8 Critical Mistakes The DC Film Universe Has Made

6. Relying On One Director To Steer The Ship...

Zack Snyder.jpg
Norte Photo/Corbis

No matter how talented a director may be, they can only bring so much energy and creative flair to a series of similar projects - in Zack Snyder's case, this is the DCEU, with Man Of Steel, Batman v Superman and the forthcoming Justice League.

It's just plain normal - most of us get less and less passionate the more we do something, whether consciously or without even realising.

Snyder is clearly falling victim to this effect; in interviews, the guy looks incredibly tired, the stress and pressure clearly getting to him and Batman v Superman represents the sort of exhausted directing you should expect from a guy that's dealt exclusively in huge, tiring blockbusters for the last ten years.

Imagine if Batman v Superman had been given to a different director, perhaps a rising indie starlet, with more passion and drive than Snyder has? He's directed the three biggest movies in the DCEU - can we expect him to win three World Cup trophies in a row? Absolutely not. It's unreasonable to expect more from Snyder, and that's not completely his fault; this is where the studio should intervene.

Warner Bros. should recognise that attaching new directors to subsequent projects will help each film feel unique, and different from the last. It'd be understandable if Snyder knocked it out of the park with Batman v Superman, but he didn't, and it's clear the DCEU needs a fresh pair of hands to work it into shape.

Contributor
Contributor

Danny has been with WhatCulture for over ten years, and is currently Doctor Who Editor and WhoCulture Channel Manager, overseeing all of WhatCulture's Whoniverse coverage. In 2022, he took charge of WhoCulture and has grown it into the biggest Doctor Who channel on YouTube, and one of the biggest Doctor Who communities on the web full-stop. He has been writing and video editing since his early teens, and first got a taste for content creation after making his own Doctor Who trailers, off the back of a burning obsession with the Matt Smith era of the show. Like many his age, he first got into Doctor Who with the 2005 revival, but has since gone back and fallen in love with the classic years too. If you need someone to recite every Doctor Who episode in order, or to give you a random factoid about the making of Gridlock, Danny is the person to ask!