8 Things Justice League Must To Do To Get The DCEU Back On Track

In the apparently never-ending war between DC and Marvel, DC has suffered a few critical setbacks. But now, the DCEU is bringing together all the best weapons in its comic book arsenal for Justice League to make what almost feels like its last stand against an endless bombardment of bad reviews.

So far, audiences have embraced the DCEU's at the box office, but even the staunchest DC supporters could turn on the studio if its magnum opus repeats the mistakes of its inaugural entries. As it stands, the DCEU has been coasting on good will towards iconic characters while delivering less than stellar work and there is a limit to how long this wave of nostalgia to box office glory can sustain.

Additionally, Zack Snyder is back in the director's chair for Justice League and while he has his fans, his spotty track record is definitely a cause for concern. Most crucially, there are a few important lessons he needs to learn if he wants to ace Justice League, not just for the success of the film itself, but for the future of the franchise moving forward.

Here are the most important ways Justice League needs to improve on its predecessors to be a hit with audiences and critics alike.

One negative aspect of the cinematic shared universe experiment is the tendency for new features in a shared universe to lack a cohesive standalone story. In other words, sometimes, new movies spend too much time setting up future films. Notably, Marvel's attempts at universe-building has produced some muddled filmmaking like Iron Man 2 and Avengers: Age of Ultron.

BvS fell into this same trap by attempting to introduce too many characters in too short a runtime. As a result, Wonder Woman received what amounted to an extended cameo and the rest of the Justice League was introduced in a montage that felt out of place in the film. To a certain extent, this was a necessary evil as the DCEU had to play catch up with its Marvel counterpart, but it's time to put that approach aside.

Now that the setup is out of the way, it's crucial for the franchise to focus on telling one coherent story. DC has an opportunity to distinguish itself from its competitors by giving fans a plot that doesn't rely too heavily on prior films.

If Snyder fails to deliver a compelling, focused plot fans could give up on the DC because it's too hard to parse out what's going on.