Superhero Films In 2017: The Constantly Changing DC Cinematic Universe

I am writing this a few short hours before a new Justice League trailer drops. I'm not sure whether I should actually watch it - will it just spoil the third act of the movie? Am I that bothered? I'm not too sure. Regardless, I just wanted to set the scene of this piece. Several days ago, a news story broke that the so-called "DC Extended Universe" wasn't actually officially called that, and - depending on which article one read - either didn't have a name (in which case, surely you'd just stick with that name) or it had a different name (one that DC and WB didn't want to share for whatever reason). For some reason, I instantly had flashbacks to that whole "Dark Universe" announcement from Universal a few months ago. It just sort of came out with the release of The Mummy, after everyone had been calling it the "New Universal Monsters" franchise. If it wasn't clear beforehand, DC and Warner Bros don't really have a definitive "franchise" as such, and while that's been to some's happiness, most just aren't interested in a series without identity. Or consistency for that matter.
After numerous failed attempts at some form of Justice League franchise (Wolfgang Peterson's World's Finest: Batman Vs Superman, George Miller's Justice League Mortal, Green Lantern, Superman Returns, etc.), in 2013 it appeared as though DC were finally stepping up. With Man of Steel being the year's most anticipated film, announcements were made about a Man of Steel 2, Wonder Woman and Aquaman films, with the intention of a Justice League crossover film somewhere down the line. Man of Steel 2 was set to enter production for a late 2014 release....then a 2015 release.....then a 2016 release.
And then the whole "shared universe" plague infected WB's hierarchy, and Man of Steel 2 became a Batman vs Superman movie, before suddenly turning into the Justice League prequel. I can't remember if it was in 2014 or 2015, but a full DC slate was announced with Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Suicide Squad, Wonder Woman, Justice League, The Flash, Aquaman, Shazam!, Justice League Part 2, Cyborg and Green Lantern Corps stretching all the way until 2020. It was a bold move after one, controversial film, and no one was convinced as to the franchise's success.
And then Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice came out. It was received poorly by a majority of the audience, with critical panning and a disappointing box office turn-out. A $1-2 billion film didn't even reach $900 million. Suddenly, everything was in flux. Suicide Squad had major reshoots. Justice League's production appeared to have stalled for extensive re-writes, and when it did start filming had Ben Affleck and co pulling out some witty one-liners. Batman v Superman was overlong, humourless, cluttered and not at all what people wanted to see. It wasn't technically a disaster, but in reality it was far from a success. Surely though, the next film would be better?
And then Suicide Squad came out. I didn't want a Suicide Squad movie, especially since an Arrow spin-off show had been cancelled for it. But, I decided to give it a fair chance and it ended up looking pretty interesting - if not necessarily amazing. The film itself is a complete disaster of film-making with an embarrassing portrayal of the Joker and abysmal editing. If you liked Suicide Squad, good luck justifying yourself to the naysayers. There's quite a lot of them. Still, Suicide Squad made a lot of money - all the more surprising given how much it cost. The "ideal of hope" the DC Extended Universe had promised wasn't all there.
And then Wonder Woman came out. And it was great! Regardless of its few faults, Wonder Woman was a spectacular superhero film that stepped out into the world and said "come at me". It had everything. Spectacular action. Great characters. Real drama. Brilliant technical aspects. Patty Jenkins created the best DC film since 2008's The Dark Knight, and quite possibly the best superhero/comic book movie of 2017 (although Thor: Ragnarok looks incredible).
So, here we are with Justice League set to be released in about five weeks' time. Will it be good? Who can say. The extensive re-shoots, re-writes and even re-composing (yes, seriously) suggest a bit of a disaster, but at the end of the day, these tasks are being performed by Joss Whedon and Danny Elfman respectively. These are two pretty talented guys, so surely if they're fixing this mess, it will actually be fixed? I'm not expecting greatness, but I'm hoping for it. 
Plus,  I kinda wanna hear Wonder Woman's theme again. That kicked arse.
After Justice League though, there are rumours of WB abandoning the DC Extended Universe (or whatever they want to call it) in favour of standalone projects. Aquaman is set to be released next Christmas, and Shazam!, Suicide Squad 2, The Batman and Batgirl are apparently entering production sometime in 2018. Matthew Vaughn and Chris McKay are working on Superman and Nightwing respectively, Gotham City Sirens is in limbo, Harley Quinn and the Joker are getting a film, the Joker is getting an origin movie produced by Martin Scorsese, the Flash film is now apparently going to be Flashpoint, and Cyborg and Green Lantern Corps are still apparently coming out in 2020. At the end of the day, none of these (bar Aquaman) may even come to pass. Am I looking forward to any of these? Well, if Aquaman follows the Wonder Woman formula, I'm looking forward to that. I'm also happy to watch anything Batman-related as long as its good, and a Matthew Vaughn Superman movie sounds pretty cool. Otherwise, I think everyone's just stuck waiting to see what happens with Justice League. If its bad, back to the drawing board. If its good but not great, maybe there's hope yet for the DCEU. But, if its great, that's two wins in one year - and there's some good will surrounding Aquaman during its production too.
There's probably some meaningful quote from DC that would end this perfectly....but I can't think of one. Um....how about "let's put a smile on that face!"

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