DC Studios must change the perception of the DCU as a franchise that makes big promises only to never follow through with them. After the merger of Warner Bros. and Discovery, DC Studios was formed to oversee future DCU projects. DC Studios heads James Gunn and Peter Safran will map out the entire franchise in a “DC Bible.” James Gunn teased that the future plans for the DCU will tell “the Biggest Story Ever Told across multiple films, television shows, and animated projects,” indicating the extremely grand ambitions for the franchise under DC Studios.
While James Gunn’s plans for DC Studios still remain mostly unknown, they are not the only mandate for the DCU that must be met. An equal necessity lies in undoing the damage the DCEU experienced under past Warner Bros. management, most significantly the long history of unfulfilled or otherwise abandoned plans, which have in turn led to speculation of a complete reboot under DC Studios. As with everything in the DCU’s highly malleable status quo, it all goes back to the studio’s hasty decision to revamp Justice League at the last minute, which had a ripple effect on the whole franchise that has still not completely dissipated.
WB Spent Years Telling DC Fans Everything They’re NOT Going To Get
Since the 2017 reshoots on Justice League and the impact of abandoning Zack Snyder’s DCEU plans, the old regime of Warner Bros. began a very counterintuitive trend of downplaying audience expectations at every turn. The studio’s persistent denials of the Snyder Cut’s existence, against all evidence to the contrary, was arguably the most prominent example, but only just one. With the fallout of from Justice League’s failure, the loss of Ben Affleck and Henry Cavill from the franchise also left the DCU with no in-universe Batman or Superman, a situation the studio made little to no effort to address.
After the Snyder Cut’s release, Warner Bros. immediately made clear they had no intention of greenlighting Zack Snyder’s planned Justice League sequels, despite the renewed enthusiasm for his plans, while also stating that the Ayer Cut of Suicide Squad would not be released. Warner Bros. also blocked Henry Cavill’s return as Superman for years, replacing the Man of Steel with face-obscuring cameos until Dwayne Johnson promoted Cavill’s return in Black Adam. With Warner Bros. declining almost everything DC fans were crying out for, this entire approach frustrated fans and stagnated the forward momentum of the DCU.
WB’s Old Regime Had No Clear DC Roadmap
Despite dismissing the Snyder Cut as a storytelling cul-de-sac, it has become clear that the former Warner Bros. leadership was never able to muster a plan for the franchise comparable to Zack Snyder’s. Since the 2017 version of Justice League, DCU movies have largely told their own stories, which is not a problem per se, but there was never any sense of the franchise culminating toward a major event to get audiences excited about. One example was Peacemaker’s Justice League cameo, which obscured Superman and Wonder Woman and left out Batman and Cyborg completely, which demonstrated that Warner Bros. did not know where to take DC’s definitive team of heroes.
At times, Warner Bros. has even found themselves reverting to elements of Zack Snyder’s movies they’d professed to be moving on from, most notably Ben Affleck returning as Bruce Wayne/Batman in Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom. With the constant shifts in the studio’s professed plans for the DCU, this simply compounded the problem originally started by the Justice League reshoots of Warner Bros. being unable to plot a clear future for the DCU.
DC Studios Needs To Re-Establish Confidence In The DCU
The perception that the DCEU never had a plan similar to the MCU has been shown to be a result of bad PR communication on Warner Bros.’ part. By never selling audiences on Zack Snyder’s planned five-movie arc and the various spinoffs other DC filmmakers were helming, the studio allowed the narrative of DC playing second fiddle to Marvel to take hold. The actions of Warner Bros. post-Snyder Cut brought that problem more into focus, with Henry Cavill’s Superman return in Black Adam being filmed just a month before the movie’s release.
The goal of DC Studios is obviously to get audiences excited about the future of the DCU. Just as importantly, DC Studios, in announcing plans for the franchise, will need to give every assurance to audiences that their slate will not be abandoned or overhauled at the last minute, leaving cast members and greenlit projects in limbo for years at a time.
Can DC Studios Fix The Damage Of WB’s Mistakes?
James Gunn’s response to the Ayer Cut campaign offered a very encouraging sign that DC Studios is turning things around for the DCU. Gunn acknowledged the fan campaigns for the Ayer Cut and saving Legends of Tomorrow in a way that did not explicitly give a yes, but left the door open for these possibilities. Gunn also acknowledged the fans themselves, stating that he and Peter Safran are open to what many fans are calling for and presenting a generally inviting message to every segment of DC fans and general moviegoers.
Batgirl directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah have also revealed they will have a future meeting with Gunn, who reached out to them after their movie’s cancelation. This indicates that El Arbi and Fallah could potentially be up for another DCU project. Warner Bros. Discovery is also said to be considering bringing Batgirl star Leslie Grace back for a future DCU project — Grace portraying Ben Affleck’s Batgirl being one possibility, should he continue as Batman. With the tempestuous relationship that DCU directors have had with past Warner Bros. management, Gunn’s evident efforts to mend fences could also go a long way toward healing the effects of the studio’s past DC mistakes.
At the same time, the departure of Patty Jenkins from Wonder Woman 3, sudden uncertainty over Henry Cavill’s Superman return, and speculation of the DCU starting over from scratch shows that the damage done by the 2017 version of Justice League has not been completely undone. For his part, Gunn’s comments on Twitter on the situation indicate everything is still very fluid. Regardless, with a potentially ruinous anti-climax like Henry Cavill being out again as Superman being speculated upon, the DCU could be consumed once again by constant chatter of behind-the-scenes chaos and teases for future plans having the plug pulled. That cannot be how DC Studios launches its future plans.
As its own vertical with significant autonomy, DC Studios is in a position to offer filmmakers more creative freedom than ever. Be that as it may, the DCU’s history is overshadowed by Warner Bros. being too indecisive to commit to a plan, with the effects of that problem seemingly re-emerging again and the whole franchise suffering for it. While there is a lot to look forward to in the DC movies and characters James Gunn has teased, DC Studios can only shed the DCU mistakes of the old Warner Bros. regimes by showing they have learned from them.
Key Release Dates
