DCEU: Ranking Every Big Fight Scene From Worst To Best
Distinguished brawls from the Distinguished Competition.
The DC Extended Universe (DCEU) had its (very severe) growing pains in its early years due to the franchise's lack of a properly thought out plan akin to the Marvel Cinematic Universe's master plan for its own roster of heroes. However, in recent years, the DCEU found its stride with its latter batch of movies closely aping Marvel's formula with a few twists here and there. Films such as Wonder Woman and Aquaman were critical and commercial hits that went toe-to-toe next to the MCU's own successes.
That said, the DCEU did have its positives from the very beginning. From mostly capable performances to inspired musical scores, the franchise has had its shares of standout moments, chief among them its action sequences.
Although the action sequences are sometimes coated in drab visuals, they feature strong choreography, creative framing and are an excellent showcase of the heroes and villains' powers, skills and equipment's true potential. Heroes such as Superman and Wonder Woman got to display their godlike might and others such as Batman and Black Canary showed off their skill and resilience in the face of overwhelming odds.
This list will rank the standout action set-piece from each DCEU movie from worst to best. it will be a mix of boss battles and mid-movie skirmishes that perfectly capture each movie's style of action.
8. Midway City Firefight - Suicide Squad (2016)
2016's Suicide Squad was a box office success, but due to Warner Bros. executives' reactionary approach following Dawn of Justice's box office run and critical response, the movie was severely butchered in the editing room.
Consequently, the film had a myriad of problems such as grimy visuals, misplaced musical choices, haphazard storytelling, and lacklustre action sequences for much of the film's runtime.
That said, the Midway City shootout in the film's second act was easily its standout set-piece. Following (one of ridiculously many) helicopter crashes, the titular team fights off the Enchantress' cannon fodder army to survive. In the ensuing chaos, Rick Flag (Joel Kinnaman) is captured and the team needs to work together to save him and themselves by extension.
What follows is a relatively decent action scene that displays Deadshot's (Will Smith) uncanny accuracy with multiple firearms as he swiftly takes down the baddie's army. Compared to what came before and after, this set-piece works rather well and is a sad reminder of what the movie could have been.