Yesterday, The Hollywood Reporter came out with a piece confirming that a massive turning point is about to come for DC movies. With new DC Studio heads James Gunn and Peter Safran about to prep for their new multiyear plan ahead of next week’s presentation to now infamous WB CEO David Zaslav, big changes are set to come. The biggest of which is Wonder Woman 3, which was previously set to be written and directed by Patty Jenkins, the woman behind the first two movies, is not moving forward as it’s pretty much considered dead in it’s current form considering it doesn’t seem to in line with what Gunn and Safran have in mind for DC going forward. Other aspects include basically the end of the so-called “Snyderverse” with many movies attach to it such as Man of Steel 2 and Black Adam 2 likely not moving forward and possibly seeing the last of Jason Momoa as Aquaman in his latest feature next year, Aquaman 2. While the current movies that still have yet to be release such as Shazam!: Fury of the Gods, Flash, Blue Beetle, and the previously mention Aquaman 2 will still likely be released in theaters in their current form, about anything else attached to this extended universe is likely about to be scrapped in favor of Gunn and Safran’s plan for the future. This is looking to be the equivalents of DC’s own Flashpoint, going back to change the timeline of DC movies going forward with taking out of the pieces they no longer want away while perhaps keeping the ones they still want in tact for the future of the franchise. While this is a move that will likely anger and disappoint long time fans, it’s a move that needed to happen.
Regardless how one feels about the overall quality of DC movies since 2013, the year which their supposed cinematic universe kicked off in Man of Steel, their overall continuity and the way they have build the universe has been an absolute mess. With the worst of these movies suffering greatly from trying to rush through all of that hard work and build up just to get to the really good stuff despite none of it feeling genuine and earned while the best of these movies thrived from not putting much focus on any of that and just making a good movie in it’s own right. It’s clear as day that the success of The Avengers and the Marvel Cinematic Universe had a big impact on the way DC look to make their movies going forward but they don’t seem to understand why exactly the series was able to remain intact for so long.
As much as Marvel gets praise for having a plan and being overall consistent with it’s continuity/world building, the movies themselves never put as much focus on that as one my think. With the exception of the Avengers movies and probably the Captain America sequels, the Marvel movies themselves attached to that cinematic universe were fairly standalone and self-contained with only a universe building set piece or two included that could easily be explained in other movies. You didn’t need to watch WandaVision or Loki to understand Spider-Man: No Way Home or Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness. You didn’t need to watch Ms. Marvel or She-Hulk to understand Thor: Love and Thunder or Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Even if any of those were actually connected with one another, it would have most likely had been resolved in a dialogue exchange or two. They might have had a proper road map but the way to getting to each destination was mostly made up on the fly. The thing with Marvel is that because they’ve been (for the most part) consistent in their quality and continuity, they make you THINK you have to watch everything they put out to understand everything but you really don’t. The DC Extended Universe on the other hand, is another story.
The thing that these current wave of DC movies greatly suffered from, at least the ones apart from the Snyderverse, is that the made it’s world building and continuity as a major focus of each and every installment, so much so that they already planned a near saga’s worth of movies even before they even got done with Part 2 with Dawn and Justice. While planning ahead can be a good thing, you have to have a back-up in mind in case the main one doesn’t work out. If at least the first few movies of this were critically panned and/or underperformed at the box office, then there had to be a Plan B in mind or else this whole foundation would just collapse under it’s own weight. Unfortunately, while there might have been some good movies attached to it, this was an outcome that the Zack Snyder-connected DC movies could not avoid.
It’s obvious that DC was not prepared to the mixed to negative response their early movies had gotten such as Man of Steel and Dawn of Justice or their movies not being able to be the guarantee billion dollar hits as other superhero movies with names everyone is familiar with. Because of the fact they put so much effort and thought into their own universe building with making each of these important to understand for the future, they had no choice but to go back and rethink their whole strategy right in the middle of their current plan. That’s what lead to movies such as Suicide Squad and Justice League (2017) getting reshot and reworked along with a massive shuffling around of other DC movies to cut their losses along with hopefully better reviews for their upcoming projects. By trying to play catch-up with Marvel along with doing damage control to their own brand, the whole cinematic universe that they have been trying to construct since 2013 has been nothing more than muddled and messy.
If you don’t want to take my word for it, then I’m fairly sure that’s what new co-heads James Gunn and Peter Safran think as well, which is why changes are coming. Gone are likely the main cast that were part of Zack Snyder’s Justice League squad such as Ben Affleck’s Batman, Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman, Jason Moama’s Aquaman, Ray Fisher’s Cyborg, and (hopefully) Ezra Miller’s Flash. The only one that might have a chance of staying around is Henry Cavill’s Superman if only because of his surprise cameo in Black Adams‘s post credit scene. It’s unknown what the future holds for all the other DC characters attached to other movies in the past decade. While Robert Pattinson’s Batman and Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker will likely be fine as they have proven to be financial successes in their own separate continuities, the futures of the likes of Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn or Zachary Levi’s Shazam! remains to be seen.
On one hand, it does absolutely suck to see certain folks who were apart of this franchise not get their own chance to shine once again. It sucks that Patty Jenkins and Gal Gadot won’t get a shot at redemption after the massively underwhelming Wonder Woman 1984. It sucks that Henry Cavill won’t get a shot as Superman with a different director that could perhaps utilize his talent much better. It sucks to see such an ambitious and promising foundation absolutely implode from the inside because the people involved with it never gave it a second thought as to what if something could possibly go wrong and needing to have a back-up plan in mind. While all of this does indeed suck to see, it is needed for the hopes of a better future for DC.
As we approach the ten-year anniversary as to when this cinematic universe of DC began, let this be a lesson to future studios that have ambitious plans with making their own universe. Always make sure to keep your foundation in check at every turn! While planning ahead it’s important, make sure to always have another one in motion in case the main one doesn’t pan out. Make sure that every building block is properly build and that the movies you create work as their own thing. Lastly, be prepared for any kind of fan/critical response and box office results. It’s only thing where your universe can remain consistent for a long period of time and won’t end with a thudding collapse. It’s then where you won’t have to prepare for an inevitable overhaul like DC is about to go through.
I will always have a heart for DC but I do hope they do a better job with their next overall cinematic universe and learn from their mistakes so we don’t have to go through this same song and dance again. The future is in your hands, James Gunn and Peter Safran! Don’t morb it up!
Here’s the piece from yesterday from The Hollywood Reporter:
Here’s also an article that shows James Gunn’s first public statement regarding the report from yesterday
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