We Were Robbed · 1:53pm Jul 28th, 2023
Yeah, I know. Another ranty post, but frankly, I need to talk about this as I’ve been meaning to for a while now. Just when I was getting over the fact that the way the DCEU ended was downright laughable, in comes this article to further stoke my fury for the new management at DC and how James Gunn has completely screwed up everything.
I don’t talk about non-MLP things a lot, and that’s mainly because I know my market and my targeted audience, but since I know that at least some of you are also DC fans, I think you’ll share my frustration. I think you all know by this point that I am a massive fan of what the early DCEU was, dubbed the “Snyderverse.” I loved the way this universe was grounded and the way Zack Snyder chose to portray these characters. Yeah, the dark tone wasn’t for everyone, but at least these characters felt real and identifiable, like they could exist in our reality. I loved Man of Steel and the promise it held. Zack Snyder’s Justice League is my absolute favorite movie of all time for a lot of reasons and one of them is the way it chose to give all the League members great development, especially Batman, Superman, Flash, and Cyborg. This was the movie that made me adore DC and turned me into a big fan. Yet despite this universe being finally put on the right path with audiences, WB chose not to continue it and instead proceed with whatever Marvel 2.0 thing they had.
Black Adam showed so much potential for a better path for this universe and after a long time of dealing with incompetent management, Ben Affleck and Henry Cavill getting screwed over after BvS failed to meet expectations, and a franchise that’s lacked a clear vision for a while, Dwayne Johnson’s solo movie was on the path to set things right. But it bombed and as a result, all plans were abandoned. Before you say that this movie was insignificant, I’m going to give you a taste of what this movie and The Flash was going to set up.
Yes, you read that right. We were finally going to get the rest of Zack’s intended vision with the Batfleck movie, Man of Steel 2, and so much more. What do we have now to replace it? A “DCU” that cannot even figure out where its own canon starts. Blue Beetle, my ass. You cannot say that he’s the first DCU character when you admit that your own canon starts with Superman: Legacy. You’re just trying to hype up the next movie because you know that your previous marketing strategy failed and resulted in your first ever multiverse movie bombing hard. I know I was a lot nicer to The Flash in my initial review, but the more I think about it, the less it sits well with me, especially considering what it could have been. The best parts are when it’s a Batman 3, does literally anything with Supergirl, or focuses on the emotional core of the story, but that ending…man. James Gunn changed this original ending and turned it into a joke. I don’t care about George Clooney. What does that cameo even set up?! Nothing?! You say you value storytelling as king, but what exactly does this movie do for the story at large?! Especially when you say that you’re not even going to even USE Clooney’s Batman anymore. Compared to what was originally planned, this ending is a joke. It serves no purpose and only as a means to waste the audience’s time. I didn’t care about Black Adam at the time, but honestly, the universe that it exists in sounds much better than whatever Gunn is planning with his DCU.
I don’t have the capacity to get invested in ANOTHER Superman, especially when the previous Superman’s story (that being Henry Cavill’s) was left unfinished. At least the Christopher Reeves’ interpretation got a satisfying ending in the Brandon Routh-led Superman Returns. This Superman gets a cameo after years that leads nowhere. Gee, thanks. James Gunn tried to excuse his shitty actions by saying that Henry Cavill was always treated badly by the studio, but I honestly call bull. Yeah, he was, but YOU were a part of that, man. By firing him after he was led to believe that he would be coming back, YOU contributed to that mistreatment. I don’t care what you have planned for Legacy. You destroyed what could have been a promising vision. No matter what you do, the true DC fans will never forgive you because there is no way you can save face for what you’ve done. You caused The Flash to bomb. It would’ve fared better if that original ending stayed intact.
The absolute nerve he has to let Matt Reeves and Robert Pattinson run free under the “Elseworlds” brand, yet Zack’s vision, which is infinitely better, doesn’t get the same treatment, infuriates me. That is blatant favoritism right there. You clearly have the capacity to let other franchises besides your own exist, so why can’t you let the new DCEU direction continue under Elseworlds? Fans wouldn’t be giving you so much flack if you at least FINISHED the story you inherited. You clearly allow other Batmen besides your own to roam the multiverse, so why can’t Affleck’s get a second chance? You’re letting some nobody filmmakers develop a Black Superman movie, yet you axe Henry Cavill in favor of shameless race pandering, especially when you made it clear that this is going to be a black Kal-El and not Val-Zod. You’re not going to attract the Black Panther audience with this. You cannot introduce the Bat-Family after axing Batgirl either.
What makes this even worse is that unlike Zack’s original plan, James Gunn’s plan isn’t even original. He’s literally latching onto The Batman’s good name to craft his formula for the new universe. If that movie didn’t succeed with the “skip the origin story” concept, then he would be screwed. He wants an already established universe, but you can’t do that without getting audiences attached to the individual characters first. I’d like to remind you all that Zack was going to make a solo Batfleck movie first before having him fight Superman, but the STUDIO, not him, forced his hand to make BvS immediately after Man of Steel. DC has clearly learned nothing from their past mistakes.
Sasha Calle’s Supergirl was one of the most promising aspects of The Flash and to know that she won’t even be given a second chance anymore when previous plans clearly indicated otherwise is just abhorrent. Everyone involved in that movie deserved better than the hand the new management dealt them. The Snyderverse showed so much potential after Zack Snyder’s Justice League and to know that we’re not getting anymore of it when we were literally PROMISED it just rubs me completely the wrong way. I’m not interested in this new DCU. I can’t be, at least not yet. I’m not gunning for its downfall like the Brony fandom is trying to do with G5 as I want to support creatives no matter what, but I have no interest in it. The DC brand for me is the Snyderverse and anything adjacent to it like the Dark Knight trilogy because that’s where the best stories shine. Fans loved those franchises because these Titans of power, these Gods among men were identifiable and relatable. There’s a reason why they consider Henry Cavill’s Superman the best iteration. Because he is.
I honestly hope that Superman: Legacy doesn’t do all that well well. I don’t want it to cataclysmically bomb like The Flash as the Superman fanboy in me would hate that no matter what, but this new management shouldn’t be allowed to get away with this after what they’ve done. The movie should be allowed to make back its budget or at least break even, but I don’t think executive behavior like this should be rewarded, especially considering how many times we’ve been down this road before. WB has been guilty of axing the visions of creatives once one movie doesn’t do too well on multiple occasions. They’ve done this with Tim Burton, Richard Donner, Joel Schumacher, David Ayer, and it’s only a matter of time before either James Gunn or Matt Reeves come next. At least The Batman knows what it wants to be. What is this new DCU? WE DON’T KNOW!! And it’s likely we’ll never know as everything Gunn has said on Twitter has made it increasingly clear that this new universe isn’t as planned out as he’d like to make us think it is. And as a writer myself, I just can’t stand it.
Now despite everything, I will still see this movie because the DC fanboy in me is at least curious to see another Superman movie. Plus, the last thing I want to do is become the very thing I hate and curse this movie no matter what it entails like the Brony fandom is doing for G5. I hate double standards and because I hate it when other people go in with predetermined opinions, I don’t want to fall down that trap either. But I honestly can’t see this movie living up to Man of Steel. If it does, great. But this doesn’t sound like it’s for me. All of the relatability that Zack brought to Sups feels like it has been stripped away for this new iteration. But I will still support this at least once. I want to see what this new DC universe entails and I refuse to boycott it in spite of everything as I do not believe in the boycott strategy. I will see this and if I like it, I’ll join the DCU hype train. But as for right now, all the people telling us to move on from the Snyderverse can just take their elitist attitudes and shove it up their rear ends. I loved the Snyderverse and letting this incarnation live again has been one of the key motivating factors behind me pressing forward with the Lunar Literary Universe, which I will get into on a future blog.
But yeah, sorry if this came off as too harsh and personal for your liking, but I’ve wanted to get this off my chest for months. My respect for James Gunn is honestly near zero, sustained only by Guardians of the Galaxy: Volume 3 and his great it is. And I sincerely pray that he can earn it back. Soooooo…yeah, I’mma dip once more until either of my projects reaches completion, but let me know what you think. I’m looking forward to hearing what you all have to say. Bye!
DC is my absolute favorite franchise so it hurts my soul how hard the DCEU crashed and burned. I liked Man of Steel. I thought it was a good start and setup for their cinematic universe. I enjoyed BvS when I saw it in the theater but the Ultimate Edition elevated it into one of my favourite superhero films. Even Suicide Squad is a guilty pleasure of mine. I know it's not a good movie but I had fun watching it. Wonder Woman gave the amazon heroine the cinematic introduction she deserved. But that was the moment where everything went to hell.
The DCEU was cursed from the start. Mediocre to bad reviews. Studio interference screwing up the movies. The death of Zack Snyder's daughter forcing him to step down and let Joss Whedon reshoot the half assed version of Justice League. (Though I would like to emphasise that I do not blame Whedon for that. It is 100% on the studio.)
The success of Aquaman and Shazam! raised our hopes and we started hoping that maybe things would improve. They did not. This was the point where things crashed harder than the Hindenburg! The DCEU curse continued. Box office bomb after box office bomb after box office bomb. The Amber Heard scandal. Ezra Miller going crazy. Letting go of Henry Cavill right after teasing his return.
Everything that could go wrong with the DCEU did go wrong. It has done seemingly irreparable damage to DC's reputation and the general public's interest in the brand is at an all time low. Blue Beetle is expected to make less than $20 million in it's opening weekend. It's easy to see why the DCEU had to go. It's telling that the only profitable live action DC movies in the past four years were the ones that had nothing to do with this universe.
Will James Gunn and Peter Safran be able to salvage DC's obliterated reputation after the absolute mess that was the DCEU? Honestly, I think the scars are too deep. Superman: Legacy comes out only 1.5 year after Aquaman: The Lost Kingdom and that's nowhere near enough time for general audiences to wash out the bad taste the DCEU left in their mouth. I think they should have waited until Matt Reeves wraps up his Batman Trilogy and if that was successful enough, they could have tried again with Superman and the others.
Either way, looks like the curse is still looming over DC movies with the writer and actor strike in Hollywood halting every project in development. The future looks dark and sadly I don't see that iconic S flying over the sky to restore the hope in our hearts anytime soon.
Never before did I want to be wrong so much.
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Yeah, the DCEU was a mess. The sad thing was that it didn’t have to be that way. Back when WB was committed to Snyder’s vision, the films were flawed sure, but at least they had a clear direction. Once Walter Hamada took charge, the universe completely fell off the rails because they thought they could replicate the success of Wonder Woman. The funny part is that they never did and the old regime had so much hate towards Henry Cavill’s Superman that it’s honestly quite laughable. Like how much lack of trust do you have in your own brand that you refuse to give its main player some redemption? If they wanted to course correct Cavill, they should’ve done that, not avoid him like the plague and then fire him TWICE!!
Honestly, I hope the poor guy is doing better now. Both him and Affleck. They deserve so much better.
Let’s hope they do better with this
I'm not that big a comic book fan or not into anything related to superheroes, but... I can sense a lot of people were upset by this.