I watched the DC Universe die for a year and it broke my heart

Ten years ago, Man of Steel wasn’t just a new Superman film released in cinemas. Warner Bros. and the comic house DC wanted to create their own film universe based on the model of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, in which well-known superheroes such as Wonder Woman and Batman meet. A decade later it is clear: this DC Extended Universe (DCEU) has failed and has no future.

At the beginning of the year, director James Gunn and producer Peter Safran presented their plans for an extensive DC reboot. Ten films and series have already been announced, including a new Superman adventure. The absurdity: At that time, a considerable number of DC films were from the current era hasn’t even appeared yet. I then watched the franchise die for a year.

The DCEU is dying – and in its final year it is bringing more films to the cinema than ever before

The history of the DCEU is extremely messy. Where at Marvel – at least at first glance – everything went smoothly, DC’s attempts turned out to be a success only stumble. The second film, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, was supposed to accomplish what Marvel had achieved after five films and many years of preparatory work with the Avengers. Countless projects have been announced and canceled again.

Essentially, the DCEU reinvented itself with each film, culminating in one film, Justice League, being released two completely different versions exists and other DC series such as Joker and The Batman were started at the same time. They had nothing to do with the franchise core and, despite a big reboot, live on happily and without any connection to a cinematic universe.

The DCEU consists of 14 films if we exclude the Snyder cut of Justice League, which Warner doesn’t count as canon anyway. Four of these 14 films were released just this year. So almost a third of the entire franchise. In a year. Brilliant finale? None. The quartet Shazam! Fury of the Gods, The Flash, Blue Beetle and Aquaman: Lost Kingdom is a tragedy.

None of the films were released as originally planned. Shazam 2 slipped back and forth during the pandemic, Aquaman 2 had to endure several rounds of reshoots and Blue Beetle switched from streaming to cinemas. And then there’s The Flash, who spent more time in production hell than any other DC project to hit the big screen in recent years.

All that’s left of the DCEU’s entrancing chaos energy is a bunch of despondent films

Despite, or perhaps because of, this mess, I have grown to love the DCEU. Last but not least, it added a lot to the MCU films, which had become increasingly uniform corners and edges in contrast to. Sometimes a disaster, sometimes a miracle. Suicide Squad and The Suicide Squad perfectly capture this chaos energy. For a blockbuster franchise, the DCEU has been refreshingly unpredictable.

The last vintage was all the more disappointing. Already Shazam! Fury of the Gods had forgotten everything that distinguished its predecessor. Gone was the Christmas family story that pleasantly set the film apart from the monotony of superhero cinema. The sequel is to that interchangeable bombast which the first part cleverly avoided.

Shazam! Fury of the Gods followed seamlessly on from 2022’s Black Adam defeat and featured a similarly haphazard post-credit scene. Is Henry Cavill returning as Superman? Definitely not! But what about Zachary Levi as Shazam? Hmm, yes, maybe, maybe not. The DCEU’s coffin was officially sealed in January and yet every project came with it baseless promises around the corner.

The most frustrating experience in this regard was The Flash. A DC adventure that wanted to be a review, preview and inventory at the same time. Four Batman, three Superman and many more cameos: nostalgia cinema of the worst kind, although Multiverse stories offer so many narrative and cinematic possibilities, as Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse impressively demonstrated this year.

Even the Multiverse couldn’t give the fractured DCEU a graceful exit

If there’s a film that can somehow gracefully resolve the transition from one universe to the next, it’s The Flash with his Flashpoint story – at least that was the naive thought in my head for a long time. Until I came out of the cinema at the end and realized that the only really exciting moment was the return of George Clooney. A cliffhanger that will never have an aftermath.

Shazam discovers a kingdom of gods, Flash discovers the multiverse. Blue Beetle became one completely new superhero introduced, which we’ll see a lot more of in the future, right? After all, according to Gunn, Blue Beetle is the first superhero of the new DC universe, which actually only begins in cinemas with Superman: Legacy in 2025, although strictly speaking the starting shot will be given on TV with Creature Commandos in 2024.

Do you see the problem? A clear cut cannot be seen. The remaining DCEU films were thrust onto the screen more carelessly than any other franchise in a long time. One flop followed the next. Even Aquaman: Lost Kingdom, which continues the most successful DC film to date, will no longer be able to gild the numbers. Lead actor Jason Momoa leaves the film before the film’s release.

“It does not look good”, the Aquaman star commented to Entertainment Tonight when asked about another return. The four DC films in 2023 are currently grossing $530 million
– and that with a budget of 430 million US dollars (excluding marketing costs). To be profitable, a blockbuster must make two to three times its cost. There is no profit to be found in any box office invoice.

The once-unruly DCEU is met only with indifference at the big blockbuster funeral

It wasn’t just financially that the finale was a disaster: DC had four of the biggest films of the year, and it’s hard to pinpoint a pop culture footprint on any of the titles. A full line-up of blockbusters that has been forgotten, before it even unfolds could. Do you remember when films like the rough Batman v Superman didn’t want to disappear from the discourse?

Helen Mirren, Lucy Liu and West Side Story star Rachel Zegler were able to play Shazam! Fury of the Gods not save from insignificance, while Blue Beetle disappeared from theaters faster than its move there was discussed. Michael Keaton’s Batman comeback in The Flash failed at the point where Batgirl ended up in the poison cabinet, even though he was even the main Batman of the DCEU at one point.

What remains is the thoroughly enjoyable Aquaman madness, which stands out from the rest of the franchise with its crazy underwater action. However, as the last DCEU film, it works lost in the blockbuster ocean. No other Cinematic Universe has struggled so much with its (non-)existent master plan. Now everything ends, without even a hint of a touching farewell gesture. Actually consistent, but also disappointing.

At the beginning of the year, the end of the DCEU seemed like a loss. After the disjointed, listless final round, however, I’m at the end surprisingly indifferent mood. Of course, I jumped right into the first Aquaman viewing, but it no longer had anything to do with the DCEU body that once fascinated me. One last trip to the cinema to find closure, but there was no sign of it at all.

It really wasn’t fun to watch the painfully slow yet obvious death of a franchise.