Warner Bros.’ DC Extended Universe was, on the whole, a failure. Fans can debate the merit of the individual films, but from a pure business and franchise standpoint,Man of Steeldidn’t reboot Superman as significantly as WB hoped,Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justicedidn’t perform near well-enough to officially launch the interconnected universe, andJustice League—the film this was all supposed to be building toward—bombed as the lowest-grossing DCEU film thus far. That’s not to say there wasn’t promise.Ben Affleckearned high praise for his portrayal of Batman,Suicide Squadwas a financial hit, andWonder WomanandAquamanwere genuine successes. But as far as the DC Extended Universe goes, Warner Bros. is pulling back on the whole “interconnected universe” idea, thus scrapping the plans that were put in place during the making ofBatman v SupermanandJustice League.
This much has now been confirmed by Warner Bros. chief executiveKevin Tsujiharain a new interview with theLA Times, where he asserted that the upcoming slate of DC movies will not be focused on interconnectivity:
“The upcoming slate, withShazam,Joker,Wonder Woman 1984andBirds of Prey, feels like we’re on the right track. We have the right people in the right jobs working on it.
The universe isn’t as connected as we thought it was going to be five years ago. You’re seeing much more focus on individual experiences around individual characters. That’s not to say we won’t at some point come back to that notion of a more connected universe. But it feels like that’s the right strategy for us right now.”
Indeed,Shazam!features zero characters we’ve seen before, andJokerrecasts the titular role withJoaquin Phoenixinstead ofSuicide Squad’sJared Leto, with directorTodd Phillipstaking a one-off approach to the character with a gritty, 70s-set story. This is in stark contrast to something likeSuicide Squad, which was meant to build out the interconnected universe established inBatman v Supermanand even featured a cameo by Affleck’s Batman, tying his story to Leto’s Joker.
While Warner Bros. has clearly been fumbling around when it comes to finding the right track, Tsujihara points toPatty Jenkins’Wonder Womanas the film that finally pointed the way forward for the studio:
“What Patty Jenkins did onWonder Womanillustrated to us what you could do with these characters who are not Batman and Superman. Obviously, we want to get those two in the right place, and we want strong movies around Batman and Superman. ButAquamanis a perfect example of what we can do. They’re each unique and the tone’s different in each movie.”
Going forward, it feels like Warner Bros.’ approach is to find a good story and a filmmaker with a specific vision, not find a way to connect the dots. Which explains whyJames Gunnis writing and directingThe Suicide Squad, which will reportedly reboot that franchise somewhat, andMatt Reevesis firmly rebooting the Batman franchise with a new actor in the lead inThe Batman.
As Tsujihara says this isn’t to say they won’t bring that connectivity back eventually, but I think Warner Bros. finally realized it was folly to try and catch up with/copy what Marvel Studios has done with its interconnected Marvel Cinematic Universe. A better track is to do something Marvelcan’tdo, which is wildly diverse standalone films likeJoker. WithAquamana smashing success andShazam!looking to be yet another tonally diverse addition to the DC library, the future looks bright. Finally.
