Franchise Friday: The DCEU Ranked

Franchise Friday: DC Extended Universe

This week's franchise Friday is the ever turbulent DCEU. In the news this week with Zack Snyder releasing more details about his upcoming Justice League re-edit, now a mini series coming to HBO Max. Also, Wonder Woman 84 has been given a Christmas release on both cinema and VOD, a very unique release method, and perhaps the first of many big releases to get this treatment. 

Starring with Man of Steel in 2013, DC have struggled a lot over the last decade to try and establish a cinematic universe to rival the lightning in a bottle success of the MCU. Changing approaches, getting impatient and eventually saying screw it, we'll just start making movies again. 

As the DCEU begins to branch out into continuity and sequels, and alternative timelines, I look back on the 8 releases so far and rank them worst to first. 

8) Suicide Squad (2016) 

Let’s get one thing straight; this movie made a lot of money. It had a cult-like storm around it, being one of those rare comic book movies that got the general audiences hyped too. The problem is, it doesn’t live up to that hype at all. The epitome of wasted potential, Suicide Squad couldn’t capitalise on any of the cool characters and relationships at its disposal. Everything that went wrong in Batman V Superman went doubly wrong here. The studio interference is so blatant in the editing and rushed story. The first act of the film is pieced together like a music video, rushing through dozens of character introductions like some sort of cheap multiplayer video game. The villains are laughably poor, with barely a line of dialogue in character building, and the only redeeming features are the gleaming personalities of Deadshot and Harley Quinn as Will Smith and Margot Robbie try to get some of their personalities out through a poor script. I feel for David Ayer who claims that , like Zack Snyder, he was a victim of studio meddling and cutting, but with this bland hyper mess , the real victim is the audience. 

Luckily, Guardians of the Galaxy's James Gunn is hoping to colourise and ramp up the suicide squad in his sequel / reboot next year. There’s hope for the Squad yet. 

7) Justice League (2017)

Some of the biggest comic book superheroes in the World assembled on screen for the first time. This movie should’ve been a global phenomenon. Unfortunately, the behind the scenes drama yet again defeated a DC milestone. Justice League very clearly shows it’s a film made by two clashing visionaries. Zack Snyder's dark but visually epic style from the previous films is continually drowned out by an overly-bright and completely jarring Joss Whedon comedy-action film complete with reshot interactions, inserted one liners and awkward new dialogue. I wanted to love this movie so much, and fooled myself into thinking it was good first time round, but any sane film fan knows this was a disaster. Zack Snyder is finally getting to tell the story he wanted to originally as he re edits the original footage into his Justice League mini series next year. Hopefully, it proves to be a more faithful coming-together than this underwhelming union. 

6) Batman V Superman : Dawn of Justice (2016)

I don’t hate BVS. It’s a slightly strange experience. Definitely rushed, but unlike Justice League it feels, mostly, like a work of pure passion by Snyder. There are some odd choices narratively, and some moments that will never quite work. Snyder's Batman will forever be a controversial depiction. However, visually, this has some of the coolest imagery in a DC movie. Often feeling like the dark and brooding 80s comics like The Dark Knight Returns had come to life. Visuals have always been Snyder's true talent. The problems with BVS lie in its completely overstuffed plot. It tries to juggle multiple storylines that don’t always link up well, and pairs them with a poor depiction of Superman's greatest foe Lex Luthor, and a plot that doesn’t fully justify the battle of these two super hero greats. The Ultimate Edition does do a better job of tightening certain plot holes, but overall, BVS is a beautiful nightmare. Fascinating and gripping, yet at times painfully convoluted.  

5) Birds of Prey (2020) 

The latest attempt to distance DC from its dark and serious tones, Birds of Prey takes Harley Quinn and gives her character. Birds of Prey doesn’t always feel like DC, but it is 100% Quinn. Margot Robbie's performance is the lynchpin of the film, with a smart non-linear narrative and a , for once, developed set of core characters. A small, secular story set in Gotham that focuses on the crime and hijinks of this exaggerated world. Though it doesn’t always faithfully translate certain characters and certainly wastes the potential of some, Birds of Prey is a fun and rewatchable film. It’s clear that when DC starts letting directors like Cathy Yan have a vision, and stops insisting on a completely mapped out and commercialised universe, it can actually create compelling movies. Also, Ewan MacGregor as Black Mask absolutely steals every scene he’s in, and it’s a shame that the movie doesn’t give him more of a payoff. 

4) Man of Steel (2013)

Without Man of Steel, none of this journey would have began, for better or worse. I think Man of Steel is a good film ,but a bad Superman film. It doesn’t capture the character anywhere near as faithfully as Richard Donner's Superman or even Bryan Singer's nostalgic Superman Returns. However, it’s epic score and cinematic weight, paired with strong performances, often convinces you that this is how Superman is meant to be. I’d much rather see a return to the colourful and hopeful Superman, but in 2013 we were all curious about how a Nolan-fied Clark Kent might look. The action is mega in scale, and often becomes slightly like an empty Transformers sequence, but much of the heart of this film comes in its character driven focus, the narrative beats surrounding Clark becoming a man and embracing his destiny. There’s something satisfying about seeing his first flight that at times rivals any Superman film. Imperfect, but memorably grand, Man of Steel is undeniably solid in its mission. 

3) Aquaman (2018) 

Aquaman was the first DC movie to abandon the mundane realism of the Snyder films. Alienating some, who preferred their Batman with a gun and Superman who broke necks, and offering them Crabs and fish-people going to war underwater. I love Aquaman. It’s not a perfect film, but it does exactly what it needs to. It’s got some of the most comic book accurate costumes ever put on screen, every character feeling like a comic come-to -life, be it the awesomely menacing Black Manta or the devilishly hammy Ocean Master. Aquaman is a call back to those early days, almost like Raimi's Spider-Man in its embrace of the cheese and colour, although it lacks those movies' character development. The action is great, the colour feels perfectly translated, and the story, while it’s got familiar and repetitive beats, creates a good fun action adventure story. James Wan clearly has a love for the source material and I look forward to any future visits to Atlantis. Aquaman knows exactly what it is. It’s a comic book movie pure and simple. 

2) Shazam (2019) 

Shazam is one of the rare films to transcend its genre. A wonderfully charming film for kids and adults. It’s whacky but it has the most heart of any DC film on this list. Billy Batson, a cheesy character from the 40s, is made likeable and relatable to modern audiences with ease. The kid actors are, contrary to tradition, a highlight, and the charm of Shazam as a film is hard to put into words. Though it has the common trappings of a comic book film in its lack of a compelling villain etc, it makes up for all those things by making the core story more important. Shazam is its own story, un-reliant on the sequel planning and universe building of other DC origin stories, and all the better for it. 

1. Wonder Woman (2017) 

Wonder Woman made history in many ways. It beat Marvel to the female superhero finish line, and in turn completely outdid their eventual effort Captain Marvel by making a film three times as compelling. Wonder Woman is a solid origin story. It is a surprisingly respectful World War One story that has a well written chemistry driven romance subplot and some really memorable action beats. Despite a forgettable climactic sequence, Wonder Woman is a step above the rest as both a DC film and as a piece of cinema. Definitely the strongest offer from DC, it was the first time the studio decided to just make a movie, and not try and shoehorn in build up and continuity for films years in advance. It was, at the time, a step in the right direction, as Wonder Woman 1984 also looks to be.