Warning: Spoilers for Justice League

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Justice League may not have seen the critical or financial success Warner Bros. wanted, but the studio is reportedly taking note of significant social media buzz in the wake of the first live-action team-up of the DC heroes. Critics and audiences were divided over the movie's tone, plot, villain, and CGI (including a special mustache issue), but one thing that seems to have received near universal acclaim is the surprise post-credits scene featuring Jesse Eisenberg's Lex Luthor recruiting Joe Manganiello's Deathstroke for "a league of [their] own," possibly tipping their hand for the DCEU's Legion of Doom plans.

The tease of the Legion of Doom and reveal of Deathstroke wasn't just exciting to fans because it looked cool on screen, but because it teased a possible new direction for the DC Extended Universe, one many fans could actually get excited about, and Warner Bros. is apparently very aware of this buzz, making plans to continue teasing the Legion of Doom (or some sort of villain team-up) through additional movies, setting the franchise up for a possible Justice League vs the Legion of Doom in Justice League 2.

Related: How Does Justice League Set Up a Sequel?

The original, assumed, plan was that DC would be going cosmic, similar to what Marvel has done with Infinity Stones and Thanos, by setting up a conflict anchored in Jack Kirby's Fourth World, likely resulting in a face-off with Darkseid, or maybe bringing in the Anti-monitor like in the Darkseid War comics; however, after Zack Snyder's Justice League was drastically trimmed down to exclude a number of world building elements, changing the ending so it no longer set up Justice League 2, it wasn't clear what Warners would do next, with many assuming the focus would simply be on solo movies moving forward, possibly ignoring previously established DCEU continuity altogether.

This new Legion of Doom concept wouldn't override the plot of any existing movies, but merely serve as the beginning of a series of teases leading to something bigger. So, the new stand-alone plan might not be altered too drastically, with the Legion of Doom setup all happening in the background or in post-credits scenes until it's time for a proper payoff. Wondering what that will look like, how will each movie tease it, and what will the roster ultimately be? Here's one possibility of how this new direction will play out.

Aquaman

Few details are available about the plot of Aquaman, but we do know it will serve as a sort of origin story for Arthur Curry, filling in the backstory that was missing from Justice League, and introducing a couple of classic Aquaman villains with Patrick Wilson's Orm, AKA Ocean Master, and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II's Black Manta. We don't know how exactly they fit into the movie, but it's not relevant for the purposes of the Legion of Doom. Any connection they draw to that group would likely happen through a post-credits scene.

Related: Can The Aquaman Movie Save Justice League's Weakest Character?

Possibly following a similar format to Justice League's post-credits scene, we can expect to see Lex Luthor playing DC's evil Nick Fury. He'll arrive at the end to recruit Black Manta (assuming Orm is defeated) to join their special league. Manta is traditionally associated with the Injustice League as opposed to the Legion of Doom, but for the sake of the movie universe, it's safe to assume that the DCEU incarnation of these teams will draw much blurrier lines. This version will focus more on the "team of villains" aspect rather than strictly honoring the classic roster of the Legion of Doom rather than the Injustice League, Injustice Society, or what have you.

Shazam

Next up is Shazam. While it was originally assumed that Black Adam would be the villain of Shazam, he's now getting his own film and likely won't factor into the Shazam movie at all outside of a cameo or Easter egg. Instead, Mark Strong is expected to step into the villain role as Doctor Sivana.

Doctor Sivanna is also a member of the Injustice League (as well as a number of other groups) in the comics, so we could see him approached to join the DCEU's villain team. Alternatively, Shazam's post credit's scene could kill two birds with one stone, having Lex Luthor be the one to awaken Black Adam from his tomb (or however they go about bringing him into this universe) with Shazam's post-credits scene not only serving as The Rock's DCEU entry point, but the setup for his solo film, much like Justice League did for Deathstroke.

Wonder Woman 2

As Screen Rant reported in July, Wonder Woman 2 will take place during the 198os and the height of the Cold War. No plot details or villains have been revealed, but it is interesting to note that Deimos, the son of Ares, attempted to draw the United States and the Soviet Union into a war, which would be very fitting for the Cold War setting, and a worthy thematic follow-up to the first movie.

Related: Justice League's Reshoots Should Have Focused on Wonder Woman After All

Deimos isn't about to join a supervillain team, but Wonder Woman 2 could (and probably should) introduce a more iconic villain, such as Cheeta, who is a member of a number of villain teams, including the Injustice League, so she'd also be a reasonable addition for that. Given, Lex Luthor (and possibly Deathstroke) were cut from the main footage of Justice League and the post-credits scene still revolved around them, so there's no reason Cheetah can't also be introduced in the same fashion without appearing in the rest of the film.

Other Potential Legion of Doom Villains

That's it for confirmed movies, but with several additional projects on the slate, there are a number of characters who could join this villain team. Nightwing and Deathstroke would likely both tease the one-eyed assassin we already saw at the end of Justice League, but with a number of Gotham centric projects with The Batman and a number of movies featuring Joker and/or Harley Quinn (and an apparent hunger for WB to utilize the characters as much as possible), it only makes sense for the Clown Prince of Crime and his girlfriend to join this new team. Add in Reverse Flash from Flashpoint, and you've got a full deck of villains.

All in all, that makes the most likely roster Lex Luthor, Deathstroke, Black Manta, Black Adam, Cheetah, Reverse Flash, Joker, and Harley Quinn. This team features enough brains, brawn, crazy, and financial backing to effectively take on the Justice League, and if DC can actually properly introduce all these villains for the team-up, it could prove to be the most effective use of villains in a comic book movie and the most unique team-up film to date.

With the DCEU's current track record, it's difficult to believe this will be pulled off effectively, but there's always the hope that the franchise can learn from its mistakes and truly move forward with greater success, similar to how the X-Men universe pivoted with Days of Future Past and has consistently produced a much higher quality of movie since.

That's all assuming DC even pursue's this path. With rumors of another shakeup in the wake of Justice League, the future of the franchise is certainly in limbo, but should they choose to push ahead, the road to a Legion of Doom/Injustice League vs Justice League movie is certainly enticing and actually provides the clear path forward the DCEU has been lacking.

NEXT: How does Warner Bros. Fix Their DC Movies Problem?

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