Greetings and salutations, dear reader! Warner Bros.’ DC Extended Universe, or the DCEU if you prefer has been around since 2013, with the release of Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel that same year with many more movies to follow in the coming years. Now, fast forward to a decade later, DCEU hasn’t been the success that many had hoped for, with more duds than wins over the years. Also, with The Flash movie being the penultimate film in the franchise under the Synderverse, let’s ranked the movies from best to worst, see why they’ve slowly been in decline.
Also, as a disclaimer, I won’t be putting in movies like Matt Reeves’ The Batman and Todd Phillips’ The Joker as those are separate from the DCEU. Also, to avoid this post from getting too long, I’ll be separating it into two parts.
I’ll be totally honest with you; David Ayer’s Suicide Squad is absolute mess to watch. Had the makings of something different, it looked weird (in a good way), and was completely the opposite of what marvel was offering- an anti-Guardians of the Galaxy if you will. A group disposable villains coerced into doing the governments dirty work in exchange for reducing jail time, which is not a bad premise, frankly. The problem is that it this movie was overhyped and under delivered.
Another thing to take note, is how the marketing for this movie fooled you into believing that it’ll be a fun and colorful. The trailers and promos leading up to the movie showed these characters as loose and zany psychopaths having a good time taking out bad guys, but in actuality was rather dull. Despite a few bright spots like Will Smith’s brand of charisma injecting personality to the Deadshot character, or the firs live-action appearance of Harley Quinn played by Margot Robbie, just squandered with an awful story that does a disservice to these characters.
It’s not all a lost cause though as the movie was given a director’s cut version of the film for the home released which added more scenes of the squad having fun and fleshed out the story further. Though by that point, its was a little too late as many of who looked forward to this movie had moved on.
The second movie overall in the DCEU, the sequel to 2013’s Man of Steel, and is the prequel to the Justice League, this movie had a lot to live up to; not only as a sequel but a show of confidence that the DCEU can rival that of Marvel. Released a month before Marvel’s Captain America: Civil War which shared many similar plot points, BVS was ultimately defeated by critics, audiences, and was made fun of on the internet.
The major flaw this movie was that it failed to deliver on the promise of its own title; the battle between Batman and Superman, DC’s two most iconic characters! Their fight was set up, but ends so abruptly with the infamous “save Martha” meme. The movie now shifts focus with the two having to work together, introducing Wonder Woman to audiences, and most controversial of all: having Superman killed.
Look, I don’t want to be too negative on the movie as there are things to be enjoyed here, albeit sparse. For instance, take Snyder use of imagery and symbolism of Superman as god-like figure throughout the movie that sets up these heroes as “gods” among men. Another is Gal Gadot’s as Wonder Woman being one of the highpoints of the movie, complete with her own theme composed by Hans Zimmer, giving her a badass debut.
To say that this movie was plagued with a turbulent production would be an understatement. As many of you know by now, Zack Snyder stepped away from production midway due to a family crisis, and Avengers’ director Joss Whedon asked to take over as director. As we know now, this movie really underperformed in the box office, with critics and audiences calling it a rush job trying to catch up to the power house that is Marvel. By simply mashing all the piece together at one as oppose to each hero having their own respective solo movie and going straight to a major team-up movie with a bunch new characters that audiences have no attachment to led to disastrous results.
The biggest problem I have with Justice League has to be the mismanagement after Snyder’s departure, Warner hired Whedon to finish the film, taking over and with massive amounts of reshoots, and plot changes. It ended up being this Frankenstein’s Monster of a film that doesn’t feel either director’s vision, with inconsistencies in the plot and tone.
When compared with Man of Steel and BVS, they were Snyder’s vision- whether people liked them or not is another reason- that was his with parables guised as a superhero movie. Justice League plays it safe and straight that’s lacking that vision to see it through like Snyder. Sure, we got the Snyder Cut later down the line, and it did improve the film by giving more story and fleshed out the characters. Its just way to late at that point for me to care anymore.
After the success of Patty Jenkins’ Wonder Woman (2017), its sequel had a lot to live up to. Expectations were extremely high for this movie, it unfortunately had to contend with a global pandemic at the time. I’m not going to spend much time writing on this one, as I’ve only watched it once on streaming and one more for this post- all I’ll say is that its bad, like cartoonishly bad when you compared to its predecessor.
Both Gal Gadot and Chris Pine returned to reprise their roles as Diana and Steve respectively, with a Pedro Pascal as Maxwell Lord, and Kristen Wiig as the Barbra Minerva aka Cheetah. The cast for this movie was terrific as they were very likeable on screen, especially the interactions between Diana and Steve as their romance was allowed to grow. And there’s the villains; Lord and Cheetah, both were great, going over the top with their personas like bad guys you see in the old Superman movies.
That’s where the positives end for me as the plot for this movie makes no damn sense. There have been reports that the script was incomplete during filming, which resulted in as messy, confusing and weak story. Whether this was due to studio interference or the director having a different vision (or lack of one), the end product wasn’t great to watch overall and would’ve still disappoint with or without the pandemic.
Okay, when I watched the first Shazam movie back in 2019, it won me over with its wholesome, feel-good vibes that were missing from previous DCEU entries, and I was excited when they announced a sequel. Though that excitement turned into resentment after watching Fury of the Gods as it annoyed me a whole bunch, and the cause of that was Shazam himself (or rather Zachary Levi). This is probably due to the script making more of an obnoxious child then he really needs to be.
Another problem this film suffers is in its plot with way too many characters to properly juggle, and uninteresting villains. We have the Shazam Family drama, the antagonist, the Daughters of Atlast family drama, the plot with the Wizard, and a love story between Freddy and Anthea- yeah, it doesn’t look like much, if not handled correctly, it can make two and half hours drag on forever.
Alright, not to be too negative… there is fun to be had here too. I never thought the duo of Freddy and the Wizard would a great comedic pairing, and managed to give a few genuine laughs. Also, there’s some set up that could possible have Shazam returning in future DCEU movies if the end credit is to be believed, so there’s still hope for the character.
Despite being titled as such, this is really a Harley Quinn movie featuring other badass female-street-level-heroes to expand the cast. Cathy Yan’s Birds of Prey is what you’d expect a movie that has Harley Quinn as the lead to be like; a psychotic joyride across a Batman-less Gotham City, and we Harley trying to rid herself of the Joker’s influence, whilst at the same time getting involved with a teenage girl who’s become Gotham’s most wanted.
I don’t have much to go on this movie either as I’ve only seen it once and that was just before the pandemic. All I can remember is that it had a hard time finding its own identity, whether it wanted to be like Deadpool; continuously breaking the 4th wall or a gritty Tarantino crime drama. Another to note is the in-your-face forced feminism moments throughout the whole movie, making it very pandering to a specific demographic, whilst alienating everyone. The best thing about this film is Harley Quinn herself, having more time on screen since her debut in David Ayer’s Suicide Squad.
This movie was ok for me, it didn’t wow me nor did it bore me, in other words: its just average. The idea of a Black Adam movie has been in the works for over a decade and a lot of fan were definitely hyped to see it finally on the big screen, with the most requested fancast coming true, it should’ve been amazing, right? Yes and no. This antihero movie stumbles on so many levels like many generic ones do: underdeveloped villain, a MacGuffin to find, and a convoluted story. Surprisingly, it didn’t bother me so much, with Black Adam leaning more towards its morally grey area of an antihero without being out of place. Dwayne Johnson’s Black Adam was allowed to embrace his darker side while still being a protector to his people.
Maybe it’s the Johnson’s likeability or charisma because its so hard not to root against him as he throws enemies into the air or zapping them to death with his powers. Another positive is that the movie introduces a collection of heroes, the Justice Society of America, comprising of Hawkman (Aldis Hodge), Doctor Fate (Pierce Brosnan), Atom Smasher (Noah Centineo) and Cyclone (Quintessa Swindell). Unlike Fury of the Gods, this cast has something to do and doesn’t overstay their welcome. Also, the dynamics of the whole JSA with Adam’s fury makes a the “good cop, bad cop” trope refreshing and to see how’d they handle the situation.
Other than that, Black Adam does a great job at world building for the DCEU, showing us the wider world of this universe and the people who populate it. Other than that, it makes good use of past characters like Viola Davis’ Amanda Waller by giving us hints of future Suicide Squad crossover (maybe). Overall, this movie was ok.
Being the only, and I mean only movie in the entirety of the DCEU to make a $1billion in the box office deserves praise. This film stars Jason Mamoa as the titular hero, Aquaman in his first solo outing, and did it make waves. To be perfectly blunt, this movie is by no means perfect- questionable cgi-hair, a MacGuffin hunt, and feels bloated at times, but despite all that this film works as a modern King Arthur movie (it even references it). Furthermore, director James Wan managed to make the tired trope of the lost city of Atlantis exciting again, teaming with life and culture.
While I may praise this movie, it does suffer with safe, predictable, and often clunky dialogue with the occasional fun to be had here and there. Most notable for me was seeing a giant octopus playing the drums- this is proof that the movie is not afraid to be a bit silly as its predecessors. As I’ve said previously, this movie can feel bloated, but the vibrant colors and visual managed to exude charm and joy.
If there’s anything to take away from Aquaman, there’s elements introduced in its world build provide great opportunities to expand in the sequel. Warner made a brilliant decision with casting Jason Mamoa, combined that with James Wan directing created a world worth revisiting.
Well, that goes it for part one. Since this post has gone for way too long, its best we take a break here and continue later in part two.
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