Ezra Miller’s The Flash, Zachary Levi’s Shazam! Jason Momoa’s Fury of the Gods and Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom are among the films concluding the DCEU.
DC Comics/Warner Bros.; Warner Bros.; Warner Bros. / Courtesy Everett Collection / THR Illustration
The dawn of a new DC Universe is upon us, with James Gunn and Peter Safran planning a new series of film, television and gaming projects. But before we get there, we have nine months that feel like the last breaths of the DCEU, which is almost poetically coming to an end a decade after its debut with 2013’s Man of Steel.
First up is David F. Sandberg’s Shazam! Fury of the Gods, the sequel to Shazam! (2019), which proved to be a modest hit and was seen as another course-correcting step in the right direction for the DC franchise, the third to be precise, but who’s counting? Some critics even called it the best DCEU film to date. In theory, a sequel should be a big draw given the opening salvo for the three other DC films slated for this year, The Flash, Blue Beetle and Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom. So why does it feel like the DCEU is limping towards conclusion rather than culminating in a celebration of a decade of storytelling?
Initial social media reactions to Fury of the Gods were enthusiastic and positive, while reviews were relatively positive, albeit softer than the original. But box office projections point to a less enthusiastic opening. Certainly, given the numbers the film faces, the marketing from Warner Bros. and New Line has become one of desperate pleas to “come see,” with TV spots spoiling the film’s grand entrance, which turns out somehow always feels sadder than Black Adam star Dwayne Johnson reveals Henry Cavill’s Superman cameo during red carpet press.
So what’s standing in the way of being a lightning rod in Fury of the Gods? Well, it depends on a number of factors. While the sequel has no shortage of talent, it brings in Helen Mirren, Lucy Liu, and Rachel Zegler as antagonists. You play the daughters of Atlas – Hespera, Kalypso, Anthea, each non-comic characters. This makes it a bit more difficult in terms of marketing and pointing the audience to specific comic books that they can relate to and build enthusiasm on. The second problem is that Shazam’s most iconic antagonist, Black Adam, got a solo movie that flopped at the box office last year, robbing any possibility of the matchup between Shazam and Black Adam that audiences had been hoping for since the films were announced. But the biggest stone standing in the way of Fury of the Gods is asking audiences to invest with a new DC cinematic universe on the way?
Now, one could say that the merits of the film should be viewed individually and not in terms of what it sets up or the post-credit scenes that may never come to fruition in another film. I would say so myself, by the way. Watch the film for the film and not for how well it serves as a teaser trailer. But I think if we’re being realistic, that’s not how people see these films, at least not quite. A Shazam film that has the guaranteed promise of a clash with Black Adam or the character who joins the Justice League simply plays differently to audiences than a Shazam film that sees the return of Sivana and the Monster Society of Evil rolled into one Movie teases that doesn’t seem likely to be made. It shouldn’t be like that, but it is like that. The chatter on social media has already returned to the same question about these pre-reboot movies: “What’s the point anyway?” The point is to see a good movie, but I don’t know if that counts as a compelling argument for a franchise that has had more hits than misses, at least critically, if not for me personally, is enough.
While new DC Films co-head James Gunn has said everything is on the table to possibly continue in the DCU, and Shazam!, at least the first film, has no continuity-breaking references, it all feels like one thing muddy in explaining to audiences who were told a reboot is coming with a new Batman and Superman. Words like “soft restart” with elements of The Suicide Squad and Peacemaker can be thrown away, and they may be, but that means nothing to the general audience who’ve grown up watching MCU films that emphasize a single continuity “everything matters.” ‘ although it is a marketing ploy. But it’s a ploy people believe in, and that’s something Warner Bros. Discovery doesn’t have in regards to their current production of DC movies, which between the frequent lead changes, the divisive nature of the movies, and the actors, With these characters having a future and an entire Batgirl movie on hold, the current situation has taken on a “er, we don’t really know if it matters yet” attitude.
Gunn’s announcements of Chapter 1: Gods and Monsters, the launch of the DCU, were certainly exciting and, in general, have made many people more optimistic about DC’s on-screen future outside of Batman films than they have been in a long time. But it feels like the announcement comes at the expense of the films already slated for release that are outside of it. It commemorates 20th Century Fox’s post-Disney merger release of Dark Phoenix and The New Mutants, and everyone was already anticipating the rebooted mutant version of the MCU. And of course we can hope that the quality of DCEU movies this year will surpass those movies, but if the marketing for Fury of the Gods, which didn’t even play a Super Bowl commercial, is any indication of what we think for the For the rest of 2023, it seems like WBD is already counting their losses and really just hoping Michael Keaton’s return as Batman can get The Flash to a billion.
There’s a lack of clarity as to how, if at all, these DCEU films relate to Gunn and co-boss Peter Safran’s DCU, and the wait-and-see approach might be the most logical, but it also doesn’t sell tickets. Fury of the Gods was originally supposed to come after The Flash, and Sandberg recently gave this as the reason for the costume changes in the film, which have now changed simply because of magic. It’s not a big problem. But considering The Flash was originally intended to lead to certain changes seen in Fury of the Gods and Aquaman and The Lost Kingdom, with cameos referencing those events now deleted, it feels like the troubles of one Comic events that have it mixed up and pages have been removed.
Similarly, The Flash, the next film to be released, is intended to serve as a conclusion to the DCEU and build the DCU. And that would be fine if it weren’t followed immediately by Blue Beetle, which is set to start a new franchise, and the sequel to Aquaman, which was set to be the second chapter in a trilogy. Oh, and by the way, Jason Momoa will likely play a different character in the DCU, but according to Peter Safran, he won’t be playing two different characters, contradicting Momoa’s statement that he will always be Aquaman. So what we have is the ending of a cinematic universe and a new one being born at the same time, possibly using bits and pieces from one ending if it seems financially feasible, which is too complicated a crisis even for comic book enthusiasts.
It would be great if these 2023 DC films were successful both financially and critically, and perhaps Fury of the Gods will surpass predictions and show that despite a reboot raring to go, audiences are still invested in these films. But I think there needs to be some clarity as to where these franchises stand in relation to the DCU. If the plan is to end them here within the confines of the DCEU, then I think the audience deserves definitive conclusions and a meaningful transition, in the way The Flash is a true finale and leads to a reboot, rather than the DCEU with A sequel ends with an Aquaman, which opens up a third part that the studio actually doesn’t want to do. Whether you’re excited for the DCU or not, I think the actors and filmmakers who contributed to a decade of storytelling in the DCEU deserve at least clarity and dignity in delivering this final chapter.