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Warner Bros., the company that holds the rights to the characters from DC Comics, wanted to develop their own version of MCU after observing how popular Disney’s franchise became, which is why the original DCEU was established.
Despite its great potential, star power, and some amazing films, the DCEU was destined to fail before its time because far too many bad decisions and miscalculated choices were made along the way.
Then, Zack Snyder, the previous director of the DCEU, was fired and was replaced by James Gunn, who had a lot of experience due to his stint at Marvel. When Gunn took over the DCEU, everything was in utter disorder, so he made the decision to start over and create a new fictional universe, DCU, whose first chapter “Gods and Monsters” will be released soon.
The whole project began in 2022, and now, almost three years later, where do we stand as far as the DCU is concerned? In this report, we are going to look back on what Gunn and DC Studios have done and what potential the new DC Universe has.
And while several films have been released during Gunn’s and Safran’s reign over at DC, none of them are actually part of the official DCU, which is set to begin later this year. Projects like Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom or Blue Beetle were part of the old DCEU, while The Batman by Matt Reeves and Todd Phillips’ Joker: Folie à Deux were never meant to be part of the primary universe.
Sure, there’s Gunn’s Suicide Squad movie, but it is officially not listed as a DCU movie, we have Peacemaker, which is part of the DCU, but it is an exception.
Namely, as you know, Gunn announced that the first phase of the DCU will be titled Gods and Monsters and that it will work as an introduction to the lore of his DCU. So far, zero movies from that phase have been released, despite the fact that Gunn has been building that world for almost three years.
The first movie we are going to see from that phase is Superman, which is coming out on July 11, 2025. After that, we have Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, slated for a June 26, 2026 release, and five planned movies with no release date.
We also have several television projects, but that is not something that we’re concerned with right now, as these shows will not form the core DCU, but rather act as supplements to the main story.
So, we have three years of world-building and no world to show for it. That seems kind of odd, doesn’t it? We know several casting decisions have been made, but the main issue is that Gunn has nothing to show for it, and we still have more than half a year before the first major DCU project actually appears.
And that is an issue. Not for us, as we’re used to not getting anything, but for Gunn, because Superman will have to meet a lot of high expectations and be the movie that was worth waiting for.
If the movie flops – which would mean that three years went into absolutely nothing and that Gunn and Safran are unable, despite so much time, to craft something that the audiences will love – the DCU is in big trouble.
We don’t know if this strategy will work out for Gunn, but there are several problematic points to it. First of all, a lot of things have been announced – some major ones, but also some obscure ones, like the surprise Bane/Deathstroke solo movie(?) that came out of nowhere, seeing how the DCU doesn’t even have its Batman yet – and that can be a potential problem.
One of Marvel’s biggest issues, looking back, was the fact that it wanted to produce as much as possible in as little time. And while we don’t know Gunn’s planned timeline, we know that no one will wait ten years for the release of seven movies, among which are just two potentially major movies; it simply doesn’t make sense.
Secondly, Gunn is building his DCU while relying on marginal characters. And no, we’re not saying that Peacemaker or the Creature Commandos are bad characters, but they are not the main ones, and people want to see the main ones before exploring other characters.
Imagine if the MCU started off with Ms. Marvel, Hawkeye, and Ant-Man before properly introducing Iron-Man, Thor, and Captain America… it wouldn’t have turned out like it did, right?
And sure, we’re going to see Supergirl, and the Teen Titans, and some Green Lanterns, and Swamp Thing, but where are Batman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, and Aquaman? Sure, Gunn has the problem of these characters already being in the collective memories of the fans (Marvel basically started from complete scratch), but still… fans want the main heroes with the best stories and then the lesser-known characters.
While Batman is planned for The Brave and the Bold, the other three are nowhere in sight, which is a bummer, especially for Wonder Woman and the Flash.
Having said all of this, Gunn will have to do better and faster while maintaining an admirable level of quality, which is not going to be an easy task. So far, he has more going against his idea than for it, but we’re hopeful that the release of Superman will change all of that and finally usher in a new, brighter era for DC’s heroes.
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