Warner Bros.' DCEU future sets the stage for a Justice League reboot, but Warner Bros.' DCEU past means resetting the super-team could backfire. Whether due to a creative overhaul, a global pandemic, or studio restructuring, stability has always eluded the DC Expanded Universe, but canceling the near-complete Batgirl came as a seismic shock nonetheless. As questions and controversy swirled, Warner Bros. Discovery's David Zaslav mapped out the new DCEU vision - a 10-year plan modeled after the MCU and focused on cinematic exclusivity.
Although Zaslav neglected to mention any titles included in that 10-year plan, a DCEU Justice League reboot is all but inevitable. Putting out a decade's worth of superhero movies without a team-up bringing those characters together is nigh-on unthinkable, especially if Warner Bros. is looking toward the MCU for inspiration. As Marvel recently discovered with Phase 4, crossover movies are vital for giving a shared universe direction - a goal for each solo movie to build towards.
DCEU's next Justice League lineup will look quite different. Ben Affleck's Batman, Gal Gadot's Wonder Woman and Jason Momoa's Aquaman all stand a fair chance of getting called up, but Ray Fisher's Cyborg and Ezra Miller's Flash almost certainly won't. Henry Cavill shows no sign of slipping his Superman costume back on either. The next Justice League will, therefore, reboot the team one way or another. Either new members join the existing trio, or the Justice League absentees will be replaced by multiverse variants such as Grant Gustin's Flash and Calvin Ellis. Alas, one big obstacle stands in the way of Warner Bros. rebooting the Justice League as part of its new 10-year plan...
The Snyderverse Will Still Overshadow WB's DCEU Reboot
2017's Justice League came as a crushing disappointment to many - not just because it wasn't very good, but because Zack Snyder's original vision had been drastically altered by Warner Bros. and Joss Whedon, who was hired for post-production and reshoots. A widespread fan campaign eventually resulted in Zack Snyder's Justice League releasing, and while 2021's 4-hour extravaganza scratched the Snyder itch, it left more questions than answers. Fans have since been campaigning to restore the Snyderverse, demanding those Darkseid teases are paid off with a sequel. Warner Bros. has resolutely refused to heed these calls thus far, standing by its stance that Zack Snyder's Justice League was a one-off.
It's difficult to see how Warner Bros. can reboot Justice League as part of its 10-year plan without drawing unfavorable comparisons to the Snyderverse and reinvigorating calls for the DCEU to complete Snyder's story. Introducing a drastically different Justice League to the DCEU at this point would represent a death knell for the Snyderverse, leaving no chance to ever revisit the Knightmare. Even worse, a Justice League reboot that followed directly from 2017's theatrical cut (similar to how The Suicide Squad follows from Suicide Squad) while completely ignoring the Snyderverse would feel willfully dismissive of fans' wishes.
Any Justice League reboot during the next 10 years will be overshadowed by the inescapable truth that most fans want the Snyderverse more than they want a 2.0 version of DC's top team. That backlash would, at the very least, leave the DCEU's Justice League reboot on rocky foundations before it begins.
How To Solve A Problem Like The Justice League
This leaves Warner Bros. in a bit of a pickle. The DCEU's 10-year plan doesn't make sense without a Justice League reboot, but fans won't get behind a Justice League reboot while the Snyderverse jigsaw remains abandoned like last year's unfinished Christmas present.
The ideal solution is completing the Snyderverse with Zack Snyder's Justice League 2 and then rebooting the Justice League in the DCEU. If Snyder was given just one more movie (theatrical or HBO Max) to finish his original story, complete the Darkseid arc, and bring closure to the Anti-Life equation, a rebooted Justice League in the main DCEU would receive a far warmer welcome. Simply closing one book before opening another can be a deceptively effective tactic. Unfortunately, this option's chances look remote. Zack Snyder's Justice League was mostly finished, with Warner Bros paying only for some reshoots and finishing touches. Giving Snyder the money and creative control to make Zack Snyder's Justice League 2 from scratch would require a far bigger leap of faith from Warner Bros., which has shown no sign of movement on the Snyderverse front whatsoever, even if Snyder himself remains open (telling EW in 2021, "Who knows what the future holds?")
Another (far more plausible) solution would be for the DCEU to acknowledge the Snyderverse as canon in some shape or form. Thanks to Michael Keaton's presence in The Flash, all DC movies are confirmed to exist as part of a larger multiverse, which means Zack Snyder's Knightmare timeline can be considered a parallel reality. If a future DCEU movie were to actually acknowledge this (perhaps a character familiar with the multiverse mentions a world where Darkseid conquered Earth and corrupted Superman), the Snyderverse would become officially enshrined into canon. Zack Snyder's Justice League finally receives some respect in the franchise hierarchy, and the door is cracked ever-so-slightly ajar for an eventual continuation. A glimmer of hope like this may earn enough goodwill from fans for Warner Bros. to get away with a Justice League DCEU reboot.
