Justice League: 7 Reasons To Be Positive About The DCEU’s Future

by Danny Meegan

1. 'Phase One' Of The DCEU Is Done, So Course-Correction Can Begin

Justice League
Warner Bros.

Though DC’s flicks aren’t officially grouped up into phases like Marvel’s are, Justice League feels like the end of phase one - just like The Avengers, the first big team-up movie in the MCU, marked the completion of that universe’s first phase.

So, in essence, chapter one of the DCEU is in the can. The Justice League has been fully assembled and the ongoing story arc of bringing them together has been completed, so now is the perfect time for evaluation, re-invention and course-correction - to start afresh, in a sense.

Future movies in the DCEU are no longer burdened by the need to bring the Justice League together, whether through forced cameos (see the brief clips of Cyborg, Aquaman and Flash in BvS), or obligatory universe-building, so Wonder Woman 2, Aquaman, Flashpoint and the rest don't really have to build towards anything; they can just focus on being quality standalone stories, in the same way that Logan and Deadpool achieved massive success - both creative and monetary - for Fox.

It wasn't really until Phase Two of the MCU where Marvel began to do the same. Look at their Phase One; Iron Man 2, Thor, The Incredible Hulk and Captain America: The First Avenger weren't all huge box-office smashes or perfect critical darlings - the MCU was still finding its feet, and each of these movies was forced to slot in some clunky Avengers setup.

But in Phase Two, the floodgates opened. Guardians Of The Galaxy. Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Ant-Man. Iron Man 3. All these movies felt distinct, took risks, and weren't afraid to stand on their own - and they were all rewarded for it.

So, hopefully, this is where the DCEU is headed. Phase One may have been rocky, but now the heavy lifting's out of the way, Warner Bros have time to evaluate their slate - which should lead to a stronger Phase Two.

Do you think the DCEU has a strong future ahead? Let us know in the comments below!

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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!