A superhero team delivers one of the best and worst adventures at the same time

This has had us for ten years DC Extended Universe (DCEU) accompanied in the cinema. The biggest competing project to the Marvel Cinematic Universe made a lot of headlines, especially due to the messy production histories of its films. The list of canceled projects is longer than that of those that appeared. After a decade we still have 16 titles and a lot of discussion material.

Bad reviews, disappointed fans and creative differences behind the scenes. Is there even a good DCEU film? Naturally! We in the Moviepilot editorial team have gone through all the films and have them brought together in a ranking. Not on the list are the spin-off series Peacemaker and the crazy but poisoned Batgirl film, which we hope to see one day.

Until then, we will have 16 extremely different comic book films, which, despite all criticism, is one of the great strengths of the DCEU. In ten years there has never been a dull moment. Hardly any other franchise has such an eventful history and has basically reinvented itself a little with each new film. Frustrating. Fascinating. Make yourself comfortable and let us review the DCEU.

16th place: Black Adam (2022)

The film that was supposed to upend the entire hierarchy of the DC Universe turned out to be the franchise’s biggest embarrassment. For a split second, it looked like Dwayne Johnson could bring the DCEU into a new era with Black Adam. It ended up being the worst film in the entire list. The defeat is garnished with the completely disastrous Superman cameo in the post-credit scene, which has become a symbol of the chaos behind the scenes. Black Adam didn’t turn the DC Universe on its head. He brought it down.

15th place: Suicide Squad (2016)

The chaos behind the scenes can also be felt in every second of Suicide Squad. The radical idea of ​​bringing an anti-hero group to the fore ended in a bleak mix of gangster, military and superhero films. Rarely has a comic book adaptation seemed so thrown together. No wonder director David Ayer distances himself from this cut-up mess. Still fascinating: Suicide Squad features the best and worst DCEU casting. Jared Leto’s Joker? No thanks. Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn? A blessing for the franchise.

14th place: Shazam! Fury of the Gods (2023)

Shazam! Fury of the Gods has forgotten everything that distinguished its predecessor. Gone is the Christmas family story that pleasantly set the original apart from the monotony of superhero cinema. The sequel has become exactly the completely interchangeable bombast that the first part cleverly avoided. Not even Helen Mirren, Lucy Liu and West Side Story discoverer Rachel Zegler can save this tired sequel from the wrath of the gods. Zachary Levi’s childish hero, who once brought a breath of fresh air to the DCEU, has turned into dead weight.

13th place: Aquaman: Lost Kingdom (2023)

The last DCEU film is anything but a grand finale, let alone a proper finale after ten years. Rather, we are dealing with a film that just happens to be the last film in the franchise and has no interest at all in the rest of the Justice League. Aquaman: Lost Kingdom just wants to be a sequel, but even on this point the colorful underwater spectacle is only partially convincing. You can still have a bit of fun with the buddy dynamic between Jason Momoa and Patrick Wilson as unlikely half-brothers.

12th place: Blue Beetle (2023)

The DCEU has tried several times to reinvent itself with smaller films. Blue Beetle is the last member of this series and is an entertaining origin story in itself. Xolo Maridueña is convincing as a young hero and the setting in Palmera City ensures cultural variety. Nevertheless, in the end that certain something is missing that turns the film into a memorable DCEU entry and elevates it beyond the label of “quite nice”. It’s all the stranger that James Gunn chose Blue Beetle as the “first” hero of his new DC universe.

11th place: Justice League (2017)

The history of the DCEU is a history of torn films. Justice League was completely rebuilt during its production. A directorial change that couldn’t be more striking: Avengers veteran Joss Whedon tries to paint over Zack Snyder’s vision with colorful, but at the same time incredibly pale images. The result is a film that you can tell at every minute that it has been stripped of its strongest elements. If it weren’t for the stars in good spirits, this poorly cobbled together film would hardly have a pulse.

10th place: The Flash (2023)

The Flash spent many years in production hell, but in the last gasps of the DCEU, the multiverse adventure still conquered the big screen and even brought back Michael Keaton’s Batman from the Tim Burton films. With General Zod as a villain in an alternative timeline, director Andy Muschietti even draws a link to the birth of the DCEU. However, this did not result in a multiversal stroke of genius à la Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. The Flash still has the heart of an enthusiastically over-the-top comic book adaptation.

9th place: Aquaman (2018)

Against all expectations, Aquaman became the only DCEU film to pass the billion mark and became its own phenomenon. Horror expert James Wan unleashes a crazy odyssey of Shakespearean proportions that takes us into the depths of the ocean and exposes us to the sounds of Pitbull’s Africa remix in the desert. The wild mix of adventures is only surpassed by bundle of energy Jason Momoa, who brings this exuberant rush together in one performance. As skeptical as Aquaman was initially viewed, few DCEU films have contained so much self-confidence.

8th place: Shazam! (2019)

What if we briefly trade the dreary DC rains for a wintry mix of coming-of-age comedy and family drama? David F. Sandberg, who like James Wan is actually known for his horror stories, took this risk and brought Shazam! one of the biggest DCEU surprises coming to the cinema. Suddenly the larger-than-life gods from Zack Snyder’s films are confronted with human figures who struggle with small problems – at least until digital bodies are pushed around between high-rise buildings in the gray showdown.

7th place: Man of Steel (2013)

Hans Zimmer’s drums and a mysteriously swelling motif establish the DCEU. In Man of Steel we first experience the destruction of a planet before a new era begins on Earth. Henry Cavill shapes his Superman in slow motion and epic images until, driven by the increasing music, he rises into the skies and even the vastness of space. Defining the style not only for the DCEU, but also for the aesthetics of modern blockbuster cinema: With Man of Steel, Zack Snyder has created a colossus that cannot be ignored.

6th place: Wonder Woman 1984 (2020)

Wonder Woman 1984 is similar to Aquaman: Lost Kingdom in many ways. Both films build on major DC successes, have a rocky production history, and faded from pop culture memory shortly after their release. In Gal Gadot’s second solo adventure, however, there is more dedication and ambition, sometimes even a secret screwball comedy and the spirit of the classic Superman films. Despite some extremely questionable decisions, Wonder Woman 1984 is one of the odd DCEU films that definitely deserves a second look.

5th place: Birds of Prey (2020)

Yes, Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn is a blessing for the DCEU, and there’s no better proof than the rollicking Birds of Prey: The Emancipation of Harley Quinn, which lets off steam to its heart’s content in a world full of idiosyncratic characters. A reckoning with the Joker as a toxic ex-boyfriend, a restless stumbling over corpses in search of the perfect egg sandwich and a foray through the Batman ruins by Tim Burton and Joel Schumacher: Director Cathy Yan creates an exciting stage for Robbie on which she can bring one of the best DC characters to life.

4th place: Wonder Woman (2017)

Arriving at a time when many were ready to bury the DCEU for the first time, Wonder Woman revealed herself as the franchise’s first resounding triumph. Gal Gadot races as a bright star into a dark war film and, above all, sheds light on the life of Chris Pine, who as a pilot is stranded on a strange island and has to question everything he previously thought he knew. Patty Jenkins achieved something similar with the blockbuster Wonder Woman. After all the wrong conclusions drawn from Catwoman, Elektra and Co., Hollywood could learn a lot here.

3rd place: Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016)

The second DCEU film should achieve the feat that Marvel took a whole six-film phase to achieve. It seemed rushed at the time. Looking back, Zack Snyder’s first crossover is still captivating. The first minutes of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice dovetail brilliantly with Man of Steel and create the basic framework for a complex and inscrutable superhero blockbuster that strives to explore the big themes and questions of the genre. The comic book model, The Dark Knight Returns, can be felt in every fiber of this doubtful film.

2nd place: The Suicide Squad (2021)

James Gunn probably could have chosen any film at DC, but he chose the sequel to the completely unsuccessful Suicide Squad. Pride? Megalomania? Or a bitter need to prove yourself? There’s none of that in The Suicide Squad. Instead, Gunn has created the ruthless superhero answer to the classic war film The Dirty Dozen and a team film in which you can’t rely on anything – especially not on one of the team members. Except maybe Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn. Because without them the DCEU is lost.

1st place: Zack Snyder’s Justice League (2021)

Does he exist? Or is he just a myth? Hardly any other question has been as hotly debated in pop culture over the past decade as the question of the Snyder Cut of Justice League. Entire history books can be filled with the records from 2017-2021. Thanks to the streaming boom, persistent fan campaigns, an unprecedented cult of personality and the pandemic-related blockbuster lull, it actually made it into the light of day. Things are so blurred in the Snyder Cut that the film can hardly be perceived as such.

As soon as you detach Zack Snyder’s Justice League from its surroundings, you find a film that you can sink into for hours – and not just because of its enormous running time of 243 minutes. No, this film is one of the great blockbuster epics of our time and, at its core, a very lonely, sad story about loss and the strength it takes to get back up after defeat. The supposed contradiction of superlatives and intimacy gives the film a fascinating aura and puts it at number 1 in our DCEU ranking.