How to save the DCEU? Flashpoint? Rebirth?

Wanted to start a discussion on how we could potentially save the DCEU.

With all the “changes” and new actors that are potentially playing, my thought was to make Flashpoint which can reset everything in a sense. It would be DCEU’s version of X-Men: Days of Future Past.

This sounds like the easiest fix. I’m pretty sure every DC fan has thought of this.

Thoughts? I hope we all can nerd out about this.

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I’d rather WB just focus on making good movies instead of trying to build a shared universe. Keep what worked from the DCEU (Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman, Jason Momoa as Aquaman) and ignore what didn’t. Shazam! clearly exists in a world where Superman and Batman are active, but it doesn’t matter if it’s the Ben Affleck Batman or the Pattinson one, or if it’s neither one. Joker is completely separate from The Batman. I understand the desire for a Flashpoint event to make things neat and tidy, but as long as the movies continue to be good (and WB is on a hot streak lately) I honestly don’t care if there’s never another team-up film or post-credit scene.

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@mrmirale well said

sorry for the spelling error

I got to be honest, we got a Flashpoint animated movie, and the basic premise was re-done in the Flash TV show. So I don’t need another adaption of Flashpoint.

I also think that won’t have the same impact seeing “everything change” when the DCEU barely got off running before.

I didn’t really care for Flashpoint. I don’t know why it keeps getting play, but I guess not everyone agrees with me. Frankly, I think continuing the trend we’ve seen in Aquaman and Shazam is the way to go; focus on making good individual movies instead of stampeding to massive, sweeping shared universes. That’s largely how the MCU was built, after all.

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Right about the MCU part. I am a DC fan through and through. But the biggest mistake DC made was trying to reverse engineer. Marvel took their time and started with individual movies with little to virtually no connection between each other. They didn’t throw 5 characters into one movie and then figure they could give solo movies afterwards. In all honesty, if anything has been shown since Marvel made it work it was that what Marvel did was something of luck and something of very careful planning. I mean DCEU gets the most flack, but even they got further then most in building a shared universe. Almost no one has managed to pull them off since Marvel.

To be fair, while the DCEU has been a bust more or less, and likely done, the Arrowverse is likely the biggest shared universe (and most successful) aside from the Marvel Cinimatic Universe. But it happened organically. And heck think of some of the others that might qualify, the Universal monster films, Kevin Smith’s Jerseyverse… they all happened organically and/or over a very long period of time.

But no one wants to take the time to do it slowly, they want to get the world building in as fast as possible so they can make their mountains of cash RIGHT NOW! Which brings to the other problem. Marvel also succeeded because their movies were good. Some shared universe attemps did put out their first movie without throwing as many references to future movies as they could… but then that first movie still didn’t do well. The key is to take time and consistently put out good movies. That is easier said then done, especially when you are forcing it to try and make a cash cow as fast as possible. Marvel in the beginning (and now even) has worked hard to make good movies. Not to say the people behind the DCEU movies didn’t try, but the studios didn’t care if they movies were good, they cared if they could get their Avengers level payoff with as few movies as possible.

Warner Bros/DC have a problem, namely parent company is not focused on DC. They have too many projects in the works that they are not concerned with making a cohesive set of movies.

They are in the #2 spot behind Disney, so they are throwing everything at the wall and seeing what sticks. The Harry Potter cash cow is on its last legs. It is time for the execs to find a new winning hand. I think the biggest problem is their 3 years between sequels. It is too long. They need to shoot enough footage for 2 films and release in consecutive years.

I’m all for a DCEU reboot.

I love shared universes.

They take time to cook though.

It should never have been: Man of Steel then Batman v Superman.

The fact that I hated how MoS had nothing to do with how Superman is supposed to be notwithstanding, we never got a Batman film and we never got a Wonder Woman film before BvS.

If they had done it correctly it should have been:

  1. Superman film
    (Skip the origin. We’ve seen Krypton exploded like a million times. Simply set up a solid LIGHT HEARTED and OPTIMISTIC Superman v Lex Luthor film.)

  2. Batman film
    (Skip the origin. We don’t need to see Thomas and Martha Wayne killed. Simply set up a DARK and GRITTY Batman film.)

  3. Batman v Superman
    (Juxtaposing the LIGHT HEARTED and OPTIMISTIC Superman against the DARK and GRITTY Batman. DO NOT include Doomsday or the Death of Superman, for Superman’s death to have any weight we have to establish him as an important cornerstone of the DCEU you can’t do this in film 2. DO NOT include Wonder Woman save for in a picture during Bruce’s study of Superman.)

  4. Wonder Woman film.
    (This one is okay to have an origin story as not everyone knows this one. Wonder Woman should have a tone somewhere between Batman and Superman - A tonal balance if you will.)

  5. Flash film.
    (Origin. LIGHT HEARTED.)

  6. Cyborg film.
    (Origin. Serious but with light hearted elements. Boo-yah!)

  7. Justice League: United
    (Heroes come together to fight a real threat. Moderate tone, with both light hearted elements and some dark elements. Keep dark and gritty for Batman in order to set himself apart. Superman needs to be a high focus character and needs to be the heart of the team. The enemy is Kalibak. Kalibak escapes, and his invincible army is utterly defeated mostly by Superman alone. That is important. In an after credits scene Darkseid is displeased with Kalibak, stating that his armies, even with Kalibak’s personal defeat should have been able to take the wretched planet. Kalibak grovels and explains that the one called Superman destroyed their forces. We end on a shot of Darkseid’s glowing eyes.)

  8. Death of Superman (instead of BvS)
    (Play this straight. Take some inspiration from the comics. Introduce Superman being Superman complete with the talk show appearance. While Superman is doing that, the JL (sans Superman), encounters Doomsday and gets absolutely wrecked. Even Wonder Woman gets thrashed, unable to stand up to the creature. Superman arrives, fights Doomsday alone, long knock down drag out, the JL rallies just in time to see Superman and Doomsday kill each other. Somber end as heroes and people question where they will go from there.)

  9. Untitled Batman/Wonder Woman film.
    (Batman/Wonder Woman team-up. Introduce a threat that could’ve easily been solved by Superman, but Wondy/Bats are forced to work together and fill the void. After credits scene of someone exhuming Superman’s corpse.)

  10. Untitled Flash/Cyborg film.
    (See above. The Flash and Cyborg team up to deal with a threat that would’ve been easy for Superman to deal with. They are forced to work together to fill the void. After credits scene of Superman’s body in a tube. In the reflection of the tube we see Darkseid’s face.)

  11. The Justice League: Apocalypse
    (We turn things on their head here. The JL get a warning from an injured New God that arrives on Earth that Darkseid has a new weapon. An unstoppable engine of destruction that has laid waste to many of New Genesis’ colonies. The New God warns Earth because Earth once resisted Darkseid. Once Earth falls New Genesis is next. Apocalypse invades being lead by Steppenwulf, a supposedly brilliant general, played up to be undefeated in battle, the JL fight him and win. Just at their moment of victory, through a Boom Tube, Two Supermen appear, each clad in a black suit. The Supermen absolutely wreck the JL, forcing them to flee. The final scene shows Apocalypse forces taking control of Earth.)

11: The Justice League: The Return of Superman
(It has been 5 months since the Apocalypse invasion. Earth has been occupied by the forces of Darkseid. Darkseid himself sits on a throne in Washington DC, the chair formerly part of the Lincoln Memorial, The Supermen are his enforcers. The JL are trying to keep small pockets of humanity going. They lure a Superman into a trap and take him down. Batman, Cyborg, and the Flash determine that he’s a clone. Furthermore he was cloned from living cells, even better the clones have a shelf life, they need to be replaced every so often as the cells are unstable. The team decides to invade Apocalypse and try to recover Superman, since he should be alive. They fight their way through Apocalypse by boom tubing in thanks to the Motherbox they got from the New God in the last film, fight Granny Goodness and the Female Furies and eventually free Superman!)

  1. Justice League: Triumph
    (The stage is set. The heroes are united. It is time for the final showdown. The Justice League vs. Darkseid. Batman/Cyborg travel to New Genesis while the others travel to Earth. The JL retakes Metropolis, Superman reunites with Lois. Batman/Cyborg plead with Highfather for aid, who is reluctant to interfere. On Earth the other Superman clone arrives. Big fight scene. This time they don’t have Batman and his Kryptonite. Together they defeat him, but then Darkseid arrives. Big fight scene, our heroes are on the ropes, even Superman. Suddenly Boom Tubes open and Batman/Cyborg arrive with the forces of New Genesis. Superman/Batman band together in a mirror of their fight against on another. Darkseid and Apocalypse are defeated. The heroes stand triumphant.)

Release each movie 6 months out from each other over a 6 year period. Profit.

Man of Steel & Batman V Superman are the best ones. Make more movies like that, if you want to save it.