DCEU world over the years. To be honest, I don’t think it ever really had a chance. Man of Steel was finically successful. It made around 291 million domestically and about 668 million worldwide. That is lower than The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises but it is more than Superman Returns. Man of Steel was not the most liked. It should have been given a chance to grow. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice came out and also did well financially. It made more than Man of Steel. Once again it was not well liked either. In fact, there was strong negativity toward the film. Suicide Squad came out and that movie did well financially and even had a hit soundtrack that did well. Once again, the movie was really not liked. There was already controversy with some of the casting choices particularly Jared Leto’s take on the Joker. When the movie came out it was similar to Guardians of the Galaxy tone wise. The Joker was also substantially cut out of the movie. Like Justice League, there was studio interference. The movie was supposed to be darker which audiences got a glimpse of with its first trailer that debuted at Comic Con. The first trailer had a darker tone. When the next trailers came out, the tone shifted to making it more like a DC version of Guardians of the Galaxy. A band of misfits being thrown together to save the world. David Ayer the director of the film has stated that there is an alternate version of the movie. After the Snyder Cut was released, fans than started rallying to have the Ayer Cut released. That will never happen, unfortunately. As time has gone on David Ayer has released photos of what his movie was supposed to be. It was also supposed to have a different plot that would have linked to Justice League. I don’t believe Batman v Superman had studio interference but who knows? The Suicide Squad directed by James Gunn served as a reboot and sequel. Several of the characters returned while adding a slew of new characters. Jared Leto was not involved. I have not seen The Suicide Squad; however, the movie did not do well financially in theaters. The same fate happened to Wonder Woman 1984. Both films came out during the pandemic and were released in theaters and on HBO Max simultaneously. I think its safe to say that caused great interference with the box office returns.

Changing Course

It seemed every time a movie came out and was not well liked, DC kept changing course. That is the main thing that has caused such chaos with the DCEU. After Batman v Superman came out and had a lukewarm reception, Suicide Squad conveniently changed tones and became a completely different movie. Wonder Woman surprisingly did not get a makeover since that seemed to be the attitude every time a film does not achieve what they want. Wonder Woman was a huge hit when it came out and it actually was liked. The thing is, Wonder Woman was a good movie. The other movies are not terrible, but they are not that wonderful either. I liked Man of Steel. I liked that it was different. Batman v Superman, I thought was good, but it was a little undercooked. It seemed there was a lot that was trying to be crammed into the movie. This is the first movie where we meet Batman and already, he is fighting Superman. Wonder Woman is introduced in the movie as well. She has a small role, and she shines when she makes her debut as Wonder Woman. On top of that, they also introduce the Flash, Aquaman, and Cyborg as well. Those three characters had cameos but all of it felt forced. The movie was also very long, and it felt a little too slow. Suicide Squad’s issue was there was a lot going on and they completely changed the tone to making it more of a comedy than a dark movie about a team that is full of psychotic villains. Yes, they are a band of misfits but that was already done in Guardians of the Galaxy. This movie was supposed to be different and not a carbon copy. This comes across as one especially since besides making it more comedic, the movie even has a soundtrack of songs that don’t necessarily fit the movie. I own the soundtrack and I love the soundtrack. It has great songs on it. The thing is the songs did not fit the movie or the scenes they were in. They felt kind of forced in. The soundtrack for Guardians of the Galaxy fit the movie and the scenes they were in. Music should fit the scenes they are in, and this seemed thrown together. I think I read at that time that it felt like someone was changing radio stations. That is a good comparison because it did feel that way in the movie. Wonder Woman was great. Justice League was a disaster. It also was the shortest DC movie at that time. This should have been the movie that was the longest or at least longer than its running time which was only two hours. The Snyder Cut is four hours and that might be pushing it a little bit for an introductory movie to the team.

Justice League: Where are the members?

By the time Justice League came out, only Superman and Wonder Woman had solo movies. Batman did not have one and neither did The Flash, Aquaman, and Cyborg. Justice League was also the first time for the audience to really meet The Flash, Aquaman, and Cyborg. I am a huge Marvel fan but what really worked for Marvel was the fact they took their time. Iron Man came out in 2008. Avengers did not come out until 2012. The whole team had solo movies prior to Avengers. Iron Man, Hulk (albeit a different actor and there is still question how cannon that movie is), Thor, and Captain America. Black Widow was introduced in Iron Man 2 and Hawkeye had a cameo in Thor. Nick Fury who created the team was popping up throughout the films to set up Avengers. That really should have been the direction DC should have gone in. Man of Steel should have had a sequel beforehand. That movie could have been used to introduce Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor. Ben Affleck should have had the Batman movie first. It never made sense to have Batman v Superman before getting a Batman movie. They should have been more established before getting that battle. Because Marvel took their time, that made it much more impactful when Captain America: Civil War came out and pitted the heroes against each other. It is interesting that Civil War came out the same year as Batman v Superman. At one point they actually had the same release date before Batman v Superman wisely moved to another date. Aquaman should have come out before Justice League and The Flash and Cyborg should have had their movies beforehand as well. Even if DC wanted to go a different direction, those characters should have been introduced properly in something before Justice League. It should have been more than a cameo. Again, Marvel has done this well with other characters. Spider-Man and Black Panther were introduced in Civil War before headlining their solo movies. Civil War to a degree is like another Avengers movie anyway. Justice League should have come out a little later. There seemed to be a rush to getting to Justice League. It always felt that DC was trying to play catch up to Marvel with their world and it was at the expense of doing justice to the characters and the source material. They have great characters and a fair amount got lost in the shuffle.

Characters that Never Got a Chance

Green Lantern has never had another movie since the Ryan Reynolds version that came out in 2011. Green Lantern has not even been seen at all. He was not in Justice League and clearly the Green Lantern Corps movie is not happening. Even the show that was in development for HBO Max has yet to surface. I think the last update was that it is still in development. Martian Manhunter is another character who has not been in the movies. He was in the Snyder cut but that was it. I don’t know if they’ll keep Harry J. Lennix in the role or recast or forget about the character entirely. He did appear in human form as General Swanwick in Man of Steel and Batman v Superman but the reveal that he was Martian Manhunter only happened in the Snyder cut of Justice League. The only live versions of Martian Manhunter have come from television. He costarred in Supergirl, and he made guest appearances on Smallville, played by David Harewood and Phil Morris respectively. Cyborg has also had limited live versions, however the character is one of the leads on the show Doom Patrol. Cyborg has only been in two movies and his storyline was pretty much butchered in the theatrical cut of Justice League. There were rumors of him appearing in The Flash movie but that is not happening especially after Ray Fisher opened up about his treatment on Justice League in regards to Joss Whedon. Ray Fisher has been the most vocal out of the cast about the abuse that had happened on the set. The Flash movie is finally coming out this June. Five years after it was supposed to be released. This movie was rumored to have Gal Gadot and Henry Cavill appear. It has also been rumored that they have both been cut out of the movie. Since Henry Cavill is no longer Superman, I guess it makes sense why he would be cut out. There have also been rumors that The Flash is meant to serve as a reboot since he can travel back in time. That has been a rumor for many years even before all these changes.

Shazam!

I want to take a quick look at the more recent projects that were released and technically still a part of the DCEU. Shazam! opened in 2019 and did very well. There were a lot of references to the heroes and that they exist in the same world. At the end of the movie Superman made a cameo, well only his torso and minus Henry Cavill. That started to muddle things a bit. Zachary Levi plays Shazam, and he will be starring in the sequel Shazam! Fury of the Gods due out in March of this year. There was already questions about where Shazam fits into the bigger world. Those questions will remain until plans for the DCU start getting unveiled. Shazam! also had references to Black Adam which came out in 2022. It seemed to tease the eventual meet up between Shazam and Black Adam.

Birds of Prey and Wonder Woman 1984

Birds of Prey and Wonder Woman 1984 came out in 2020. Both films did not perform as well as hoped. Birds of Prey was rated R, the first theatrical movie in the DCEU to get that rating. Batman v Superman and Zack Snyder’s Justice League were not released in theaters. I have not seen Birds of Prey but I was surprised that it did not do that well in theaters. I do wonder if part of the issue was the rating. From my understanding Birds of Prey was its own thing that did not really acknowledge the prior films. I do know Harley Quinn is single in Birds of Prey and is no longer dating the Joker who was not in the film. Wonder Woman 1984 came out during the pandemic whereas Birds of Prey was released a month before the pandemic. Wonder Woman 1984 did terrible in theaters, however it was released on HBO Max at the same time. I have not seen Wonder Woman 1984 yet. I will, I just need to find time to watch it. I am aware that a lot of people did not like the movie and found it polarizing. Wonder Woman 3 is no longer happening after director Patty Jenkins left. There were rumors that Wonder Woman 3 would be set in the present. I think there is a chance Gal Godot could still keep her role in the DCU. I don’t know what the plans on for Wonder Woman.

The Suicide Squad

The Suicide Squad directed by James Gunn came out in 2021 and was released in theaters and HBO Max at simultaneously. The Suicide Squad was liked a lot more by audiences; however it also did not do well in theaters. It seemed in both cases for Wonder Woman 1984 and The Suicide Squad a lot of people streamed the movies instead of seeing them in theaters. Since James Gunn directed The Suicide Squad there is a good chance those characters could be involved in the DCU.

Black Adam

Most recently Black Adam came out fall of 2022. Black Adam was the first DC movie to make over 100 million domestically. The Batman made over 300 million domestically but it is its own thing and not part of the DCEU. The last movie to make over 100 million domestically was Shazam! Black Adam’s future is now in flux. Dwayne Johnson seemed to be pushing for Henry Cavill’s Superman who finally made his return in the credit scene only to be sent packing. Shortly after his return was announced, it was announced that Henry Cavill would not playing Superman in the DCU and the role would get recast. Dwayne Johnson has not commented on it at this point, but there is a chance he may not want to stay in the role after Henry Cavill’s dismissal. Dwayne Johnson seemed big on Black Adam vs Superman more than Shazam vs. Black Adam. It has been reported that Dwayne Johnson was very instrumental in getting Henry Cavill in Black Adam. Black Adam also was linked to both the Synderverse and The Suicide Squad with Henry Cavill back as Superman as well as meeting Viola Davis’ Amanda Waller. There were plans for a Black Adam 2 which seemed to have been nixed or at least on the back burner for now.  

What Could Have Been?

If Zack Snyder was able to continue his vision, would that have made a difference in the success of these films? I honestly think so. Things would have been more cohesive at the very least. I wish we could have gotten to see what Zack Snyder’s vision entailed. I have read up on things that have been said of where things were going to go. There were big plans to pay off a lot of things that were set up in the earlier films. There were plans for the Joker and Lex Luthor. I think that would have given Jared Leto and Jesse Eisenberg more time to really explore the characters and showcase what they could do with the roles. It would have been nice to see Batman face off with Deathstroke. It is disappointing not to see Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn team up with Poison Ivy and Catwoman. That could still happen but what are the chances Harley Quinn will still be played by Margot Robbie? It seems safe to say Jared Leto is officially out as the Joker. There is also the current issue of Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker movie which is a separate movie outside of the DCU. Joker 2 is coming out with Lady Gaga as Harley Quinn. Also, after the success of The Batman with Robert Pattison, there are plans for an expanded world including a show for Colin Farrell’s Penguin and a sequel to The Batman. With those in play, that makes it a little harder to even have Batman or Batcharacters in the DCU without confusing the audience or creating batfatigue. Marvel is one whole world especially now that Marvel Studios controls the TV sector as well. All the movies and shows are linked to each other. There are no conflicts other than the spidey side of things but that is a whole different story. Can there be two separate Bat franchises? If done well, it could work but that is the big if.

There have been so many casualties with the DC projects. Projects that got derailed by studio interference and projects that fully got the boot. My hope is that whatever the plan for the future is, that they will take their time and focus on the characters and have a story that can really get the audience excited. With that said, I am looking forward to seeing what they have in store.