I was going to wait for the last movies of this series to come out, but I really wanna do it now.
I don't really think the remaining 4 films will change my mind much.
If I'm wrong, I can do a part 2.
Anyway...
The Snyder-verse was/is...
-Black Adam
-Shazam: Fury Of The Gods
-The Flash
-Aquaman And The Lost Kingdom
Unlike the MCU, which was planned out ahead, DC slap-dashed theirs together once the box-office for "The Avengers" rolled in to the tune of a billion dollars.
So, Henry Cavill's Superman became their Iron Man, and Zack Snyder became their Jon Favreau.
And kinda their Kevin Feige, but not exactly. Not where it really counted.
Like, he could steer the flow of the timeline to sync with his movies, and he and his wife had producer titles, but he still had to kiss the boots of more execs than Feige over at Disney.
But, he was certainly their Favreau.
But! He wasn't treated like Favreau, and Cavill sure as hell wasn't treated like their Robert Downy Jr.
Now, just because it wasn't as planned as the MCU doesn't mean you can't make a plan on the fly, and have it succeed. Indeed, if Warner execs had gotten out of Snyder's way, the results likely would have been better. But, bosses like to boss, and some kinds of ego are inflexible, so...we've seen how it ended up.
To that end, let's rank these flicks.
Of the ones I've seen...
Best-
-Wonder Woman
-Man Of Steel
-Batman v Superman: Dawn Of Justice- Extended cut
-Justice League- Snyder Cut
Medium-good-
-Aquaman
-Shazam
-Birds Of Prey/Harley Quinn
-The Suicide Squad
Fneh-
-Wonder Woman 1984
-Suicide Squad
-Justice League- Whedon Cut
The Justice league trilogy and Wonder Woman are acknowledged by most fans as among the all time greats of superhero cinema.
On the other hand, nothing in the MCU has landed with as hard a thud as the stuff in the "fneh" category.
And I haven't heard much good about "Black Adam".
Safe to assume it's gonna land in "fneh" when I finally see it.
If they'd given full Kevin Feige powers to Snyder, would the DCEU have had as many steady hits as the MCU?
Doubtful.
Somebody however had to be the Feige, and the talent pool was out there, and Warners wasn't looking in the right places.
They wanted toadies they could push around.
It took Warners being bought to kick those empty suits out, and for us to get James Gunn.
So, has the DCEU been the "unmitigated disaster" that some critics and anti-fans would have us believe?
Nah.
Comparing to MCU's box-office numbers, they sure as Hell have struggled.
Artistically, not so bad.
Could be worse.
I'd put the middle-good ones up against middle-tier Marvel.
Even the "fneh" quality ones aren't "Catwoman" or "Elektra" or "Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance" level bad.
If we were talking that level of clunky, and they weren't offset by the top tier ones, then we could talk about disaster.
But yes, its struggled.
Hopefully, Gunn will finally turn that around.
And it looks like the new Warners suits will stay out of his way.
All along, us DC fans have pointed at the animated movies and said "that!!! Just make that!! It's right there! Right there!! Do that!!".
It seems like Gunn is doing that.
Seems like.
With the deep cuts for characters he did in "The Suicide Squad" we know he's a fanboy.
I think we're in for some pleasant surprises.
I won't put Gunn on a marble pedestal, and say the skies are going to part, and angels are going to sing, but I think we're in better hands than we have been for a good long while.
So, yes, the DCEU could have been better. I wish I could be in the alternate timeline where the WB suits weren't idiots, but we're stuck in this timeline.
Overall, I'm glad we got the top and middle tier films.
I wish we'd gotten more like it.
Or more period.
Again, here we are.
And at least we have the animated films.
Maybe I'll make a separate post of recommended DC animated films that offset the weaknesses of the live-action universe...
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