DC Moving Away From Justice League Shared Universe

Has DC thrown in the towel and given Marvel Studios the undisputed title to cinematic universes?

Following Man of Steel, Batman vs. Superman and Suicide Squad, WB restructured to give DC Entertainment more control of the DC movies. Geoff Johns and Jon Berg were placed as the co-runner of the DCEU, and out was Zack Snyder and his “brain trust,” which helped form the basis of the three aforementioned movies that weren’t that all well received critically or by the fans. Geoff Johns had success developing the popular DC comics, New 52 and Rebirth, and DC TV shows, Arrow, The Flash, Supergirl and Legends of Tomorrow, so WB has now given Johns the keys to DC’s kingdom to come.

Vulture posted a lengthy article about the state of DC Entertainment and the movies, where it ‘s noted they are rethinking their approach to the Justice League DC Cinematic Universe, with Wonder Woman used as reason and a prime example of the strategy’s success. It’s said while they’re not giving up on the idea of continuity, that they want to “deemphasize the idea that all of these flicks are occupying the same space.”

Geoff Johns agrees and points to Wonder Woman.

“The movie’s not about another movie,” Johns says. “Some of the movies do connect the characters together, like Justice League. But, like with Aquaman our goal is not to connect Aquaman to every movie.”

Nelson added: “Moving forward, you’ll see the DC movie universe being a universe, but one that comes from the heart of the filmmaker who’s creating them.”

Regarding the DC movies not occupying the same space, the recent Joker origins movie is mentioned as an example of the “decentralized strategy” for “an as-yet-unnamed side label of occasional movies that are completely separate from everything else, set entirely outside the cinematic universe.” Johns said the new label will be announced soon.

My Thoughts:

My thoughts on the new strategy is that it might not be a bad thing. I’m more than willing to take a wait-and-see approach. I don’t mind the solo character movies being independent of each other or not directly connecting as long as the characters do still appear together in further Justice League movies. I also don’t think the “Elseworlds” approach is a bad idea as well, as essentially it gives us more stories – and hence movies – of the characters. Now if their new brand limits the movies in any way – for example if Matt Reeves’ Batman movie is not a part of the DCEU, so WB decides to put the DCEU Batman on the backburner – then that is where I’ll take issue. I don’t want the DCEU movies on pause for some filmmaker’s “brilliant” approach on said character.

I’ll also add that I don’t necessarily agree with the notion that Wonder Woman was a success because it wasn’t “connected” to a shared universe. It was a good movie, and Man of Steel, Suicide Squad and Batman vs. Superman were not. If you are blaming a shared universe for the reason the movies were not a success, you are flat out wrong, which Marvel Studios proves by their own movies, and you either need to rethink the strategy or find new creators that are capable (which seems the actual problem).