10 Biggest Ways The DCEU Has Changed From Original Plans
DC's comic book franchise looks nothing like how it was initially mapped out.
Warner Bros. and DC's interconnected superhero series - the DC Extended Universe - hasn't always received the same amount of critical acclaim as their great rivals over at Marvel Studios, but it's still made almost five and a half billion dollars at the box office over the course of eight movies, to rank as the tenth highest-grossing franchise in cinematic history.
Most of the DCEU's early output was dogged by problems such as an unrelentingly grim tone, constant rumors of studio interference and a penchant for announcing movies and then doing absolutely nothing with them. However, once the studio made a conscious effort to head in a new creative direction following the disappointment of Justice League, the future for their roster of superheroes is looking brighter than ever.
Had things gone to plan, we'd have seen Ben Affleck's The Batman and The Flash by now, while the game-changing events of Zack Snyder's Justice League Part Two would have impacted the stories of both Cyborg and Green Lantern Corps, and maybe even the Suicide Squad spinoff for Jared Leto's Joker and Harley Quinn.
Instead, a combination of poor reception to the movies from both fans and critics, constant changes in leadership behind the scenes, abandoned projects and some high-profile re-castings have seen the DCEU drastically alter the highly ambitious plans that were originally laid out, as the franchise suffered greatly from trying to run before it had learned to walk.
10. Still No Man Of Steel Sequel
Even though Man of Steel earned $668m at the box office and retrospectively acted as the first installment in the rapidly-expanding DCEU, at no point has a sequel ever been officially announced, despite coming close to getting the green-light on several occasions.
When mounting an interconnected franchise based on DC characters, you'd expect that Superman would be positioned as one of the crown jewels. However, the opposite turned out to be true as his next big screen outing reduced him to a supporting player as Zack Snyder's focus shifted to Batman, and by Justice League the Big Blue Boy Scout's contribution was little more than an extended cameo and some terrible CGI on his face.
Matthew Vaughn and Christopher McQuarrie were both linked to the director's chair for Man of Steel 2, but neither could apparently come up with an idea that the studio were willing to move forward with. Superman has always been one of DC's two biggest names, and it seems very unusual that there's so little interest in making a sequel to the movie that started it all.