6 Bad DCEU Patterns That James Gunn’s DC Universe Must Avoid
Compared to the ever-expanding Marvel Cinematic Universe of the rival studio, the Warner Bros’ DCEU seems pale with full of hit-and-miss Movies Recently, the box office performance of DCEU titles seems to get worse with each title, with Blue Beetle on its way to becoming another box office bomb despite favorable reviews from critics.
With the DCEU coming to an end and James Gunn’s rebooted DC Universe gradually coming into play, while trusting in the director’s talent and vision, fans can’t help but wonder if his ambitious project will follow the predecessor’s downfall.
There are certain trends in the old DCEU that obviously backfired and contributed to the franchise’s collapse. In order to make the DCU successful and match Marvel in terms of popularity and lengthiness, James Gunn and his crew must avoid these trends so that they won’t cause the same trouble again. Let’s browse through these 6 annoying trends from the DCEU that Gunn and Safran need to change to make the DCU worth watching.
#1. They mustn’t let Warner Bros. interfere too much with their movies.
Source: Warner Bros. Pictures
When you work for big studios such as Warner Bros. or Disney, studio interference is pretty much inevitable, and to have the studio tamper with your product too much can lead to the film’s foreseeable ruin. The DCEU is no exception, with the 2017 Justice League and The Flash being the prime example.
The result is, one of these films bombed at the box office, while the other received heavy backlash from fans and critics. Luckily, James Gunn is well aware of the audience’s concern regarding this matter, and already assured us that his movies will keep studio interference to a bare minimum to maintain the quality.
#2. Important characters in the franchise shouldn’t be kept away for too long.
Source: Warner Bros. Pictures
It’s weird for the DCEU to have two of their most prominent characters in Superman and Batman, missing from the action for too long. For example, Henry Cavill’s Supes disappeared from the scene in the 2017 Justice League and only made a cameo in Black Adam’s post-credit scene 5 years later.
Source: Warner Bros. Pictures
Meanwhile, Ben Affleck, Bruce Wayne have gone missing for an even longer period of time, from Justice League in 2017 to The Flash in 2023. The same can be said for other heroes such as Ezra Miller’s The Flash, or Jason Momoa’s Aquaman.
The lack of these important superheroes in the franchise left a sour taste in DC fans’ mouths, as one of the charming points of the superhero genre is to have these characters appear regularly in different shows. Hopefully, James Gunn can change this pattern by letting Corenswet’s Superman roam around more.
#3. The DCU’s cameo roles should have more meaning.
Source: Warner Bros. Pictures
In recent titles, the DCEU features a lot of superhero cameos as a way to keep the connectivity between movies in the franchise, however, few of them are memorable enough for fans. From Wonder Woman’s appearance in Shazam! Fury of the Gods to Superman’s appearance at the end of Black Adam, they barely makes any sense as the characters’ relation to the story is close to none.
Source: Warner Bros. Pictures
And don’t get me started on those meaningless cameos in The Flash, which came in great quantity but severely lacked in quality. James Gunn needs to learn the hard lesson here: When you give a superhero a cameo role, at least make them a prominent one.
#4. They shouldn’t waste potential castings.
Source: Warner Bros. Pictures
Besides a few questionable casting choices, the DCEU is often pretty spot on with their actors, with Henry Cavill and Gal Gadot suiting their characters down to a T. However, the franchise also features a lot of great castings that only appear once and then never return.
Characters such as Deadshot (Will Smith), Katana (Karen Fukuhara), and Black Canary (Jurnee Smollett) are the most popular examples, as they’re all important comic characters that have room for development in the DCEU, but for some reason, they’re left out. James Gunn’s DCU will feature a lot of superheroes from the get-go, so hopefully he will give all of them their deserved screen time.
#5. A Justice League movie is a must.
Source: Warner Bros. Pictures
One of the most-anticipated crossover movies in the DCEU, the 2017 Justice League, turned out to be a disappointment. However, this doesn’t mean that James Gunn should completely cross out the project in his rebooted universe.
Justice League remains the biggest superhero group of the DC Universe, and fans would want to see a Justice League movie done right rather than leaving it out of the scene. Thankfully, with Superman: Legacy already featuring a bunch of Justice League members, an ambitious Justice League movie in the DCU might not be out of the question after all.
#6. Smaller hero movies must come in package with bigger titles.
Source: Marvel
The most recent box office struggles of the DCEU on the big screen include Black Adam and Blue Beetle, which are some less popular characters to the casual audiences. To establish a solid footing for these movies, the DCU should follow Marvel’s example on how to combine event movies and small ones together to boost the lesser-known heroes.
For example, the MCU has done an excellent job with bringing the Guardians of the Galaxy into the scene after two big titles The Avengers and Iron Man 3. Another perfect example would be how Captain America: Civil War set up perfectly Black Panther for his own solo movie one year later.
Source: Warner Bros. Pictures
Making more niche heroes such as the Blue Beetle appear in a big title first, and then releasing his own movie right after seems like a better move to promote Jaime Reyes and the Scarab into the scene, rather than making them conclude a crumbling DCEU – no wonder fans wouldn’t bother to come and watch.
What other trends do you think James Gunn’s new DCU should avoid to make the franchise successful? Share your thoughts and ideas in the comments.