Although the DCU promises to deliver a more cohesive cinematic universe than the DCEU did, there is one vital lesson that James Gunn and the other filmmakers in his employ must learn from the failure of 2017's Justice League. After the DCEU's slate of films set to release in 2023, James Gunn's soft reboot of the franchise will officially be put into place, complete with brand-new iterations of iconic DC characters, including Superman and Batman. While little is known about the forthcoming DCU, the cinematic universe must reassess its priorities in order to avoid the same pitfalls as its predecessor fell into.
Although James Gunn's Justice League lineup remains a tightly guarded secret at the moment, hopes are high that he can finally deliver a worthy adaptation of DC's superteam. Gunn took over as the creative head of DC films in late 2022, rolling out several controversial changes in his first months in the position. The filmmaker hasn't yet made it clear exactly how much of the DCEU he will overwrite with what is now dubbed the DCU, but the ousting of Henry Cavill as Superman and potential cancelation of Wonder Woman 3 certainly imply that the extent of Gunn's changes will be anything but limited in nature.
The DCEU Made A Mistake Rushing The Justice League Movie
Justice League's mistakes infamously derailed the DCEU, catapulting the franchise into a chaotic mess from which it has never emerged. The film was originally helmed by Zack Snyder until a family tragedy took him away from its production, to be replaced by The Avengers director Joss Whedon. The result was an uneven mishmash of a film that became the lowest-grossing DCEU film at the time (via The Numbers). Furthermore, after years of public outcry, Warner Bros. finally released Zack Snyder's director's cut, which was received far better than the theatrical cut, thereby dividing DC's fanbase on the continuity of the film and dooming the franchise's future storylines.
However, the DCEU never adequately set up Justice League, dooming the production long before Joss Whedon was brought on to replace Zack Snyder. Major characters like Aquaman, the Flash, and Cyborg had barely been introduced by the time that Justice League hit theaters, making the superhero team-up film feel incredibly rushed and undercooked. Audiences had little reason to care about each character separately, let alone as a team, leading to the film's general disconnect with the average viewer. In DC's attempt to get the Justice League started, they accidentally doomed their franchise to failure with an underserved story and rushed character development.
The DCU Can Replace A Justice League Team-Up With Smaller Crossovers
As it stands, it appears as though the DCU will recast most of the Justice League, meaning that the franchise will have plenty of work to do in establishing these new versions of beloved characters. The best way for Gunn and the filmmakers at DC to do this is to take their time, slowly building up to the Justice League over the course of several years. The characters in the DCU are compelling enough to stand on their own without the rest of the Justice League and should be explored in the context of their own films before they are ever introduced to the other superheroes inhabiting their universe.
The inevitable Justice League crossover doesn't have to come as soon as these characters are established, either. Instead, smaller team-ups featuring two or three characters may be a better way for James Gunn to fulfill the DCEU's original vision. Other successful DC shared universes, including the Arrowverse and the DC Animated Universe, started small with their crossovers, allowing their characters to establish recognizable relationships with one another before building to bigger events as time went on. If the DCEU has proven anything, it is that a cinematic universe cannot be rushed into existence. Therefore, if the DCU has any hope of improving on the past, it will need to start small.
