The Death of The DC Extended Universe (2013 - 2022) 

DC basically has 6 different universes, including the ones that failed. Technically 8 if you include their straight to DVD universes

Its important to learn from the past's mistakes and look forward to the future. The DCU has the potential to be an incredible success

Having grown up with the DCAU and also enjoyed seeing Iron Man mentor Spider-Man and Captain America wield Thor's hammer, I think there are lots of good stories to be told by having characters in one universe to interact with. Been up and down with the DCEU (blame is still mostly on the execs) but I'll be in the theater seat to see that Superman:Legacy film.

The DCEU was the Star wars sequel trilogy before the Star Wars sequel trilogy. It suddenly changed hands multiple times midway through and no one had a clue what to do with it after that.

Every time WB will try to find someone to blame for DCEU fractured legacy they need to look in a mirror. As Zack said in one interview: "Who is Justice League's biggest vilian? You mean TRUE vilian?"

I think the main thing Wb problem was commitment. Man of steel got alright reviews like iron man 1, a good beginning like mcu. The second bvs got bad reviews they panicked and rushed to "Fix" the Suicide squad 1 and ended with dumpster fire. Think about how much mcu phase 1 was not that great (at the time) incredible hulk and iron man 2 weren't received with good reviews but they kept trying with the same plan. But what gave it more of a bad reputation was firing and replacing Zack while he was mourning the loss of his child.

Batman v Superman Dawn of Justice was pretty much the downfall of the DCEU.

The problem is when batman vs superman came out they wanted to catch up very quickly instead of giving the heroes standalone movies to develop as characters themselves they just put them into the teamup movie and hope it all works out. I think james can fix this universe lets cross our fingers and hope dc finally has some great films.

The DCAU is perfection,WB should have gotten the writers for those shows to make the movies for the DCEU cuz than it be a massive success.

u always gotta appreciate the time and effort put into the information and editing of these videos 💯

Sadly they couldn’t get Dwayne McDuffie as he passed in 2011, due to complications with Heart surgery!

Ones who do not learn from history is doomed to repeat it. I can't believe in a time where we see all these heroes on screen including Aquaman, Cyborg and Shazam, that seeing how they handled BATMAN and SUPERMAN is the most frustrating aspects of this universe, it's quite an achievement. You have Superman not learning from his mistakes, Batman destroying his own image over irrational fear, and it's handled so bad.

It’s a miracle this channel hasn’t blown up yet. Quality’s so high

It makes me genuinely pissed to know that instead of postponing JL and letting Zack Snyder grieve after his daughter’s death all they saw was an opportunity to replace him and they kicked him off of what was essentially entirely his own film. The only comfort that I find is knowing it just ruined themselves even more

R.I.P. Dwayne McDuffie, he is sorely missed. He would have been a GREAT choice to write some of the stories/screenplays for the DCEU.

Good riddance to the Batman beyond project that was gonna be set in present day. If it isn’t actually Beyond we don’t want it.

The lack of overall vision for the DCEU caused all of the associated content to be disposable...smh

This video deserves more views. It was so good. The DCEU will go down as how to not make a cinematic universe. Yes, was there a time when The DCEU beat Marvel? Yes, were there good things from the DCEU? Yes but it failed. I think you should've also mentioned the disastrous failures of WW84, BOP, and the cancelation of Batgirl, and the monumental failureof Black Adam. I think those killed any hope left the DCEU had. People didn't seem excited anymore after those movies came out. I blame many for this universe's death. Egos, Zack Snyder not understanding the characters, panicking after your two big movies failed, the rock, using Cavill to help market your movie, Cavill embarrassing himself saying hes back when there was no contract, a lot of blame to go around. I hope the DCU works because this is DCs last chance on film.

i really love the Shazam movie

James Gunn’s DCU Slate is gonna fix everything. I’m excited for The Batman Part II, Superman: Legacy, and Blue Beetle.

6:25 I grew up watching the Bruce Timm cartoons as a kid in Nigeria. One thing I will never understand is why DC and WB didn't use the Justice League animated series or the Batman and Superman animated series as inspiration or basis for the live action movies. They were widely popular, even among non-comic readers. Why didn't they use that?!

James Guns’ slate is gonna make DC the absolute goat again.

Movie:releases WB:change it all

Stan Berkowitz has written the best justice league cartoons episodes ( better world, secret society, blackinest night & tabulas rasa he should be one the dceu showrunner

Everything was rushed and messy, it's kinda funny seeing the animated movies do a better universe then the live action movies

I have been waiting for this, you make content like no one else, please don’t stop making content ever!

I don’t care what anyone says Man of Steel is still my favorite Superman movie and Henry Cavil is still my favorite Superman, damn shame the studio treated him like trash.

I remember this video came out after the debacle with the Shazam sequel, and it does give me hope. This branch of their franchise bit the dust, but they can only go up from there. Also I look forward to the next installments in the Joker and The Batman IP’s. In all, I’d rather view the potential of the new DC universe with optimism.

I have faith in this new DC Universe. James Gunn has proven his love for DC ever since The Suicide Squad and the fact that he’s creating a more auteur and creative free approach to the franchise (something Marvel wouldn’t do) just makes me feel more excited.

Zack explained it kinda poor but it does make sense in this universe batman doesn’t actively hunt down and kill. All those thugs tht die in the heat of battle is just collateral damage

Many Problems with many movie studios is that they don't ask their audience personally for what's wrong and what they can Improve uppon, If I had a Movie studio and I Screwed up, I would ask Social Media why They didn't like the film and how they would improve it (Except Twitter cause Twitter is Mean)

Dude, been waiting for you to make a video on this! Ty

I absolutely agree with you. It was doomed from the start. The fact that they (DC and WB) had no plan going in was a huge red flag. Then, the hired Zack Snyder (despite several flops) and David S. Goyer (known for his bad scripts) to helm Man of Steel and that movie set the entire tone for the DCEU and it was unsuccessful in that regard. They ruined Superman and decided to proceed with Snyder's plans and are surprised they failed?!

Ed Wood, of all people, had a cinematic universe of sorts with Bride of the Monster, Plan Nine From Outer Space, Night of the Ghouls referencing each other with reoccurring characters. Of course his ineptitude didn’t make it viable but it was interconnected.

The DCAU was the ultimate blueprint of how to build a universe

I’ve heard that first beat before I just don’t remember the name. Anyways good video can’t wait for the insomniac video

Just started watching you man great videos

Great job

My ranking of the DCEU pre-2023 (favorite to least favorite): Zack Snyder's Justice League Man of Steel Shazam! The Suicide Squad Wonder Woman BvS (Ultimate Edition) Aquaman Black Adam Birds of Prey WW84 Suicide Squad Josstice League

Love your vids, keep doing what you're doing!

Keaton was never replacing Affleck as Batman. Batgirl was going to replace Affleck's Batman. In fact, the original intent for _The Flash_ was to replace Cavill's Superman and Affleck's Batman. Their timelines were being erased. WB wanted to install an all-female "trinity": Supergirl, Batgirl, and Wonder Woman. Thankfully, those plans were scrapped. Anyway, Keaton was not returning to play an ongoing role as Batman. His version of Batman was ready to retire and he was going to act as mentor to Batgirl, à la Batman Beyond.

I actually loved it

Wb tried to course correct while shoot them selves in the foot. They should have done this left justice league the way and had all snyder, terrio, whedon in a writers room for jl pt 2 and 3. Perhaps had whedon and snyder as the heads of dc (at that time),they would have been a good balance snyder with dark and grim; with whedon with the light and jokes.

The genesis of all this debacle was Snyder. He was the wrong director for that universe. The moment Superman snapped Zod's neck in Man of Steel was the moment I knew Snyder was a mistake.

The reason why WB didn't hire the DCAU creatives:they're morons. I mean,they did cancel great shows like Angel,Legion of Superheroes and Green Lantern TAS. So yeah. The management in WB sucks.

I don't understand why they don't hire the people who made the DCAU.

dc got a talent with their films that the mcu don't have. when their films are bad, they're really BAD, but when they made something good, it's really REALLY GOOD

It's crazy cause Snyder's slate seemed really good but studio interference ruined it. Gunn's slate seems a bit odd for a beginning of a cinematic universe I'm just hoping it'll be good.

this may not be a connected universe but my pitch for adapting each character would be: -a batman tv series where each season would adapt storylines from a different decade using the film making techniques of that era. -an animated movie about a retired superman trying to raise his superpowered ten year old in a heartwarming coming of age story. -shazam is pretty much perfect except that I would add Dwayne Johnson's Black Adam as a charismatic Disney style villain.

And now we're here again.... THE FLASH debacle

I'm Strong 💪 and I'm keeping on believing and fighting for what we all love ❤️

HOPE NEVER DIES

WB made Zack Snyder embrace a more light tone for JL, which is why its tone is so different for his JL to Man of Steel and BvS. This can be seen in pr backpedaling and clarifications during production. They specifically did interviews, collider did some on set, where Snyder tried to reassure fans "he cared about the characters," and wasn't just making a Justice League where batman gets raped in prison. The studio involvement in JL was obvious and it made a much better film with a compromise of Snyder's vision and what audiences want. WB, however was an idiot, and decided it wasn't light enough, so the rest is history. If JL in post production would've been a collaborative effort between a producer role Snyder and looked something close to 4 hour Justice League, with Aquaman being successful, and if Ben Affleck had made his Batman film, a rocky start to the cinematic universe would've likely turned fairly popular, if these movies remained a collaborative work with the producers/audience and not just creative dictatorship made by Snyder.

I don’t care what the end result of this new direction is… the fact that Gunn CANCELED a Batman Beyond movie WITH KEATON!!! Is unforgivable!

The real reason why the dc universe could never truly get anywhere is because of Warner bros, if the people over at Warner would let the people they hire to make the movies do their damn jobs and not intervene so much then the dceu could have been right alongside the MCU by now, Convince me otherwise

I don't understand what's so hard. Get Paul dini and Bruce Tim to write the cinematic universe. Pay them literally anything they want.

In our hearts and soul the DCEU and the SNYDERVERSE will always and forever be in all our Hearts and soul

You know something, I really do think if Zack Snyder’s plans had continued with his Justice League and other movies… it still would’ve failed. WB would’ve continued to lose more and more money with each movie that came out, and DC’s reputation would be damaged beyond most repair. The writing was on the wall the second Man of Steel came out, painting a bleak picture of Superman that frankly never suited his character to begin with. BVS was just the highlighting of this writing, Batman mercilessly killing people just proving/threatening Zack’s bleak vision would bleed to the other characters of the DC Universe regardless of how little said characters would adopt a bleak interpretation. Most importantly however, it lost money, and though some may choose this reason or that for the lost revenue, or WB not giving Zack enough time to flesh everything out, the fact of the matter is the bleak interpretation of the characters still had to contribute to said losses. No one in the mainstream or true DC fandom wants to see characters who are typically depicted as virtuous and hopeful degraded to bleak shells of themselves just because the director thinks that’s what makes for good and interesting characters. And even if there are people who do, or would have been, how long would they legitimately continue to support the universe? My guess, especially if that whole thing of Batman and Lois Lane having a one night stand happened on screen, I can’t imagine that many people would continue to support the movies. They would bleed viewers like a drunken pig. The worst part, Warner Bros has proven time and time again they like synergy between products. The comics would have continued to maintain that same bleakness from the movies and just suffered as a result. By the time of Justice League 2, Part 3 or whatever the heck it was called, I would imagine that being the end of it all. A big production put on for no viewers, and box after box of unsold comics because everyone just got sick and tired of it. DC would have been left out on the street, slumped over like a drunk guy after getting his ass beat by the bouncer. But hey, at least the Snyderverse was fully realized… 🙄

WB suits ruined the DCEU and MoS, BvS UE, & ZSJL had themes that went above ppl’s heads. “We want to see classic Superman” MoS was literally an origin film & we see why he does this & that, BvS, “Save Martha!” Humanized the alien to Bruce and it was also Bruce’s name so it took him aback. Sure, Doomsday was way too early but it could’ve been a knockoff Doomsday. Still, bc they made you think and it wasn’t handed to you, these movies were received bad. Smh.

I feel like James Gunn DCU might be screwed because not only that the box office of Ant-Man 3 and Shazam 2 is showing that audiences are starting to lose interest in shared universe comic book movies but also with the exception of the elseworlds film (The Batman and Joker) DC hasn’t had a big box office hit since Aquaman.

Zack Snyder was very passionate about the DCEU but honestly, his vision was not that great. His movies were all about spectacle, slow mo and cool camera shots, but when you start to dissect them, especially when it comes to coherence and story, they just completely fall apart. Presenting Superman as a god figure, following with Injustice story beats, making Batman kill people, introducing Doomsday in the second movie, Lex Luthor casting, nothing really gelled together, it was a mess from the very beginning.

You forgot other one that also had a planned cinematic universe and that is The Loud House. Plans for a Loud House shared universe dated back in 2018 which could have included spin offs including The Casagrandes which came out a year later in 2019 and one focusing on Sam and Luna similar to Brokeback Mountain and one focusing on Lori and Bobby which would be a romance. However, following the cancellation of The Casagrandes after three seasons, plans for quote unquote "Loud House Cinematic Universe" were scrapped. Thankfully, we got a Disney XD type cinematic universe and that included Star Vs The Forces of Evil released in 2015, Amphibia released in 2019, The Owl House released in 2020 as well as The Ghost And Molly McGee released in 2021. Also, Star Butterfly made an appearance in a post credits scene of the series finale of Amphibia and the series finale of The Owl House in which set up the Disney+ original crossover film Star Vs Luz Vs Anne Vs Molly.

Where'd you get the pictures from 1:02 to 1:08

I LIKE AND APPRECIATE THIS CONTENT AND I LIKE THIS VIDEO

hopefully the dc reboot is good if not we have the best dc universe already DCAU

Long time real comic book fan. I was happy to see MARVEL & DC comics come to life on the big screen but of course like all big blockbuster movies, just cause you have the properties to make a great movie SLOW DOWN we don't need so many movies put out so soon all at once. They always somehow give the ranges to a writer/director group with little experience and whos money hungry that bring down the super hero movies :(

It's a Myth, that being dark is better than being family orientated. The Mid 90s started the slow death of Comic books. The Comic books became so dark, that the core audience (Kids)were systematically removed from buying comic books. The kids who could buy the books and loved the darker edge was a niche group of kids. Slightly older and could afford the new pricing, which was also an issue. Superman killing a main villain, to give him an edge, is what ruin a great movie. He should have been sent to the Void or whatever it's called, like what had been done earlier in the film. Story is the second thing that help killed this Universe. No matter the style of the movie, if the story is weak or been retold too many times, people will go elsewhere. Batman vs Superman was okay until they brought in Characters we should have never seen until much later in the Universe! The fight between Superman and Batman would have been enough to fill out the whole movie, Wonder Woman could have been the reason they stopped fighting, again profit over a good story ruin this. Joker had a great story, Aqua man had a great story. Wonder Woman had a great story. Man of Steel had a great story. The rest either wasn't in my wheelhouse, or just plain ole bad. Suicide Squad Bad, #2 BAD WW1984 BAD. Story that fits the Audience that viewing the film and great story lines that target the core Audience. I hated most of the Marvel films. Iron man 1 Great the rest SUCKED, Thor GOOD, the Rest Sucked. Captain America Good then got better each film!!!!!! The Avengers, Loved the first one hated 2, the next ones 3 and 4 where good and paid off what we wanted to see. Guardians of the Galaxy, I loved 1 didn't like 2, haven't seen 3. Ant Man 1 I loved the rest wasn't interested. My point if you know who's viewing your films and target stories you hope they would like, you can make the money you hoped the stories and Characters will bring in.

What program do you use

Henry Cavill Superman is the Goat 🐐

The DCEU is Dead wasted, and filled with continuity errors, and the DCEU will never be directed by Zack Snyder never again and I wanna those canceled DCEU films 😭😭😭😭😭😭🥺🥺🥺🙏🙏🙏🙏💀☠️☠️💀💀☠️🪦🪦🪦🪦🪦🪦🪦🪦🪦

I wouldn't call the Universal Monsters a cinematic universe per sé, as there's not actually continuity among most of them. Whenever the Wolfman, Dracula, or Frankenstein meet, its always treated as if its the first time they've ever crossed paths. So its more likely that each film is its own thing, and not truly a combined universe. A much better example is Godzilla. While it plays fast and loose with continuity, every time Godzilla fought King Ghidorah, or Mothra, they always make reference to previous times they've met.

Rest in peace dc extended universe (2013-2023) 😢

James and Peter's DC universe is what can best be described as the DCTU(DC transmedia universe)

they should have let the snyderverse conclude then reboot it, it would have made everyone happy

Warner brothers saw this as a perfect opportunity 😭😭

I'm never giving up on BLACK ADAM

David Ayer too.

At the end of the day, the Marvel movies made it because they had a very high batting average when it came to quality. It’s just hard to pump out like 20 movies and a good 75% of them are good. Making movies isn’t easy.

At the end of the day, WB doomed themselves. A lot if people blame Zack Snyder but at least he has a plan and a structure. If WB was Smart, they could have rework the structure, having more solos movies building up the characters but then people would say they are MCU clones. I am not a Zack Snyder fan. I like his Superman but I understand why people don't like him because he isn't Superman from the comics. I can't get upset at Zack because he is a good director but he isn't a storyteller. It is still WB fault. If it was Zack own movie universe with his own characters it would be successful but when you change the fundamentals of iconic characters, people are going to be upset.

You forgot to mention the dcau war-verse .

ZSJL AND ZSJL 2,3 IS A MASTERPIECE AND A GLOBAL PHENOMENON

Nothing says giving hope to children than drowning superman in skulls

Not A Fan of Zack But If we Gotten His Vision On Justice league on 2017 or later Than Things Today Might could Been Different. However I Had High Hopes For Gunn DCU

After the trilogy of the dark knight, I left, and never looked back. They really dropped the ball

I would have at least liked this universe to finish with the justice league trilogy

Black Adam made me realize how much Dwayne Johnson is just not a person who cares for the movies he is in but the image it gives him. He will throw years of continuity or character archetypes to be fit his brand narrative.

peacemaker got retconned to be in the dcu

3:23 es curioso que menciones el Monsterverse lo único que fracaso más que el snyderverse fue el Monsterverse y su momia con Tom Cruise

The New 52 era may not be perfect but it could've been a proper blueprint for the dceu.

In all honesty, Snyder dceu was not good either. Man of Steel was ok, flawed, but worked, but everything after was awfully dumb.

Collapse? it barely established a solid foundation. Batman V Superman is a testament of that, seems WB has no vision for cohesive cinematice universe, after Man of Steel, there's Batman V Superman then Justice League already, then they just release DC movies that don't really lead up to anything, some of them are not even for DCEU, like Joker and Batman, instead of trying to fix their broken cinematic universe

Justice League killed this.

I like some of the DCEU movies but it’s still the most inconsistent franchise I’ve ever seen. It didn’t care about making good stories. It didn’t even care about their characters. They just wanted catch up to marvel and make money. I could name so many piss poor decisions they made but for now I’m gonna name two. Batman V Superman and Suicide Squad. Batman V Superman wasn’t supposed to be VS movie. The original script was just “Batman/Superman”. They forced Zack to make some changes, force some hero cameos, so they can start working on Justice league (which is a whole ‘nother story) and suicide squad. It was supposed to be a dark, fun, epic movie just like the trailer. But then the next trailer came out and Warner bros said “Bro, fuck it. Let’s hire the guys who made this trailer” and changed the entire goddamn movie. They made it “funny” “fun” and “hip” and then the movie was a failure. I can’t say it’s just Warner bros though. DC does make poor decisions but for Christ sake’s, man. Concentrate on the characters. Concentrate on your fans, assholes

I hope the new DC Universe does succeed especially with Gunn and Safran involved. If it can be like the comic universe, for example the current comic universe that began with New 52 all the way to Dawn of DC, then there's potential.

Geoff Johns happened

If you ask me, the DCEU was doomed the minute WB hired Zack Snyder to direct Man Of Steel. We should've had people who love DC comics in charage, instead of people who only like DC when it's one of Frank Millers public character assasinations of the DC universe! This makes me so angry, and is one of the reasons I hate The Dark Knight Returns so much, it ruined DC's reputation, and now all WB wants to do, is market to Racist, Sexist, homophobic old men!

I just didn't have interest in anything DC other than Batman to begin w, but they delivered some heaping trash anyways. Aquaman was shockingly enjoyable though. I was however, frankly blown away w how bad Joss-tice league turned out

I'm never giving up on THE DCEU

Zack Snyder was doing great until the Marveltubbies wet themselves over BvS.

I'm looking forward towards BLACK ADAM Sequel Henry Cavill MOS 2 Ben Afflecks BATMAN V DEATHSTROKE Gal Gadot Wonder Woman 3 Ray Fisher Cyborg movie John Stewart GL Green Arrow movie Ryan Choi the Atom JSA New GODS movie Jason MAMOA AQUAMAN 2 featuring Ben Afflecks BATMAN Martian MANHUNTER series ZSJL 2,3 project Justice League 2,3 ultimate cut