8 Critical Mistakes The DC Film Universe Has Made

2. Being Too Reactionary

Suicide Squad Harley Quinn.jpg
Warner Bros. Pictures

At times, it feels like the absence of a plan has left Warner Bros. helpless, desperately grabbing onto anyone and anything that might help them correct-course and become a hit with the fans.

Subsequently, the exact opposite effect is achieved. By making the film that could be most popular instead of just making the right film as best you can, the project loses integrity and your cinematic universe becomes a collection of misplaced attempts to strike gold.

Harley Quinn is incredibly popular after Suicide Squad? Let's greenlight a Harley Quinn movie! Everyone loves Batfleck? Give him his own solo film! The Rock is popular? Let's sign him up to something... let's see... uh, um, I know! Shazam!

It just screams of a lack of confidence and control, like Warner Bros. are drowning, desperately trying to stay afloat by mining anything and everything that could be a potential hit. The DCEU is beginning to feel less like a universe, and more like a disconnected series of movies, as a result.

It would be far more impressive to see the studio take control of the situation. We don't really need Shazam, a project that becomes less and less relevant the more we hear from it, and Gotham City Sirens doesn't seem to fit with the DCEU's current Darkseid arc.

Instead, let's get that Man Of Steel sequel off the ground. Let's bring forward the Cyborg movie, and start moving on Green Lantern. Start having a little faith in the direction the DCEU is headed, rather than altering it on the fly - last-minute changes are nearly always misguided and rushed.

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!