After the Snyder Cut, it’s time to let go of the DCEU

It’s been more than a week since the Zack Snyder’s Justice League dropped on HBO Max and fans are still excited, to say the least. But should the DCEU continue beyond that?

Keeping in mind that Zack Snyder’s Justice League isn’t a perfect movie by any stretch of the imagination, it is infinitely better than Joss Whedon’s terrible theatrical cut from 2017. And it has created a renewed interest in and conversation about the DCEU.

But the flaws in the DCEU are much bigger than one or two movies. Its larger failures are more than any one director could fix. As such, it might be time to let concept go and move forward with letting what are generally good movies stand on their own.

The MCU puts DC in a tough spot

When Iron Man hit theaters in 2008, fans were just hoping for a decent movie. They certainly were not expecting the beginning of a cinematic universe that would change the game for storytelling in Hollywood. Also, Iron Man turned out to be a great movie.

The first three phases of the Marvel Cinematic Universe consist of 23 movies, with 11 more on the way in Phase Four. On top of that, there have been several TV series on ABC, Netflix, Disney+ and other networks. There have also been other Marvel TV shows and movies not part of the MCU.

That’s not to say that everything has been great in the MCU. There have been a few TV series that were absolute duds, not to mention some less than stellar movies. But that doesn’t change the fact that it’s arguably the biggest franchise of all time.

All of this put Marvel’s main comic book competitor in a rough position. When DC started looking at upping their game in movie theaters, they started to conceptualize the DCEU. Unfortunately, they also tried to run before they could walk.

The DCEU gets off to a rough start

DC has a long history of producing great cinematic experiences. Superman (1978) and Batman (1989) remain two of the greatest comic book movies ever made. While they’ve put out their fair share of duds, their successes have been far more memorable.

But something changed when they decided to launch the DC Extended Universe in opposition to the MCU. It all started with 2013’s Man of Steel, a movie that did reasonably well at the box office but didn’t get a lot of love from critics. Some people blamed MCU bias for that one.

After that followed Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Suicide Squad, both in 2016. It was an odd trio of movies to start the DCEU with. This would have been roughly the equivalent of the MCU starting with Iron Man, Captain America: Civil War and Guardians of the Galaxy.

Despite what some people thought, it was largely a mess that made the DCEU look like a bargain basement version of the MCU. In reality, nothing could be further from the truth. Warner Bros.’ meddling was reportedly the overall source of the problem, not so much the creative minds behind it all.

The DCEU finds its footing

The first truly outstanding film in the DCEU was Patty Jenkins’ Wonder Woman in 2017. A big part of that success was due to the fact that its story was mostly removed from the larger DCEU. This movie laid out its own compelling narrative, and was better because of it.

Aquaman (2018), Shazam! (2019) and Birds of Prey (2020) were all great movies. More recently, Wonder Woman 1984 missed the mark, though it wasn’t as detrimental to the overall franchise as some earlier entries in the DCEU.

With sequels to many of these movies on the way as well as theatrical releases devoted to Black Adam and The Flash, it begs the question of the need for the DCEU at all. It might not be necessary for DC’s movies to find success. The Suicide Squad appears largely disconnected from it.

Many of the existing movies that are supposedly part of the DCEU barely acknowledge those connections. In fact, the further they get away from the DCEU, the better they seem for the most part. Some, like new film The Batman, aren’t even pretending to be part of it.

Additionally, both versions of the Justice League movie have created internal inconsistencies within the DCEU. And it’s hard to argue that the portrayals of characters like Wonder Woman and Aquaman have been better in their own films than the team ones.

If Zack Snyder does return to do more DC films, he should do his own thing and ignore the other DCEU movies. He could easily use the same characters and same actors, but not have the stories connect back to any of the other DC movies. The same thing would work for other directors, too.

The smartest thing DC and Warner Bros. could do at this point would be to forget about the DCEU, and just focus on making good movies. After all, the only reason the DCEU even happened was as a direct response to the existence of the MCU. That’s not a good reason to do anything.

Would you like to see more DCEU movies or do you think DC should stick to standalone films that may or may not be set in that universe? Let us know in the comments below!