10 Things The DCEU Wishes It Could've Done Differently
So... why wasn't Joker the villain in Suicide Squad?
The DC Extended Universe has had a rough ride throughout its current seven-film roster, and though things are looking much more positive lately with well-received movies like Aquaman and Shazam, the road Warner Bros. and DC took to get to this point is one littered with mistakes and misfires.
From ill-advised production decisions to poor story choices and some plain bad movies, the DCEU has had a less-than ideal first six years in the wild, but it has shown a lot of potential - and even some flashes of brilliance here and there - all the same.
So, in an effort to mix things up, Warner Bros. has changed course with their DC movie operation in recent years, putting us at the start of a new beginning for the franchise as it moves away from interconnected storytelling and focuses on more standalone adventures.
And so far, things are looking bright for this refreshed DCEU, but even though they're in a good place right now, there are plenty of things that Warner Bros and DC would've liked to have done differently along the way.
10. Changed Wonder Woman's Third Act
Even though Wonder Woman is the most critically-acclaimed movie in the DCEU so far, a lot of fans and pundits agreed that its final act left a lot to be desired.
A loud, explosive fight sequence between Diana Prince and Ares filled with some horribly cheesy boss-battle dialogue, the film's closing third really didn't gel with the rest of the movie, which was otherwise a much smarter and more thoughtful superhero tale. Ares' emergence is easily the weakest part of the film, and it soured the overall experience.
It also dumbed down the movie's thematic weight. Throughout the film, Diana believes that Ares is the big puppet master behind the entirety of World War I, and that by killing him, the war will end. But for a brief moment, this belief is shown to be false, when Diana kills who she thinks is Ares (Ludendorff), and the soldiers below her still carry on with their war-related business.
Wonder Woman is about Diana coming to discover and understand the horrors of the real world, so this was a fitting lesson (that some people are just plain bad, and that war is morally dubious), for the somewhat naive and inexperienced heroine to learn, and a refreshing twist for audiences accustomed to the same old CGI battles closing out their comic-book movies.
Well, scratch that: Ares was behind the whole thing after all, and we got a much shallower Hollywood ending instead.