If you had the chancw to wind back time nd change the dceu how would you have done it. Would you have donw it with phases like marvel or something different. Also wich director would you have choosen for different movies. And witch current dceu movie should stay the way they are?
Leave Joss Whedon out of it. Finish Zack Snyder’s epic 5-movie arc. Quit handing DC movies over to Marvel people, like James Gunn & the Spider-Man Homecoming writers. Build upon the distinct look and tone of the previous movies, not try to reshape the universe into another MCU comedy-verse 2.0
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I think what they’ve started to do now is perfect. They don’t need epic sagas or a huge DCEU in the same way that there is with an MCU. Zack Snyder didn’t fundamentally understand a single character of the DC universe or have a good vision. Handing a series of one-off movies with slight nods to the universe to a bunch of unique directors with visions (David Sandberg/Patty Jenkins/James Wan etc.) is the perfect way to go. If they continue down this direction, then maybe after a few more solid movies, and hopefully some great ones, we can forgive the hiccups of the first four movies.
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I agree with @sammartin741. The truth is Marvel made someting special over years and years of slow build. Time after time people try to start their own Cinematic Universe and it always fails. The closest almost anyone has done is the Arrowverse and maybe the Unreakable films and those happened organically. You can’t hot shot a cinematic universe. And given everyones track record I think they need to accept that.
Having self contained movies is a better way for DC to do that, truth is continuity has never been their strength the way it has with Marvel. And honestly, I respect some people liked Snyder but his “five movie arc” was just an attempt to rush a cinematic universe. Yeah Joss Whedon definitely didn’t do Justice League any favors, but I don’t think Snyder’s version was going to be any masterpiece paying off for so many bad movies.
Having quality self contained movies has been shown to work for DC. It is their best bet moving forward.
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@McNinja, if you honestly want to learn about it, start here:
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I agree with Zach on a lot of stuff but I do not not agree with him when he said that he would have killed Batman off.
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I would have done it like this. I would let Zach direct MoS as it was maybe a little changes here and there. Then maybe a new batman movie and then wonder woman aquaman shazam and eventually some sequels to MoS or batman. Then a better BvS and then suicude squad. And then Justice league.
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Man of Steel was a pretty solid start to the DCEU so that’s fine. I would definitely added in a Batman movie afterwards then Dawn of Justice makes more sense. Because then you had Wonder Woman and Aquaman (great movies btw). Finally Shazam which if you watched it till the end credits that would have been a pretty cool tie in.
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I know you still have the Flash, Green Lantern and Cyborg movies left, then Justice League should have been made. I don’t like the fact BoP and SS were prioritized over JL founding members.
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Justice League could have served a better purpose to introduce villains so we could have a more in depth SS or something else.
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First off, I think they set them selves up for failure when the mixed the dark knight returns story and death of Superman into one movie. The concept was great but if they had just done one at a time and focused on making them both separately, they definitely could have done a lot more with the universe. Personally I think it would have set justice league up to be a much better movie as well.
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Biggest mistake was following Zack Snyder’s lead too deeply into the DCEU, but they’ve shown they can recover. They have such a deep bench of characters. Tell each chapter and eventually have some crossovers, maybe, but only if it works. Part of the power of DC is all of their different worlds, like we’re going to see with the Joker : one origin but not THE definitive origin. Multiple earths never confused anyone I knew including my kid brother in kindergarten.
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They definitely should have taken their time developing the DCEU. To put the DCEU films in terms of the MCU, it’d be like starting with Iron Man (MoS), followed by Captain America: Civil War (BvS), then Guardians of the Galaxy (SS), Captain America: First Avenger (WW), and finally The Avengers (JL). It just feels too rushed and more concerned with quickly setting things up for the future instead of first giving characters a chance to develop and audiences a chance to become attached and care about the plight of the characters. Once a stable foundation was established, then there would be more freedom to introduce new characters and leave bread crumbs that hint towards future events.
Another issue is casting. WB seemed more interested in getting big names and critically acclaimed indie actors for major parts. Generally speaking, lesser known actors seem to work better for super hero roles because they are more able to be seen as their characters. With famous movie stars, their public personas and tabloid drama tend to overshadow roles. The indie actors often seem to care more about adding their own odd quirks and interpretations to the part rather than staying true to character.
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Now that the director’s cut of Justice League is out, I feel more equipped to answer this question. I wouldn’t drastically change things, but I would make some tweaks. And I’d actually start before Man of Steel…
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Green Lantern
Basically, we need to scale it back. Hector Hammond is a sufficient villain for this first movie. Parallax can wait. There shouldn’t be a hint at Sinestro’s heel turn yet. The film should end with Hal going to Oa for proper training, thus explaining his subsequent absence. -
Man of Steel
I suppose I shouldn’t change this film too much, despite my issues with it. Jonathan Kent says, “I don’t know,” not, “Maybe.” He preferably dies another way, if he must die at all. We can keep the church scene for the requisite Christian symbolism, but Kal-El’s cruciform flight out of the spaceship is a bit much. There’s only one world engine, and it’s in Metropolis. Superman doesn’t deliberately slam Zod into buildings full of innocent people. -
Suicide Squad
I’m moving this one up so that we can get an earlier introduction to the DCEU’s Batman. Amanda Waller is inspired by the events of the last two films to form the squad. (After all, she was a supporting character in the Green Lantern film.) Obviously, the final scene with Bruce Wayne would have to be moved to BvS. Otherwise, my complaints are primarily with the editing of the film, so we’d just need to go with the Ayer Cut. -
Batman v Superman
No Knightmare scene. No time-traveling Flash. Batman would be a tad less reckless and kill-happy so that his decision to assassinate Superman would carry more weight. I’d probably make the undead Zod into Bizarro instead of Doomsday. I’d restructure the film so that the other heroes’ cameos came at the very end. And I’d establish a certain character as Martian Manhunter right here instead of waiting until the sequel. -
Wonder Woman
Eh, other than tweaking the final confrontation with Ares, there’s not much I’d change here. -
Justice League
Okay, I’m going with the assumption that the Joss Whedon version never happened. As with BvS, I’d scrap the Knightmares and save that entire idea for a sequel. Steppenwolf would detect the box signals and have suspicions that this is the lost planet where Darkseid got his butt kicked rather than being totally surprised about the presence of the Anti-Life Equation. The Aquaman stuff would be more consistent with his subsequent solo film. Oh, and I’d split the film in half, ending the first part with their decision to resurrect Superman… -
Justice League, Pt. 2
…thus giving room to bring in Martian Manhunter and Green Lantern (finally back from Oa) to join in the final assault on Steppenwolf’s base. I’d also save all of the Lois scenes for this part so that she wouldn’t be a pointless presence in the first part. And Martha Kent wouldn’t be Martian Manhunter in disguise.
From there, things could proceed as they did.
Start with Booster Gold and set up the JLI.
No continuity at all.