While fans are divided on the DCEU’s handling of their favorite characters, most of them can agree that the casting was spot-on. As long as DC has stars like Gal Gadot and Henry Cavill and Margot Robbie on its bench, then the franchise has a chance. Ben Affleck nailed Bruce Wayne’s simmering, underlying rage. Jason Momoa’s badassness successfully shed Aquaman’s image as DC’s laughing stock.
The DCEU is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of these actors’ careers. Between them, the cast of this franchise has plenty of hidden gems waiting to be discovered by a cult audience.
Henry Cavill: The Man From U.N.C.L.E.
Guy Ritchie’s recent turn to big-budget blockbuster fare has resulted in a couple of box office disappointments – some of which have been understandable, like King Arthur: Legend of the Sword, which attempted to set up a high fantasy cinematic universe.
But one Ritchie effort that remains underappreciated is The Man from U.N.C.L.E., a rollicking spy caper based on the TV series of the same name from the ‘60s. Superman himself Henry Cavill stars as CIA agent Napoleon Solo.
Nicole Kidman: The Killing Of A Sacred Deer
Before playing Aquaman’s badass mom, Nicole Kidman starred alongside Colin Farrell in The Killing of a Sacred Deer from The Favourite director Yorgos Lanthimos. The movie tells the story of a surgeon who befriends a boy whose father he accidentally killed on the operating table.
While the boy seems to be a harmless acquaintance at first, he turns out to be plotting a diabolical revenge scheme against the surgeon’s own family.
Jared Leto: Lord Of War
In addition to playing the Joker in 2016’s Suicide Squad (and more recently in Zack Snyder’s Justice League), Jared Leto has starred in a number of recent hits, from Dallas Buyers Club, which earned him an Oscar, to Blade Runner 2049, which won over a diehard sci-fi cult fan base.
Leto’s most underrated movie is Andrew Niccol’s Lord of War, starring Nicolas Cage. Stylistically, the movie is basically Goodfellas with mafia operations swapped out for international gunrunning. Lord of War was officially endorsed by Amnesty International for exposing worldwide arms trafficking.
Jason Momoa: The Bad Batch
After blowing audiences away with her Iranian vampire spaghetti western A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night, writer-director Ana Lily Amirpour followed it up with the dystopian thriller The Bad Batch.
Suki Waterhouse stars as a woman who’s exiled to the desert and chased by a band of cannibals, led by Aquaman actor Jason Momoa, and ends up in a mysterious commune run by Keanu Reeves.
Ben Affleck: Dogma
Despite reteaming Ben Affleck and Matt Damon just a couple of years after Good Will Hunting made them huge movie stars overnight, Kevin Smith’s Dogma came and went without making much of a splash at the box office. A satire of organized religion (particularly Christianity), Dogma had been a passion project of Smith’s for some time.
Affleck and Damon star as fallen angels who figure out a loophole to get back into Heaven – but if their plan works, they’ll prove that God is fallible and make all of existence moot.
Ezra Miller: We Need To Talk About Kevin
Ever since her harrowing debut feature Ratcatcher hit theaters, Lynne Ramsay has been one of the most renowned filmmakers on the scene. Her most recent offering, You Were Never Really Here, is a sobering vigilante thriller starring Joaquin Phoenix as a war veteran who liberates underage trafficking victims by going into underground "brothels" armed with a hammer.
Flash actor Ezra Miller played a decidedly more disturbing role than Barry Allen in Ramsay’s movie We Need to Talk About Kevin. Miller plays Kevin, who devastated the community with a heinous act that landed him in juvie, and Tilda Swinton co-stars as his mother, who’s left in the aftermath of her son’s actions.
Jesse Eisenberg: The Squid And The Whale
Long before Frances Ha and Marriage Story would make Noah Baumbach a household name, the writer-director first got onto Hollywood’s radar with The Squid and the Whale, an indie arthouse drama starring a pre-Lex Luthor Jesse Eisenberg as a teenager whose parents are getting divorced.
This bittersweet, melancholic tale of a family trying to navigate divorce captures all the ups and downs of growing up. Jeff Daniels and Laura Linney give terrific performances as the parents.
Viola Davis: Prisoners
Before the double whammy of Arrival and Blade Runner 2049 made Denis Villeneuve one of the most sought-after directors in Hollywood, he helmed the underrated thriller Prisoners, about the disappearance of two young girls on Thanksgiving. Suicide Squad’s Viola Davis and Terrence Howard play one of the girls’ parents, while Hugh Jackman and Maria Bello play the other girl’s parents.
The movie takes some very dark turns as the parents become more and more desperate to get their kids back. Jake Gyllenhaal gives a fascinating performance as the brooding Detective Loki, who’s assigned to the case.
Russell Crowe: The Nice Guys
Shane Black, creator of the Lethal Weapon franchise, wrote and directed another buddy actioner that could’ve launched an R-rated franchise in 2016. The Nice Guys is a comedic thriller about two mismatched private eyes reluctantly teaming up in the ‘70s.
It’s a shame the movie didn’t do well enough at the box office to warrant a sequel, because Russell Crowe’s on-screen chemistry with Ryan Gosling in the lead roles was impeccable.
Amy Adams: Junebug
On top of playing Lois Lane in the DCEU, Amy Adams has been one of the world’s biggest movie stars for years, with acclaimed performances in Paul Thomas Anderson’s The Master, David O. Russell’s The Fighter, and above all Denis Villeneuve’s Arrival. The movie that first made her name was the delightful dramedy Junebug.
Adams only had a supporting role in the movie, but she stole the show and became its breakout star. She even landed an Academy Award nomination for her performance.