The DCU Is Already A Disaster 

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Say anything about wokeness, but this time around, wokeness has nothing to do with DC's downfall. The brand has been torn apart from bad executives, bad movie releases (like BvS and Justice League), keeping scumbags working for them (like Ezra and Amber), and many others. Top this weak reputation for DC brand with Hamada's weird decision to put obscure characters on big screen. The final result is a complete disaster. And now James Gunn is forced to pick up the remaning pieces, dealing with things he had minimum control of.

Marvel tripped and broke both of their legs at the finish line, where DC faceplanted at the starting line. Neither finished the race.

billy batson being more mature than shazam ruins the immersion for that character almost immediately for me

I think Warner Bros is better off making standalone DC movies within their own continuity instead of trying to be a dollar store Marvel. There should be movies like The Batman and Joker where they give their directors lots of creative freedom without the worry of connecting it to a bigger universe because that's just way too hard

deadass just finished the mcu video

It really infuriates me that people blame what was Batman V. Superman on Zack Snyder alone. This film had a lot of studio interference, and wasn't even Zack Snyder's plan. There was going to be a Batman solo film, and other things building up to this. But Warner Bros wanted a "Avengers-level" film too soon without setting up the characters. Even Superman's character arc wasn't finished. He was going to become the Superman we all know and love, but the development and growth of him would take time. Zack Snyder was doing a masterpiece. But studio interference ruined it for him.

DCEU: the boy who fails copying homework, poorly MCU: the boy who gets away with doing his own homework, before eventually burning out and not caring anymore

I was hugely interested in and invested in Cavill, Affleck as Superman and Batman and the core DCEU characters in ZSJL...yes, some people didn't like them or those films, but that's fine - it's subjective. The entire problem was self-made by Warner Bros from 2016 - the sheer amount of studio meddling ruined so much.

It’s funny how the Lego Batman movie was more enjoyable than any recent superhero movie period

Zack Snyder DID destroy the DCEU. He started everything on "gritty" Superman and then went into "gritty" BvS. These stories are good as CRITIQUES of Superman, NOT as the FOUNDATION.

DCU hasn’t really technically started Flash, aqua man 2, Shazam, we’re out of James gunns control His first chapter of Gods And Monsters starts with creature commandos which is one of James gunns creations

I think you left out a big point in DC. Superman killing was a red flag to many. When batman came out I asked does batman kill. Yes he does. At that point I knew DC had no place for my time or money. We dont need shock value as consumers. Just a good story.

As soon as they let Henry Cavill make an announcement he was back as Superman, then days later axed him from the role, I was out!

Jared leto as joker was a disaster 😂

Maybe they should stay away from sky beams and energy pulses, and focus on a more grounded and relatable story with street level characters.

Ayo did Flash just put a baby in a microwave?? Who let Ezra touch the script

If DC thinks a universe reboot is going to save their movies, without major changes to the writing, they're in for a big disappointment.

DC 2023 sucks, but James Gunn had little control over that. Just like a new CEO coming in to revive a dying business, they still has to deal w/ the garbage that was left over from the idiot before It may be that Gunn's DCU _will_ suck, but we haven't SEEN anything from it yet. All of what we've seen is leftover from Snyder and Walter Hamada (who doesn't get named often enough for the damage he caused).

2nd ss square was fire and peacemaker is 🔥🔥🔥

If Shazam 2 had black Adam as the villain, then it would have been better

I mean I enjoyed blue beetle so idk I might just be dumb af and suicide squad 2021 and peacemaker were really good but that’s just me

I love the part where he actually criticizes the DCU. Glad he didn't mention the past DCEU projects,

Henry Cavill deserved a MoS trilogy. It pisses me off that WB just disregarded his ideas for MoS 2 as well.

Snyder didn't ruin the franchise, it was the studio mismanagement

The problem with DCU is mismanagement. I always got an impression that they didnt want to push superman and batman foward. It was as if they were deliberately stagnating them. Man of steel, was a decent take on superman. Sure there were problems, but a proper sequel could have handled ths. Ben afleck too played the character well. As a broken batman( more broken than usual), there was an opportunity for the heroes journey. It was so simple, but they had to try to copy the mcu. DC is dark , make those films as they should be.

the crazy thing is that Snyder was the PERFECT director to make Watchmen because he has always said he loves to make Superheroes into real people. In an interview he literally said he wanted to do that to Superman and that is why Superman kills Zod and Batman kills people. He never wanted to bring those characters to the screen, he wanted to change them to fit into his own view of them. Glad he is gone making movies on Netflix that are garbage.

Forget a disaster. A disaster draws attention. I can't remember most of the movies that DC has made. I remember the movie they cancelled more because it was funny that they said, "you know, we can actually make more money not trying."

I honestly think Superman Legacy is going to end up being the most overhyped movie since Black Panther I don’t get why WB think directors who made a couple Marvel films are the end all be all

no super hero fatigue, just bad movie fatigue.

Honestly I think DC should stick to their animated universe. It is clearly their strong side (Stronger than even Marvel). The DCAMU was absolute perfection and almost every movie paid off. Super underrated.

Maybe Superhero movies being no longer mainstream is a good thing. They don't have to cater to mainstream audiences and can focus on what the fans like and be more niche.

The Suicide Squad, directed by James Gunn, is the best DCEU movie ever made. Not a high bar, true, but it was a genuinely great movie. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 was one of the few superhero movies that has recently come out to get a solid positive critical reception as well as making a decent profit in the box office, and that's with a 250 million dollar budget. Again, that was also directed by James Gunn. I don't think people are suffering from "super hero fatigue" I think people are suffering from shitty movie fatigue. As long as James Gunn does what he's been doing and makes good movies then I think DCU can have a chance and superhero movies might even get second wind.

The thing which baffles me the most is that they failed to take lessons from their faliures... like you expect them to do right things after justice league's disaster but no they continued to screw themselves over and over again with dumb decisions one after another, and they fired Henry Cavill and Ben Affleck but kept Erza Miller.... I can never understand what goes into their heads

It's true about Superman not being a lucrative film franchise. MOS made only 40 million and SR broke even. That WBD is launching the DCU with a Superman film is inexplicable. The consensus is that it will lose money. John Campea is predicting it will be a financial flop, yet he wants it released first?! He did a vid last week pushing back at speculation SL could be delayed for several years. That is exactly what should happen. Launch with their strongest film IP - Batman. Let the DCU build up good will and then do a Superman film. And bring in someone other than Gunn to write and direct it. His SL is going to esentially be an ensemble film featuring Lois and Clark. No wonder most believe it will bomb. The strike gives Zaslav the cover to scale back/change Gunn's plans. If Aquaman 2 does poorly watch for big changes to the DCU.

I mean, I gotta disagree with the take saying that Affleck and Cavil's movies weren't good. Mos and BvS are legit good, they were making money, if WB have had the guts to continue the story in Snyder's vision, the DCEU would have work. Besides, I have to say, the BVS theatrical release was the shitty WB version. The Ultimate version was an overall better film. As well the Snyder's version of Justice League. Was an awesome extravaganza. Other than that, good points in this vid.

Difference is that second Suicide Squad was fucking awesome

No one mentioning how they paid JJ Abrams millions to reboot DC but then saw he killed both starwars and startrek.

9:27 I wouldn't say Snyder ruined DC, I'd rather say DC didn't took the time Snyder needed while shooting Justice League and roped Whedon on it to completely redo the entire movie with no clear backup plan. Snyder was following darker comic book storyline which would've been a revolutionary to see in big screen but the studio chickened out and Snyder's daughter's passing also didn't helped Snyder at that time and I don't blame him on this one.

The Suicide Squad (2021) is the best DCU movie. Great writing, compelling characters, has the right balance of comedy, drama and action, and great acting. However, it’s basically a stand alone movie that doesn’t contribute to a cinematic universe. Black Adam could have been great if they took more time to develop the other characters such as Dr. Fate, Hawkman, and Atom Smasher. Instead they all were shoved in without explaining their backstories, and *spoilers* they all die anyways. But I really think it could have been a great movie series.

Ya the Rock basically begged for years to play Black Adam, than when he finally got his wish he sabotaged it by refusing to costar with Shazam. Yikes!😬

What sucks too is that even if they do make a good DC movie they are gonna ruin it with their greed and hubris.

The only movie that didn't bomb.. was also not in the DCEU. It's a standalone universe.

Iron Man wasn’t an A lister until the movies

I remember when Ezra Miller was choking out random female fans and everyone was like, "I dunno WB... Maybe you should just scrap this entire Flash movie or put it straight on streaming and cut your losses now." And David Zaslov and James Gunn were all like, "Nah! It'll be fine! This one's actually good! It's worth putting up with Ezra Miller for. You'll see!" And then the movie came out and performed worse than Morbius. Everyone remember that? I remember that.

Fun fact about DCEU. Snyder wanted to do solo movies for each hero before, but WB said no and then he asked to at least make BvS and later also JL two parters which was also denied. And from what we can see with Snyder Cut which was 2 movies in length he could have developed the characters and motivations a lot more if BvS got to be a 2 parter let alone have a standalone for each hero. So I do enjoy all 3 movies he made, but with BvS I do feel like we should have gotten a solo Batman before (Wonder Woman got a solo movie after which made it work, but they wouldn't agree to make a Batman Solo movie before the literal Justice League movie?). So yeah I love both MOS and Justice League (Snyder Cut) and do somewhat enjoy BvS UE for what it tried with what it had. It's obvious that WB is just incompetent. Same with Universals Dark Universe. Although Dracula Untold was divisive (some only wanting Dracula to be horror movies or thinking him having humanity instead of just a bloodthirsty monster is a disservice to history even though it stays very true to history where the world saw him as a monster while his country saw him as a hero) there are a lot of fans that wanted to see it continue, but they dropped the planned sequel for a shared universe starting with The Mummy where it was a terrible movie with no fans and had Dr Jekyll as Nick Fury (why? Dracula the centuries old leader who have fought many wars would be a much better pick. This is like making Bruce Banner the leader of Avengers) and because of that it leads up to having the mummy itself be the one joining, but no they make Tom Cruises character the one recruited. Like the idea everyone thought of when hearing a Dark Universe would be like the monsters uniting to either bring the world to its knees or try to live among the humans (depending on the tone they want to go for) and depending on the choice Van Helsing could either be the ultimate hero saving the world or the villain.

I wish DC wouldn’t copy the cinematic universe plan, but just do a bunch of stand alone movies created by people who actually have a vision for the projects. I’d have loved to see Mike Flannigans proposed Clayface horror film.

What is Zack Snyder not known for- making a creepy strip dance movie about orphan children.

Ben Affleck and Henry Cavill both were perfect casting and would've gone down in movie history as two who defined a character like RDJ and Iron Man but WB's Incompetency didn't let that happen.

Coming to Zack Snyder's defense, Man of Steel was a pretty good movie. Batman V Superman seems like a movie studio execs demanded in order to bridge Man of Steel to Justice League in just one movie. If they turned the story into 2 or 3 movies, it could have been better. And if you've seen Zack Snyder's version of Justice League, you know he's not to blame for what we got in theatres. I don't believe Zack Snyder killed the DCEU. I think the Warner Bros executives did.

You know what? To me Zak Snider and DCEU are tied together.. and I’m so tired of him. And his fan boys. No I don’t mind dark and gritty. Dammit I don’t care if a movie “looks cool and stylish” that’s not enough to keep someone sitting for 3-4 hours..

My son 10 years old biggest fan of dcu has not want to see any films because he says that they don’t matter for the new universe 😔

It wasn't Zack Snyder fault! Edit: Since there’s some confusion below I’ll add context. Zack Snyder didn’t want to take on a full fledged superhero franchise. He only wanted to create a standalone story. Then when Marvels created the Avengers, WB saw that and was salavating at the mouth hoping to achieve similar success with their franchise. I mean it’s no coincidence they got Joss Wehdon to direct Justice League (2017) who also directed The Avengers (2012). It’s the studio to blame because they wanted to compete with Marvel and rush projects to do so. Then there’s the ever lasting quest for them to try to push each of their IPs to try to make $1 billion, they lost sight of good storytelling in the process.

I’ve always loved DC more than Marvel and it pains me to see the movies do terrible at the box office and not pulling good ratings. Hopefully James Gunn give these amazing heroes the justice they deserve.

I'm down for more superhero movies if they're done right, with stories that do the characters and the universe justice. Basically, just have good stories. A good movie that just happens to have superheroes in it. I'm still mad that these fucks kept Ezra "Reverse Flash" Miller but axes Batgirl for the most asinine reasons.

I think the DC Universe a has a lot of potential and go to many different genres like horror with some Batman stories and Swamp Thing and fantasy like with Wonder Woman.

The suicide squad and the Batman were the only good movies dc has made in the last few years

How you gonna hate on Zack Snyder when he made the best movies in the DCU 😂

Everybody and their momma now says Snyder had a vision, and it should have played out. Fact is, general MCU loving audiences did not like the dark and gritty MoS or BvS. You can lie and say the movies were bad, or Snyder had a hand in bringing down the genre, but that is BS. The MCU and it's cookie cutter fast food factory movies did it. Movie goers that accepted dumb movies because they were "fun/funny" did it. Not Snyders misunderstood (at the time) vision for DC. Not enough action maybe, but do not fault the movie for your short attention span.

The DCEU died when Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice was released. Since then it has become a Zombie of a Franchise. Now it's dead for good.

New Suicide Squad would have made BIG money if it wasnt for Covid. That movie is fakin hilleriouse.

bro the reboot hasn’t even started, don’t shit on something you haven’t seen

I’ve always said DC’s Animated movies run laps around any of the live action stuff. It’s a shame they aren’t nearly as well known in popular culture; Under the Red Hood is one of my favorite DC movies of all time

Personally, I'll take a CGI monster final battle over yet another CGI mirror match final battle.

Went to see wakanda forever, realized we were in black Adam by accident , we were the only ones in there, and promptly switched

one of my biggest gripes with shazam 2 was that it was basically a rehash of the first one with way too many leads and redundancy of powers. I was really hoping that the second kid would be the villain: he loves the lime light and attention from saving people so he starts creating his own disasters to save people from. Then he discovers he's able to steal the powers of his brothers/sisters...then it's just super shazam vs shazam. i don't know how to resolve this outside "don't be a dick" but i think that would have been a lot more compelling than oh look, another wizard. bad joke, bad joke, bad joke.

What is the point? DCEU is dead courtesy of james gunn. So what is the point of watching it?

Lucy Liu straight up triggered my PTSD from season 8 of Game of Thrones a batshit insane woman on a dragon arbitrarily destroying a city for no justifiable reason

DCEU died with the exit of Snyder. Instead of committing with a creative vision, even if controversial, was the way to get something successful. Maybe not 2 billion $ successful, but still pretty good, profitable, and important: memorable.

The Marvel universe thrived in live action cinema, and the DC universe thrived in animated televison. I think that's totally fine. I've mostly ignored the DC live action films because i grew up with the DCAU and feel like I've already seen the best on-screen stories of these characters that I'm going to see. The DCAU is so special and was made with such love. I just can't take Ben Affleck seriously when the Bruce Timm/Kevin Conroy version is so ingrained in my mind as the most fully realized on-screen Batman. I don't think it's coincidence thar DC works better in animation - the heroes and villains are a tad bit cartoonier than the Marvel ones, and so it makes sense.

The fact they have a movie in the slate titled “Waller” kills me

Just discovered your channel recently, and I've really been enjoying your content. Great work

The Batman and Joker are safe bets for WB. They're still trying to copy the success of the Dark Knight trilogy. There was no risk in making these movies. They have no clue how to take the time to build up a cinematic universe, and lay the foundation. They can't do, it's not possible because WB wants to make Avengers level money without putting in the work. Another 10 years down the drain.

man of steel was the best live action superman we got, what you talking bout willis - you should watch wtf happened to this movie in regards to justice league, lots of your assertions dont make sense

Was that new direction down? Because it’s sinking like the titanic. The DCEU made it easy for me. They dropped Henry Cavill so I dropped them.

Agree with most of the things except the part you said Snyder ruined DCEU. I'm not a Snyderverse fan or Snyder cult or whatever they call it these days. But i loved the work he did at DC. I always find myself going back and watching his DCEU movies and absolutely loving it. Every DC movie that Snyder had a hand in is still watchable this day and i feel they were way ahead of its time when it came out. It's just a shame that it wasn't accepted by "professional" critics and some fans. I believe mainly due to the reason it wasn't following the MCU formula or it didn't fit certain narrative. Surprisingly his movies did very well at box office. So did he really ruin DCEU? Nobody seems to mention WB obssession on trying to catch up to MCU quickly and constantly meddling with the moviemakers visions. I will always strongly disagree that Snyder ruined DCEU. Put Snyder, Cavill, Affleck and Gadot in a DC movie and you see how the theatres burst at the seams. WB ruined DCEU !!

Alright I gotta pause it for a second because Zack Synder did not start the avalanche, it was WB themselves when they panicked over test screenings and hired Josh Wheldon (a marvel writer) to course correct justice league. The fact you mentioned the theatrical version and not what was released on HBO max tell me enough. And I dare you to say both movies are the same.

"The Batman" was done completely right.... The same with "The Joker" those are two characters truly saving DC movies. Wonder Woman was alright but They butchered it with part 2 🤦🏾‍♂️🤦🏾‍♂️ They just need to leave all a cringey jokes/ terrible awkward acting and terrible video game like CGI out of Hero/Comic Book Movies

The worst thing is that the animated DC is pretty decent. I don't know how they can make such small movies full of heart and screw it up that badly in live action movies with basically the same stories and characters.

There were no solo Batman movies only one Superman solo movie, no build up for the next Justice League (as far as I'm aware). In a DC CINEMATIC UNIVERSE. Instead we got multiple movies of niche characters... What ?

Is it strange to want a movie that isn't some kind of extended universe and isn't another origin story?

I was just reading how Batman in the DCU is already running into trouble over how to introduce Robin without it being problematic.

I think DC should turn to animation or something, them trying to become MCU with the cinematic universe isn't working and they shouldn't be rebooting it over and over again until something sticks, like you said, superhero movies are just becoming oversaturated and mundane now. As a general cinema goer, I want to see different genres get the focus, like horror, or comedies or even documentaries, just something that isn't another superhero reboot movie with origin story again.

Nice one, Suicide Squad was not a sequel, it was a roboot that was needed and a soft interview for Gunn.

I hope novel adaptations make comeback. But again, given Hollywood's writing levels when it comes to these, I have little hope for them either.

I still cannot believe Ezra Miller is still around. Well, i maybe can if we consider how much Hollywood likes kids.

A big problem that I think is about to repeat itself with this new DCU is that TWO times in a row they have made "100% stand alone Batman movies that are a Director's creative vision for a solo version of the character"...and tried to launch a shared universe with SUPERMAN as an alternative, and then a "new Batman" as a part of that universe. They had The Dark Knight Trilogy. No amount of respect or deference to Nolan should have kept them from using that to launch the DC Universe. Even if Nolan didn't return, they ignored the "Conclusion" of The Dark Knight Rises, and just used Batman Begins and The Dark Knight as the loose back-story for their new Batman. Even if they re-cast Wayne and Alfred, lean into references and connections back to BB and TDK so that people feel like this new version is tethered to what we've had before. NOW....they let Reeves make his own stand-alone "The Batman" that was well received and financially successful....and are letting THAT stand 100% on its own. Instead of jumping on a successful film and using that to build a universe, they are actively trying to pick a Superman film to launch a universe with and 'force it' into happening. Just like the animated DC universe of the 90s and early 00s...the model has been clear from the start. Launch with DC's most popular and grounded character of Batman(AKA the Iron Man-esque character) and then use his success and popularity to introduce an insanely over-powered character like Superman, play the two of them off one another, and THEN move to the Justice League as their supporting ensemble.

How dare you bait me with Cavill in the thumbnail 😂

Zack Snyder was a victim of studio interference.

the incredibles was peak super hero movie

Why wont you refer to Escum Miller as a hurr durr dey/dem, like what YMS does? Virtue signaling is very important!

It won’t be a flop if Gunn hires award winning writers/screenwriters and directors + market the movies ofc. Gunn already has the audience shown on the Peacemaker series, DC fans, and regular movie goers.

I didn't even realize there was an Aquaman 2 coming out.

Always turn off "Verified Reviews" when showing Rotten Tomatoes scores. All Users is the only realistic metric. Many of these movies did not do well with audiences but have ridiculous 88% scores and stuff.

2:04 that's not actually true. After BvS came suicide squad which made 800mill then Aquaman that made 1billion. It was the tonal shift that started to put everyone off. Your logic for Zack being the one to destroy the superhero genre doesn't make sense when he was fired in 2017, WB had plenty of oppertunities to course correct since then so how does that fall on zack?

The biggest problem is how many times WB changes their casting, how are we to learn to love if they can't stick to the same people.

As a lifelong DC Comics fanboy going back to the start of the bronze age few things pain me as much as the DCEU/DCU. Even its very best has been mediocre made to look better by too many low points. It's a no brainer. Worlds Finest bringing Superman and Batman together, Worlds Finest 2 bringing them together with Wonder Woman, Flash and green lantern, a few solo movies scattered with some team ups bringing in a few more guys and putting them all together in a big Justice league movie.

Just gotta need to google who Ezra Miller is and then who Amber Heard is and that they somehow stand behind both these individuals. Right there you know why the DCU deserves so much to go to hell

Warner Bros DC is like a terrible hedge fund that keep making loosing bets I can't understand where the money comes from? Batman in the real world? Christian Bale?

Plus, the 1/8 movie that didn’t bomb isn’t part of the main canon - so *every canon DCU movie since BoP has had middling BO results at best. Aaaand only 1 movie in the last decade (Aquaman) has made >1B. Yikes Edit: yeah 1B being the baseline is high but when a movie costs 300M and needs 600M to profit, you need 1B for ROI and fund a sequel