6 Things Fans Might Miss Now The DCEU Is Over

With the release of Aquaman and The Lost Kingdom, DC’s first live-action universe, the DCEU, has ended. This shared cinematic universe of movies set in the DC universe began in 2013 with Man of Steel, and has grown to feature a new version of The Justice League, Black Adam, The Suicide Squad, and a host of villains associated with these characters.

Unfortunately, the franchise has not been as consistently successful as Warner Bros. would have liked, so the studio is ending the DCEU and rebooting the series in 2025 with Superman Legacy. The constant change of direction for the franchise has left some fans confused at times, but that does not mean that there aren’t any things about the DCEU that fans will miss.

5 Darkseid & The Anti-Life Equation

The Ultimate Justice League Villain

When Zack Snyder was removed as the director of Justice League, Joss Whedon was brought in to finish the film. This version of the movie featured Steppenwolf as the main antagonist but still teased Darkseid as the bigger threat to come later down the line. However, Zack Snyder was then given permission to finish his version of the same movie for HBO Max, and Zack Snyder’s Justice League featured Darkseid heavily, and even had him come face to face with the Justice League at the end of the movie.

Darkseid is one of the biggest villains in the DC universe, and could easily stand as the focus of a future movie in this universe. That is why it seemed natural that both versions of the Justice League movie would tease a confrontation between the DC heroes and Darkseid. Sadly, fans will never see this version of Darkseid again. He may appear later in the rebooted DCU, but it won’t be the one that has been teased so heavily as the villain to a Zack Snyder Justice League trilogy.

4 Changing Tones

Directors’ Visions Influence Things

It might seem unfair, but movie fans have always directly drawn comparisons between the MCU and DCEU. Although this may not have helped Warner Bros. when they started to piece together their own universe of interconnected superheroes, there were a few mistakes they knew to avoid.

One of the most common criticisms facing the MCU is the fact that all the movies feel the same, no matter who is directing. There are very few instances when a unique director gets to input their vision into one of these movies fully. Fortunately, the DCEU has been able to avoid this problem, which has led to a more varied series of films. For example, Man Of Steel definitely feels like a visually impressive Zack Snyder movie, and Birds Of Prey (And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) has the quirkiness of a Cathy Yan movie. Even Aquaman had horror aspects attributed to James Wan. There is no telling whether this will end with the reboot, but it is an obvious strength of the DCEU, and fans will miss having the knowledge that these movies are certain to be different from one another.

3 The Suicide Squad

Who Is Staying and Who Is Going?

DC’s Suicide Squad is one of the more complicated properties in the DCEU. The first movie, directed by David Ayer, that came out in 2016 was a dark take on the supervillain crew that is rumored to have been hastily re-edited by the studio to remove a larger story within the wider universe. The movie did not fare well with critics, so a pseudo-sequel and partial reboot of the franchise was directed by James Gunn. This version was lighter in tone and fared much better with critics. Plus, the director even brought back some of the characters from the first movie.

That is where things get complicated. James Gunn is now the head of DC Studios and crafting the new DCU, and has already announced that some characters from the series will appear again in the future. Characters like Peacemaker, Amanda Waller, and Weasel are being included in the reboot, but there has not yet been word about other fan favorites like Harley Quinn, King Shark, or Deadshot. As such, Suicide Squad fans are set to miss out on seeing some of their favorite characters again.

2 A Smaller Universe

The DCEU Is Still Self-Contained

Although Warner Bros. has the rights to every character in DC Comics, they managed to keep things small when it came to widening the shared universe after Man Of Steel. The series only included the main members of the Justice League, The Suicide Squad, and Shazam. This made it much easier for fans to keep track of everything going on in the movies, and it also led to some great cameos.

On the other hand, the MCU is rapidly growing to include so many movies and TV shows. This is becoming such a problem that some fans are having to ditch the franchise as they feel overwhelmed by too much content. With James Gunn announcing his initial slate of DC movies, and that Superman Legacy is set to include Green Lantern, Hawk Girl, Maxwell Lord, and Lex Luthor, it seems that a small cinematic universe is looking like a thing of the past.

1 The Incredible Casting

The Best Decisions In The DCEU Were The Casting

The DCEU made a bold choice in reinventing some characters, like Aquaman, turning the noble king of the seven seas into a rockerboy that doesn’t fit in thanks to Jason Momoa. The DCEU also had fans incredibly impressed and still craving more of Ben Affleck as the Batman, a casting that was originally polarizing, but will always be fondly remembered for what could have been. Even with the reboot of Superman, fans still clamor for Henry Cavill’s return as the Man of Steel.

Other great castings like Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn are expected to carry over into the DCU, but castings that were once beloved, like Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman thanks to her appearance in Batman v Superman, were quickly saturated thanks to lackluster sequels and strange cameo appearances in Shazam!: Fury of the Gods, and The Flash. The casting of the DCEU was grand, and everyone seemed to give it their all.