Every Lesson The DCU Should Learn From the DCEU & Arrowverse 

Nah, I agree for the most part, but I think that “broody” vibe for Henry Cavill is SOLELY how he was directed by Zack Snyder. Henry very outspokenly wanted a more hopeful, friendly, classic Superman but respected Zack’s vision enough to go with it. I believe he’s like Andrew Garfield’s Spider-Man, where it would have been the best casting the character has ever seen, if it weren’t for outside factors like an out of touch director or studio.

A lesson from THE Suiside Squad that not to be afraid to use unpopular characters

I wouldn't mind an Anti-Hero Killer Frost, maybe on the Suicide Squad. I just don't think she works as a superhero.

One of my least favorite things about the DCEU is that they never gave their B-list superheroes a chance to shine. It gets pretty old seeing Batman, Batman, Batman, and hey more Batman.

I’ve always had this mindset, Marvel follows Humans becoming “Gods” and DC follows “Gods” becoming Human. Granted there are some obvious exceptions to both statements, but I can’t feel it’s not a wrong oversimplification

1. Never let anyone with little to no knowledge of the dc characters have creative control over them, least of all, never let them establish a wider universe, that's why james gunn was brought in. 2. Make the continuity more consistent. 3. Make the characters like their comic counterparts and their personality. 4. Hire good directors and writers that knows how to tell a story and how the character should be portrayed.

Honestly one of the main reason the DCEU tanked was a lack of direction Studio Interference by Warner Executives who thought they knew better and getting involved with the creative process which just ruined the whole thing and soured fans on the product as a whole. So thats something that needs to be avoided again

Zack Snyder’s quote should be put in a meme with the quote from Superman vs the Elite.

Hear me out: Batman should use a voice modulator like CW Green Arrow in the early seasons instead of forcing the actor to sound like he has a cold

The most complicated Thing about Superman's character is that he is more human than humans themselves.

I'm just glad that we're finally entering a time where people can freely acknowledge what a failure Snyder is and how he singlehandledly ruined the DCEU from the start. For the past few years, most people have stayed quite about this because they don't like to deal with the Snyder cultists

I heard that Gunn also opened to the idea to have time in video games with characters in his universe

I think one of the most important things the DCU needs to remember is DC is all about humanity, our “capacity for good” and what these heroes will do to help us reach that. And the heroes themselves need to feel human, it felt like the Snyderverse tried too hard to make the heroes feel godlike even though DC is supposed to be gods trying to be human while Marvel is humans being more than what they were, just look at Superman, he’s a godlike alien but his upbringing made him more human than really probably most people out there, he’s not just meant to be a big gun to take on the big baddies of the week, he’ll stand up for and help anyone whether it’s stopping someone from killing themselves, helping a kid’s cat out of a tree and giving the kid some wise words, or helping someone with their abusive parent. Whether it’s Superman or someone else, the small actions matter, Wonder Woman getting ice cream with a kid, Wally West running all over the world just to find a toy kids at an adoption center would like for Christmas. Even with the heroes without powers, without godlike abilities, some of my favorite Batman moments are the lighter ones, not just him performing cool takedowns, but staying with a dying Ace (I think that’s her name), smiling when a kid didn’t see him as that scary, and of course the reason why he takes the Robin’s under his wing being so they don’t turn out like him which worked with Nightwing even if not so much with Red Hood. Obviously superheroes are gonna do big things, that just comes with the whole thing, but when it comes to who DC heroes are and what they do, sometimes they need to feel more like Spider-Man, less like Thor (even then I feel like the MCU got that with Thor at least sometimes better than DC has lately when Thor has done stuff like taking selfies with fans)

I'm gonna be honest, when the better version of the Justice league movie came out I kind of got on the restore the snyderverse hype train. I honestly was just wanting good dc stuff with a consistent flow and a plan of where to go. After I found out what Zack would have done with it in the end I was officially over it. That and James Gunns ideas just seemed so much better to me.

Cavill would've been a GREAT Superman. We've never seen him play the character so we can't use that to judge him. Snyderman is brooding and edgy because Henry is an actor. He plays the character he's paid to, not the one he wants to.

I grew up thinking DC was darker than Marvel which is crazy looking back. I was so confused when my friend in high school told me that it's more the opposite in the comics. But even looking at the adaptations now, yeah. That makes sense. It's closer to the real world, of course it's darker.

I hate Arrowverse for screwing up Batwoman (Kate Kane) now I love to see her among James Gunn's DCU Batfamily.

I never really liked the znyders justice league and I never understood why it was considered so great. Superman should be a symbol of hope and a force of good and positivity.

Dude I'm glad someone else also agrees with me on this. I absolutely love Henry Cavill, but out of all the live action iterations, he kinda ranks at the bottom just bcoz of the vibes. Like Snyder probably didn't understand the essence of Superman.

We all secretly wish that the new DCU would be just more like the older dc animated shows like justice league and justice league unlimited and batman the animated series

It isn’t that his Batman kills that is the problem. Burton’s Batman killed. Nolan’s Batman killed. The problem is Snyder does an Batman movie where Dark Knight Returns is the blueprint and bastardized the message of the comic!! The exact words of the comic are “Guns are the weapons of Cowards!” The comic book has Batman breaking a rifle in it. He says “Those who use guns are the enemy.” That is the problem with Snyder’s Batman. Also he did Doomsday fight too soon. That storyline should not be done in the second Superman film in the Henry Cavill canon. Then his resurrection in Justice League has no emotion to it. Even though I did like Snyder’s Justice League, I still hate that there is no emotion to Superman’s resurrection.

In defense of Henry Cavill, he is a big fan of Superman and has wanted to play him for years. The reason why he acted so melancholy was because that's how this version was written. I think if Henry was given a better script with a more light hearted and hopeful Superman, he would have done the part perfectly.

I agreed with the video until the "I think Barry Allen should go away or stay dead". It's Crazy cause so many people grew up and come to know The Flash because of Barry Allen. Everything people constantly brings up about The Flash and his usage of power, his intelligence, and usage of Time Travel, some of his relationship and mentorship, kindness + "boy scout" attitude, etc. is because of the Character Barry Allen. It's interesting to me that a talking point for Wally West is that "so many people grew up with him", but it's thrown out the window for a character who isn't Wally. So many would say "Barry Allen copied everything from Wally West" when the opposite is true. Or "I believe everything told about Barry Allen is done" just to fridge the Character, when the same could be said to even Spider-Man or IronMan. I don't mind if Wally West shows up in the movies, that's very cool! I actually WANT to see it, but why is it that we can have: - 3 CONFIRMED Green Lanterns (Hal, Guy, and John) - Batman, Nightwing, and Robin (Damian) - a Bunch of characters people don't even know, or paid attention to - etc. But why can't we have a movie called "The Flash" and it stars Barry Allen and Wally West as both The Flash? We can have Nightwing without the "Abusive" side of Batman. We can have multiple Green Lanterns without the "2 Green Lantern per sector" rule, we can have Damian without Tim Drake, we can have a Young Superman with an Experienced Batman, we can have a world already inhabited by Superheroes, but we can't have Barry Allen AND Wally West in a Movie? Call me crazy, but would it not be cool if we got both because other titles are getting both or more too?!

Do not force who is at the forefront. Let the audience and success do that. Like with MCU's Iron Man.

What makes me more excited by James Gunn's DCU is that isn't going to be like the DCEU/Snyderverse or the MCU that decostruct the origin story or put the characters in the real world. Gunn seem to willing to do a literal comic world in live action with different movies, tv shows, animated shows/movies and games having all different style and tone just like a comic run haeded by a writer(s).

Just watch any of Henry Cavill's interviews and tell me that he doesn't have cute, charming and humble vibes that Superman should have. He just had a bad script and a director who misunderstood the character. If he was given a proper script, Henry Cavill could have pulled off a great acting career as SUPERMAN.

I agree completely with the bat suit. Did anyone else really hate that fat bat symbol? I know it's in the comics but it's so bad.

People say that Batman wouldn't work in real world if he follows the "no kill rule" but actually is the opposite The villains just get out of prison often because it's how comics works, they always return so we can have stories and you don't need to create a new villain every time, but in the real world all the villains would be locked in prison forever the first time they try to do some shit, probably only Falcone or Penguin would get out and return 2 or 3 times because they have contacts in Gotham but eventually even they would be in prison, the justice system may have it's issues but rogues as Killer Croc, Joker, Two-Face, Hugo Strange, Mr Freeze and a lot of others would never escape prison

Make great movies with great worldbuilding and great characters. Thats it

In regards to Shazam, I hate to say this, don’t include these characters in James Gunn’s universe. The actors playing Billy and Shazam wear great but I think would be hard to find actors that could replace them. Which sucks because I do like the characters and I did like the actors. Honestly Dwayne Johnson is the only actor I didn’t like. I wonder who will be playing Dr Fate and Hawk Man. I will wait to see.

1. Lucas Till As Barry Allen/The Flash 2. Austin Butler As Oliver Queen/Green Arrow 3. AnnaSophia Robb As Dinah Lance/Black Canary

I don't agree with you. Every scene in JL 2017 with Cavill that was Weadon-made was great and Cavil played him really well

Apparently John Papsidera has been appointed the casting director for the DCU.

I think one of the most needed changes is consistent musical themes and motifs for characters. It allowed moments in Endgame and Guardians to hit so hard and the DCEU never really had that

I remember how mad everyone was when grant wasn't given the flash role in the dceu he would have absolutely carried the franchise with his performances, like he did his own tv series for like 9 whole seasons

I definitely fully agree with all the things you mentioned. One of my expectations for the DCU is to avoid the mistakes that the DCEU has done and most of all they should not hire someone who did not truly read the comics. Zack Snyder and Dwayne Johnson are the perfect examples of who didn't understand the DC characters very well. As much I like Man of Steel and ZSJL, in my opinion that;s one of the reasons why the Snyderverse should not be restored cuz he'll just continue to make mistakes by treating the characters way different from the comics. It's good to have someone like James Gunn to be in charge of DC because he is truly a comic book fan and an experienced director who can make great movies.

I just hope it goes far anough and stays good so we can see characters we have never seen in live action like cyborg superman, a set consistant reverse flash and deathstroke, even blackest night

one thing that I believe is a mistake about the dcu, is that for the second time we will see an older Batman with a young Superman at the beginning of his career, as I wish the dcu's Batman was still in his 1st robin, but he There will already be Damian Wayne, which means he has been Batman for at least 15 years

Another thing and I can't say this enough... DON'T FUCK THE TIMELINE The TOMORROWVERSE started of great with Superman: Man of Tomorrow and Batman: The Long Halloween. Then they just fast tracked and jumped over a lot of key moments

I think Barry should be the main Flash, but only for a couple years. Give him a solo movie or two and then have Kid Flash take over.

Everything you said in this video, I couldn't agree with you more. Other than the Flash's suits in the later seasons, I liked the the one from season two the best. But you were able to say everything I wished I could say and with much clearer language than I would use ( Navy vet and a roughneck's kid). You always do great work and you are always respectful that says a lot about the type of person you are. Keep up the great work and thank you for the amazing work you do.

I hope down the line we eventually get movies of the magic users of the DC universe like Dr.Fate, Constantine, Zatanna, swamp thing.etc. These characters are never used but if adopted properly they will rise in popularity in all DC media like MCU did with their more unknown characters. Hell, even throw the Question in there too.

As James Gunn leads in reshaping the DC Universe (DCU), there's a compelling need for strategic overhaul, drawing lessons from the strengths and missteps of past adaptations like the DCEU and Arrowverse. This initiative aims to redefine how DC characters are perceived on the big screen, ensuring a deeper and more resonant connection with both new and long-standing fans. A critical focus of this strategy is the faithful alignment with the original ethos and characteristics of DC characters that have captivated fans for decades. For example, The Question should maintain his deep philosophical inquiries and distinctive faceless appearance while adapting his storylines for contemporary cinema. This approach ensures that all characters remain true to their roots while appealing to a modern audience. The importance of employing directors and writers who are not only talented but also genuinely passionate and knowledgeable about the characters they bring to life cannot be overstated. It's crucial to capture the spirit and emotional resonance that elevate these characters beyond their comic book origins. Each character should maintain a distinct tone and style, akin to their portrayal in the comics, ensuring their narratives are both authentic and engaging. The success of the Arrowverse in creating long-running TV shows that stay true to the core essence of DC characters with hopeful and colorful narratives provides a valuable blueprint. This contrasts with some DCEU projects which have sometimes ventured into overly dark and deconstructive territories, alienating broader audiences. The DCU can avoid these pitfalls by embracing a variety of tones and themes that are suitable for each character, steering clear of a one-size-fits-all approach to storytelling. Looking forward, the blueprint for the DCU's future should be clear and detailed, establishing a vision and plan that allows creative talents to freely express their ideas within the constraints of the franchise. High production values, respect for character history, and consistency in continuity are essential to ensure the films are not only true to the comic books but also stand as outstanding works of cinema. In essence, by amalgamating the best practices from various DC adaptations and ensuring a deep understanding of what makes these characters special, James Gunn's DCU is poised to unite classic appeal with innovative storytelling. This strategy honors the legacy of DC characters while adapting them in ways that feel fresh, relevant, and exciting for today's audiences, thereby enriching the cinematic landscape.

Thank you for making this video. Honestly, if only these movie studios could pay attention to guys like you truly care about the franchises and source material then we would be living in the golden age of comic book movies.

not sure if everyone will agree with me but a point that was missed in this video is the fact that the guys in charge of the live action movies always took away from the characters instead of trying to give them something completely original of their own, a good case can be made for Donner's Superman or Burton's Batman because honestly I don't want comics fidelity to the point of the films or shows be a literal case of copy and paste like the animated Killing Joke, well the actual Killing Joke parts of said adaptation.

I still think Grant Gustins flash would've fit perfectly in the DCU

I think they need to give equal focus to every character until the fans decide who is your star, this way we don't have 15 Batman movies, 5 Superman movies and nothing with Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern, Zatanna, ect

John Papsidera definitely seems to be the Sarah Finn of the DCU. Gunn worked with him on The Suicide Squad and now Superman. Won't be surprised if he also works on future DCU projects

Fantastic video mate 👌

Barry has to be in the DCU. We NEED REVERSE FLASH ASAP.

John Papsidera has been appointed the casting director for the DCU

Whoever hired gunn as the runner of the DCU is a genius and made everyones life better!! GUNN IS A COMIC BOOK FAN GOAT

One more lesson from modern mcu I think they can learn is don't have giant gaps between character appearances. In 2021 alone we had white vision, Shang chi, the eternals and a few more that 3 years later haven't been heard from or close to appearing again soon. Characters should pop up at least every 2-3 year. And same should be said for gaps between sequals, except for teem up films like justice league which can wait however long. But there shouldn't be a 4+ year gap between Superman and Superman 2

One really personal and random thing I wish is that they just respect the linneage of heroes. DC has A LOT of people who dawn the same mantle, and I think it would be best for all fans if everybody gets to appear, even if they aren't as important

I never had cable, so naturally i grew up a dc fan. The Batman animated series was on regular tv. Got me into JLA comics

Love these videos

i still want barry as primary flash ,but mainly because i want to see the titans with wally and nightwing ,as best friends, and later on after a crisis event seeing him step up as the main flash

14:37 this is why I’m so excited for Woman of Tomorrow! That comic is one of my favorite comics of all time! And she’s sooooo different from Supes! A lot more like Cavil’s performance of Superman tbh

One thing they gotta make sure they do is tell one big story and build toward something big the correct way. After Snyder bounced (or got bounced, either way) the DCEU became directionless to the point where they were throwing shit at the wall and seeing what would stick. They weren’t building toward anything, and we never even got another Justice League movie after 2017 (no I don’t count ZSJL, because that’s what the 2017 movie was *supposed* to be). Everything felt random and like they were making movies just to make them, and they happened to exist in the same universe. The DCU has to learn from that. Give us a grand story with quality movies like the first 3 phases of the MCU did. But then they gotta also know where to end it. We don’t want it to get over saturated and lose its way like what happened with the MCU. I have hope that Gunn will do a better job than Snyder, Johns, and Hamada. But I’m moreso cautiously optimistic as of right now.

16:37 all of those suits look great I only wish 2 of the 4 shows were too

Out of curiosity what is the one casting for the DCU you do not like? I have a guess but I do not want to assume anything.

“You’re living in a dream world” Oh wow it’s almost as if there’s a thing called FICTION Zackary

15:53 A good way of having Wally as the main Flash while introducing both Barry and Thawne would be telling a story that borrows elements from or straight up adapts “The Return of Barry Allen” into a movie.

I still think having origin stories is a VERY important part of building a universe. The MCU has given us an origin story for every hero except Spiderman, and even Spiderman has had his origin story alluded too. And I honestly don’t think Batman’s origin story has been over done, sure we all know it, but I’m not so sure we’ve all seen it.

Lesson from Arrowverse, don't forget the most important part, bring Matt Ryan back as Constantine and use Spoken Spell as the magic ritual in DCU. This Spoken Spell makes DC magic different and unique, compared to other superhero series with magic in it. . I like DC Magic.

I will say, with Marvel too, gonna be hard, at least with DC, cause they like as Gunn said to do 6 issue arcs or miniseries for movies. So with that in mind, not a whole lot you can do with that, and even then some heroes don't really have much big stories you can do, like Barry Flash, Trial of The Flash and that's it yeah. There's newer stuff, but not as big, Death of Iris is big too, but don't know how you can make thme into movies but if they combine enough stuff, pull from Wally's stories, I guess they can do it but well yeah.

I think Paul walker would’ve been a good Barry Allen if younger And Ezra miller would’ve been a good trickster.

Andrea Romano handled the casting of the DCAU. Maybe she should do the same for the DCU.

Following that Ezra example here's another real important lesson, run BACKGROUND CHECKS on your actors and make sure they won't cause problems for the movie their working on. On the topic of directors I think it is ok for a non comic book fan to take up a project, as long as they genuinely want to do a superhero movie and are willing to do research for what their working on. Which is how i think James Gunn will approach it when picking directors, and of course I'm sure there's plenty new directors who are comic book fans to pick from too. If there's one good thing to take away from Flash it's that Andy Muschietti clearly loves Batman so that's why I would'nt be worried if he's directing the new movie.

Executives should not step into the creative process of the filmmaker. Let the filmmaker and storyteller tell there stories.

I'd love nothing more than to see a good Wally adaptation. I don't think Barry should "die", because Wally doesn't work without Barry at all, but Wally is a main Flash would be perfect

15:55 i think that Barry could be a mentor to Wally or smth because Barry himself is a really good character

16:35 you gotta admit the flash s4 suit was the best, dont get me wrong the newer ones are still good (excluding s5)

i agree with a lot of what was said but not the Wally part my boy Barry was left by the wayside for 3 decades Wally can wait

I would love that instead of teasing up Heroes & Villains, the movies tease recurring normal characters, Like for example, In Superman Legacy Teasing Lana Lang or in Brave & The Bold teasing Julia Penniworth

Looking back, while I enjoyed certain projects from the DCEU, I think that universe felt more like an Elseworlds than main continuity DC (or live action Earth-0 so to speak). Almost like how Frank Miller's TDKR was interesting but worked better as its own universe and not the main one. I liked the Snyder movies but certain stuff from his films and the other films in that world definitely don't work as main DC continuity (Dick Grayson being dead and never having become Nightwing, "Insane" Lex, Flash not being able to physically move people at super-speed (that detail really irked me), The Rock's entire Black Adam portrayal, etc).

Hopefully finally we can get all the mean robins in this universe

I agree with you 💯%

Insane to say Henry was a bad super man casting

My hope for the DCU is they make more horror based movies and give Neil Gaiman full creative control to make those movies

They need to focus on self contained stories. The larger universe shouldn’t a part of the main plot or subplot. It’s first 4 movies we’re self contained stories that’s what made the MCU great. The scope of the universe should be first seen in the initial JL movie. That’s what makes the main three dynamic so amazing. The tone in their movies is different, so with them meeting you get very good mix of mentalities. That’s what the Avengers did initially.

I agree with every except your take on Henry Cavill. He would've crushed positive Supes. You could see him gearing up for it already right before he was fired.

Lay off my boy Henry. His Superman is one of a kind. Give the man the credit he deserves.

Sorry, but I completely disagree with Barry Allen and Wally West. Barry deserves to get a trilogy or two seasons of the series before being killed, because for all the time he never got a normal film adaptation (while Wally has everything ahead of him).

I agree with everything here. However, my own opinion is that Red Hood should not in any way want to kill Batman, or be written out of his original motivation when he comes back in an "Under The Red Hood" story (i.e. Titans making Batman kill Joker & Arkham Knight and Titans both making him a Scarecrow henchman)

I thought Ms. Marvel had a TV show feel that I quite enjoyed and then it spiralled back into the Marvel Studios Disney+ formula and left stuff super undercooked. I wanted more of Bruno and Nakia. I hope it gets a Season 2 that is ten episodes with lower budgets. I think James Gunn understands how to do a TV show after Peacemaker. Frankly I think he's a better showrunner than a director because it gives him more time to focus on characters which he loves to do. I think the DCU will not repeat the mistakes of Marvel Studios Disney+.

One of Snyder's biggest flaws that I don't see people addressing is his casting ability. This guy only cares about how well the actors/actresses look the part. It's clear from Henry Cavill to Ezra Miller.

My best iteration of green arrow was the one from Smallville. Damnnn, funny as hell with great charisma.

Another one: DO NOT have ANY suicide squad LIKE NONE AT ALL

I think the DCU (and in some instances, the MCU) should take a good, hard look at the DCAU instead of the DCEU to see how it’s done

You forgot to mention the swamp thing series it was soo good but seems like everyone just forgot about it It got cancelled anyway 😢

It annoys me to no end how people keep blaming Snyder for the failure of the DCEU. I can understand if you don’t like his vision but he at least had a vision. WB did Zack Snyder and David Ayer dirty by constraining him and altering his vision. David Goyer even explained how WB was trying to just catch up to Marvel and put Snyder in a no win scenario.

The Justice League animated show basically storyboarded everything for them.

Have no idea how someone with so little care for the source material and the characters got so much backing from fans for his 3+ hour movie

You can thank Geoff Johns for the return and oversaturation of Barry Allen

Make a what if mcu followed dc gods and monsters slate structure

7:45 who’s the one exception?

The Batfleck suit in the flash was great cuz it was blue

I think what they should avoid with the TV shows is that the audience feels like they have to watch every show to understand what's going on in the movies (something Marvel does nowadays)...I think this drives away a lot of people that would otherwise watch the movies

One of my buggest issues with the DCEU is that they wanted to cast a comic accurate, older, burlier, more gritty version of Batman. But then when it came to Joker they chose something completely different when they could’ve gone with an older more comic accurate Joker that could’ve easily been mastered by Willem Dafoe.