The 2023 year wasn’t kind to the DCEU. Shazam! Fury of the Gods, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, Blue Beetle, and The Flash flopped hard at the box office. Since Dwayne Johnson’s Black Adam bombed, the power shift truly changed at Warner Brothers Discovery as James Gunn and Peter Safran were announced as the new heads of DC. Instead of waiting until the release of his upcoming slate of DCEU films, Gunn and Safran decided to do a soft reboot of the brand and confirmed the new set of films that will kick off the new DCU.
The soft reboot of the DCU is already suffering because of this decision, and the first film to jump-start the new universe isn’t slated to hit theaters until 2025. There’s no telling whether the future of the brand is truly in trouble without seeing the box office results first, but the road ahead is a rocky one because of the decisions Warner Brothers has made in the past few years. The soft reboot is already suffering, and it doesn’t appear that it’ll get any better any time soon.
The Reboot Should’ve Been A Hard Reset
The reason Gunn likely opted to do a soft reboot is that he already has a stake in the DCEU. Despite being a box office failure, The Suicide Squad was still a critical success that fans did enjoy. Peacemaker turned out to be huge for HBO Max and James Gunn’s brand as a filmmaker. The Guardians of the Galaxy director didn’t want to get rid of these properties, which was a short-sighted mistake. The Suicide Squad and Peacemaker are indeed bright spots within the DCEU, but the brand needed a hard reboot. The DCEU has been damaged since the failure of Joss Whedon‘s Justice League.
Gunn and Safran are opting to do a soft reboot in a world audiences are no longer invested in. It makes even less sense when Gal Gadot, Ben Affleck, and Henry Cavill are fired from their respective roles within the universe. Gunn needed to start fresh; New characters, a new world, and a central focus that interconnects the entire DCU.
That means The Suicide Squad and Peacemaker should’ve been squashed as well. Given the box office failures of everything after Wonder Woman 1984, the DCEU needed a fresh coat of paint to gain some sort of trust with mainstream audiences. However, the soft reboot has caused mass confusion and a careless response to those who are simply tired of the DCU brand as a whole.
Missed The Opportunity To Give Zack Snyder’s Characters A Swan Song
It would’ve been amazing to give Gal Gadot, Ben Affleck, and Henry Cavill a swan song that ties the loose ends of those characters. Gunn’s idea to connect all forms of media is pretty solid and this would’ve been a perfect time to do a Suicide Squad vs. Justice League film. If The Suicide Squad is truly here to stay, why not capitalize on them as main characters by having them beat the remaining DCEU heroes?
Even a mini-series that gives ample amount of time to develop Wonder Woman, Batman, and Superman would’ve done wonders for the brand as a whole. Some of the frustration with the soft reboot is due to the audience wasting their time investing in DCEU characters that never had an end goal from the beginning.
This is the problem with making a film universe; fans don’t just want a strong film, but they also want an investment for their time. There’s a reason why the MCU was so strong from phases one through four. Kevin Feige managed to tell intricate and compelling stories that led to a grand finale that rewarded audiences with an unforgettable ending. The Justice League didn’t need to die. However, they should’ve had an end to their stories.
The Brand Is Starting To Get Confusing
Gunn is now claiming that Jaime Reyes (aka Blue Beetle) is the first official character of the DCU. Gal Gadot has revealed that there’s a possibility of a Wonder Woman 3 developing. The former came across as an obvious way to trick fans into buying a ticket to see Blue Beetle. However, how can the franchise truly start new when Blue Beetle is based on the old regime?
Wonder Woman 3 likely isn’t happening. At least not with Gal Gadot. However, this is coming across as Gunn and Safran don’t truly know what the future lies for the brand. Fans will be pissed if Gadot gets a sequel, but Cavill’s Superman never does. Plus, the stink of the DCEU is a big reason that the final DCEU films were total bombs.
The last thing Gunn needs to do is confuse audiences, but the brand is at a murky place where characters can make a return since it’s not a full reboot. It’s great that Xolo Maridueña will continue to play Blue Beetle as he was great in the film and the benefit of Blue Beetle was that it didn’t have much ties to the old DCEU. However, the DC universe needs to start with a clean slate with fresh stories that are different from the previous regime.
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