#josstice league

[thingsasbarcodes]

Justice League (2017)

[baneshake]

The promotional art Lego put out for their Justice League (2017) sets didn't HAVE to go this hard, y'know.

All credit to The Lego Group, natch.

[chishnfips87]

Batman Movie Tier List

This is all my opinion, don't take this list to heart.

Tier template: https://tiermaker.com/create/batman-films-as-of-2023-15103072

[ordinaryschmuck]

Random question for DC fans: What do YOU consider to be the worst DCEU movie?

Not what others hate or claim to be the worst. Just what YOU, personally, consider to be the worst.

And, to help spread positivity, what do you consider the best? I, uh, want to test something.

[falllpoutboy]

they better not cut ben’s cameo out of aquaman 2 because i absolutely refuse to have his last cameo be in the fucking flush where he has, yet again, more cringy dialogue about he wants to bang diana 🙃🙄

[james-stark-the-writer]

so, since the DCEU is officially dead after the release of Aquaman 2, and i haven't been able to stop thinking about it and i wanna rewatch Birds of Prey and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn, i figured i might as well give the whole DCEU a proper shot since i actually haven't seen a lot of it and only bits and pieces of most of the bigger projects. anyway, seated for Man of Steel (2013) rn and little over a minute in and damn, Russell Crowe was in this??????

oh by the way, if you're curious i have seen parts of Man of Steel on TV once like a decade ago but i actually don't know much about the movie at all. i was dragged to BvS in theaters but it was a hindi dub (someone forgot to check which language they were buying a ticket for) and i remember literally nothing about the experience beyond what's become a cultural mainstay bc of the memes and discussions. i saw Suicide Squad at home and actually thought it was like decent. i saw Wonder Woman at home and enjoyed it. i saw Josstice League in theaters and thought it was meh. i saw Aquaman in theaters and loved it. i saw Shazam! in theaters and loved it, beyond the opening which i still think is stupid. i saw Birds of Prey and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn in theaters and i still believe its the best thing the DC has done, it was actually my last movie before the panorama set in i believe but it's literally in my top 10 movies of all time rn. i didn't see WW84 or ZSJL bc i didn't have a way to nor any interest in either. i saw Gunn's The Suicide Squad and really enjoyed it but thought the script needed work, especially bc i didn't like how he wrote Harley. i then heard the Batgirl news, got pissed off at Zaslav and haven't made him a cent since nor will i. anyway, onwards to actually watching Man of Steel.

[wonderbatbvs]

BVS was truly something very, very, very special.

I'll never get over how PERFECT Ben Affleck was as Bruce Wayne & The Batman. Looking back, it's really the biggest tragedy for all DC fans imo, that we never got his take on a Batman movie.

He truly loved & understood how complicated Batman is as a character. I'll always feel happy when I remember that The Batman himself, Kevin Conroy (we miss you 😭), said that he's THE BEST Batman we've ever gotten.

It'll always be a bittersweet feeling when looking back on The DCEU in general. They could've really had something special in The Snyderverse (with some tweaks you could've separated The DCEU & Snyder related stuff, it just needed to be handled with absolute care)

The Snyderverse & DCEU are basically different universes to me anyway, since The Snyder Cut (thankfully) & Josstice League exist (unfortunately)

[originalleftist]

So WB gets called out all over social media for minimizing Amber Heard's role in the first Aquaman trailer, and their response is to... cut her completely from the second one.

Stay classy, WB.

I will be supporting this film for ONE reason, and that is to support Amber Heard. Because if it flops she'll be the scapegoat, and it'll be an excuse for companies never to hire her for anything again. Which is what her vindictive abuser and his fan cult want.

But after this film, I am boycotting DC content and Warner Bros films for the foreseeable future. Between this, the Batgirl cancellation, Josstice League, and Zaslav and the bungling of the DCEU in general, I've had it.

I MIGHT make an exception for the Wayne Family Adventures webtoon, because I can read it free online and not actually give DC money. But that's it.

[wonderfulworldofmichaelford]

The two Psycho Analysis reviews are coming along (Kaiba’s is a little daunting with all I have to cover), so let’s set up the next IIRTB to be interesting… but there’s a twist! There’s going to be TWO polls! There will only be half the choices on each but I’m putting some juicy choices on each!

For the first poll, which of these superhero movies should I take a look at?

1. Dwayne Johnson was going to change the hierarchy of power in the DCU with this… it didn’t really end up working out that way.

2. The first Captain Marvel film to flop in 2023, and the one that made Zachary Levi cry on Twitter.

3. The second Captain Marvel to flop in 2023, and the film that really had people wondering if the MCU was salvageable.

4. On the surface, this just seems like another poorly reviewed DC movie… but there’s a nightmarish production story that casts a dark shadow over this.

5. The first try at adapting the Dark Phoenix, stuffed with plots and directed by a massive dickhead.

6. Andrew Garfield’s first outing as Spider-Man, which has been getting post-NWH reassessment.., but does it deserve it?

[princess-of-the-corner]

In some versions, Batman is a cryptid even after being active for decades. In the Arrowverse, prior to Elseworlds, Green Arrow didn't believe he was real (Flash did, while Supergirl knew him from her Earth and is implied to have even known his identity), in part out of jealousy ("I am the first vigilante!" he insisted). In Josstice League (I don't think in ZSJL), Cyborg is surprised that Batman is real to which Batman replies "I'm real when it matters."

So Mystery Inc. could still be interested in whether or not Batman is real at any point in Batman's timeline.

For my concept of a Scooby-Doo series, I had the idea of the gang driving to Gotham and discussing Batman. Shaggy questions Velma on if she believes Batman is real, and she does believe he is real, but she believes that the supervillains he fights are sensationalized. The argument would lead to Velma insisting "There are no monsters in Gotham City!" Shaggy retorts "There weren't monsters in Coolsville either," a point to which Velma concedes. (Due to an event in the Season 1 finale, Season 2 would have real monsters appear along with costumed crooks.)

You knw what fair enough!

Batman does sound very cryptid-y and he doesn't /really/ make many public appearances in a 'Hero Celebrity' fashion like other Heroes might. So it's understandable for either things like 'people assume that 'Batman' is a figure made up to scare criminals' or even 'maybe there's a Vigilante, but the stories are exaggerated' to even going the other direction and believing 'Batman is actually some magical monster thing and not just a guy in a costume'.

[navree]

...at least it's not the snyderverse? i'm trying to remain optimistic. 😣

Confession time, I have ambivalent feelings about the Snyderverse. There's stuff I didn't like but there's also stuff I liked a lot.

For one, I think it had really solid casting. Cavill nailed the look of Superman, J.K. Simmons as Gordon is brilliant, Ray Fisher was really good as Cyborg, Jeremy Irons is brilliant in anything and God almighty I wish they'd kept him for The Batman as Alfred cuz I loved his Alfred, and Ben Affleck is a really good actor and he had some great moments and great looks as Bruce Wayne. The only duds were Ezra Miller, who's psycho, and Gal Gadot, because she's not a very good actress (most of the success of Wonder Woman, which I loved, came from Patty's writing moreso than anything intrinsic in Gadot's performance).

There's also some good ideas and good bones to Snyder's ideas for the DCEU. I like most of what he was trying to do with Superman's origin in Man of Steel, and honestly, Batman's motivation for his conflict in Batman v. Superman makes a lot of sense. Bruce is someone whose abhorrence of senseless violence is the cornerstone of his beliefs; his parents were killed in an act of senseless violence, and brutality for brutality's sake without a thought to consequences is something he fights against at all times. It is absolutely reasonable that Bruce, seeing not only wanton destruction from someone who is making no attempt to mitigate it, and has infinitely more power to do real harm than anything else Bruce has seen, has serious concerns and wants to at least be prepared in case he ever goes rogue, not to mention the movie does give us solid reasons for it to be personal with how he loses people in the destruction of the WE building (and also that scene of him running into the danger while everyone runs away? brilliant). I also like that this is an older, more jaded Bruce who has been distinctly marked by the death of his child and the havoc that wreaked on him (though I don't give a FUCK what Mr. Snyder says, that is not Dick Grayson, when has Dick Grayson ever been the dead Robin, that is Jason Todd, I accept nothing else, it's Jason who Bruce lost even in the Snyderverse). It's canon to the comics that Jason's death made Bruce more violent, more volatile, and actively changed him for the worst in a way that not even Jason's resurrection has been able to fully heal, so that being part of Bruce's issues in the Snyderverse works as well.

And I also want to acknowledge that Snyder has absolutely been shafted by WB. The director's cut of BvS does make more sense and have more to the story than the theatrical version. And then there's the whole mess with Justice League, even though I don't fault Snyder for leaving production due to his daughter's death, and I'm fine with the push to see his version that came out of it, especially given a) how bad Josstice League was and b) Joss Whedon being a shithead in general. And there's the fact that WB was clearly gunning for a DC MCU from the getgo, without understanding that, for all its myriad of sins (and oh boy are there many), that took time, and you really had to build up a lot of those characters individually before slowly mixing them into a shared universe that could be its own entity. WB didn't get that, so demanding a Justice League before we even got solo movies for any of the players besides Superman was always gonna be doomed to fail, and executive meddling can't be laid at Snyder's feet.

And I do want to mention that the Snyderverse had movies that weren't created by Snyder or had much input from him, both good and bad. Wonder Woman and Aquaman, I thought, were great, and those were made by different creatives, and Suicide Squad (2016) was atrocious (though I did like that Affleck was willing to make cameos to lend credence to the universe, and that it had Harley as a participant in the death of Robin, because most people don't really grapple with the fact that, even though Harley didn't exist when ADitF happened, any retcon to have her involved with Joker from the getgo is going to have her as a likely participant in the torture and murder of a child, and it's an interesting way to delve into her character and how her own agency intersects with her being a victim of the Joker's abuse).

But there are some serious, serious issues with the Snyderverse that did make it really hard to root for.

Most glaringly, Snyder has good ideas, like I outlined, but I don't think he's a very good writer. Take, for example, the much derided Martha scene. I get what he was going for, Bruce is lost in rage and Clark's focus on saving his mother not only reminds Bruce that Clark too has people he loves, just as Bruce does, but that he has his own underlying humanity, humanity that Bruce cannot ignore anymore and has to confront, that Clark is more than a threat, but a full person. It's a way to highlight how lost Bruce has become in this mission, and to show how humanity comes from who you are, not where you're from, and that Clark is good to his core in a way that's admired. That's the point of the scene, I get that, I understand it, but there had to be a better way to write it than that. I mean, Hell, just have Clark start talking about "my mother" as Bruce is getting ready to gut him, which can lead to confusion on Bruce's part because "your mother's an alien", which leads to Clark struggling to explain that his mom's in danger even as he's near death himself (and also idk why Lois is there, I love Lois as a character, though I wasn't overly fond of Amy Adams's version despite my love for her as an actress, but she shouldn't be there). But instead we get the Martha thing, and it ends up reading as Bruce realizing, somehow, that there are more people named Martha than his mom, and it ends up reading really stupid. This is what plagues a lot of Snyder's DC stuff, especially in BvS and with Bruce, which is that the ideas work but his execution in the minutia really doesn't and bogs the whole thing down. (I will say that I did like the writing of Bruce in the scene at Luthor's party, especially when he was being sneaky, that was good).

Snyder also is a good director in terms of visuals, very good, I like his visuals in a lot of his stuff. But I don't think he's a very good director when it comes to performances. He can't really pull anything stupendous out of any of his actors. And some people, like Ben Affleck, are good enough that you can still get good stuff from them irregardless, but some of them are not. And Henry Cavill, however much I love him in The Tudors, is one of those actors who does need a director to guide him to give a truly memorable performance, especially if he's as outside of his wheelhouse as he was with Clark. So Clark, who's our first introduction to the Snyderverse and also its emotional lynchpin a lot of the time, falls flat, because Snyder doesn't really seem like an actor's director, in spite of his visual eye.

There's also the killing thing. For one, just off the bat (heh), Batman shouldn't kill. Ever. It is the antithesis to who he is on every level, and there's a reason why he sticks to it so rigidly in comics canon and why any attempt to make him a killer, even via inaction (cough Nolanverse cough) rings false and hollow. For two, Superman is a killer in this universe. Not great, but Superman has killed in the comics too. But somehow, this doesn't really seem to bother him. Clark is, indirectly, responsible for a lot of civilian casualties after Man of Steel, and BvS really should have shown him grappling with that continuously, in a serious way. He's standing as a symbol for hope, he wants to help wherever he can, and there are now scores of people who've left behind grieving loved ones, because of him. It should affect him a lot more than it does, drive a lot more than it does, especially as we watch how those deaths harden Bruce, and yet we don't really see anything from him, and it affects his character. Not to mention it makes him a hypocrite when it comes to Batman. "Oh the Batman branded someone while stopping them from sex trafficking young girls, he's so terrible!" you have literally snapped someone's neck, shut the fuck up. And also, yeah, Clark killed Zod. That should also affect him a lot in the next movie, not just because of how killing and loss of life should affect him in general, but because Clark, a Kryptonian orphan with no connection to his homeland, no people like him, has just decimated the only concrete connection to his home that he has. If BvS wants to highlight Clark's solitude, Clark's loneliness as an alien and how that affects him AND the people around him along with the general populace, his feelings on having to cut off a Kryptonian connection to save human lives should get a lot more screentime.

And, while I do laud Snyder having good base ideas, some of the base ideas didn't work. I understand wanting to shift Lex into being the kind of billionaire most people in the 2010s would recognize as "classic billionaire", make him more of a Zuckerberg or an Elon Musk, but the way they went about it didn't work at all. Doomsday coming in last minute didn't work, having Death of Superman this early didn't work, making Batffleck an angry Batman rather than the sad Batman he was born to be didn't work, Jonathan Kent's death didn't work, etc. And honestly, having it be a Dark Knight Returns adaptation really didn't work. Even beyond the general cultural stuff that influence TDKR, and my issues with it as well as Frank Miller as a creative, the Batman against Superman stuff didn't work in the Snyderverse, because Snyder doesn't seem to get why those stories hit so hard. They work because Bruce and Clark are friends, best friends, closer than brothers, they love each other so dearly and would risk so much for each other, put their lives on the line for each other no matter what, be there at their lowest (there's a World's Finest issue dedicated to Clark trying to help Bruce with the aftermath of Jason's murder, it's really good). Seeing them at odds, seeing them fight, it hurts because we know what was once there, and seeing it fall apart into enmity and violence is painful. Longtime friends turning on each other hurts to witness. It doesn't work if Clark and Bruce don't know each other and don't have any personal connection, because that takes away the edge that makes those stories tug at our emotions.

Like I said, ultimately I'm ambivalent. There's stuff that worked, especially in concepts and in broad strokes, and there's stuff that didn't, like Snyder's writing decisions once detail had to get involved. And between that and the ten million behind the scenes issues, like the studio constantly meddling in everything, like Ezra Miller's issues, like Amber Heard having the nerve to be abused by her husband which got everyone real mad at her because he was popular twenty years ago, it ultimately made the whole thing a giant mess that was doomed to fail, even if Snyder had been flawless (which he really wasn't, but the outside stuff that kept coming up in every single installment certainly exacerbated everything).

I'm hoping the studio backs off Gunn, and that he keeps up his good writing streak that we've seen with stuff like Guardians, and that the decisions I've seen that are worrying me turn out fine (or are at least rectified and dealt with in pre-production why is the FUCKING FLASH DIRECTOR in charge of Batman why God why?????? and also again please don't have the starting Robin be Damian I have strong feelings about that even though I love my dear boy), but it's early so we'll see. Fingers crossed.

[buckys-arm-and-rios-dagger]

I love how in The Boys you can very clearly tell which companies they're riffing on, especially when it comes to the two comic book giants. I know because it's an Amazon show it feels very "SILENCE, BRAND", but because it's shown in the story and production/costume design I choose to believe its the creative team doing it more than Amazon themselves. I mean, writers and actors aren't the only ones that get treated like shit by studios, they're just the most recent to strike. Anyways, my favorite examples from this season (so far, I'm in episode 2) Voughtland and the Dawn of The Seven stuff. I know the characters themselves are meant to be commentary on different DC and Marvel heros (Homelander being a Superman/Captain America, Maeve is very clearly Wonder Woman, etc.), but in terms of things outside of that. Like with Dawn of the Seven, the Vought Studios logo is VERY similar to the Marvel Studios logo, but the font used in the poster feels very reminiscent of the one used for at least the Josstice League version of JL, in addition to all the digs at the Snyder Cut stuff (i wouldn't be surprised if at some point we saw a #Restorethe Snyderverse parody at some point and I am here👏for👏it👏). Vought itself is obviously meant to be a Disney/Amazon parody (I will die on the hill that there's some Amazon mixed in there too even if it's supposed to be overly Disney with the Vought+ reference, Voughtland, etc). Voughtland was also really fun to me. I don't love the "kingdom of Inclusivity" thing because I think the people it's making fun of are going to take it as them "owning the libs" when in reality it seems to be parodying what conservatives seem to think Disney is turning into (at least. That's my read of it.). Crimson Countess's show is I know meant to be a riff on America Sings and other Disney park shows that are full of revisionist history, but I also can't help but wonder if they also were thinking of Rogers the Musical when they wrote that part (idk if Hawkeye was out at the time S3 came out but with the privilege of hindsight that's what my brain went to), especially since Soldier Boy is meant to be a "dark Captain America/Winter Soldier but he's ACTUALLY a villain and not just a brainwashed POW forced to do bad things" type. And like, don't get me wrong I'm fully aware I'm part of the group they're making fun of (I mean. Look at my url), but I always say that in order to love Marvel you gotta really fuckin hate Marvel, and I'm not blind to the issues with it, both the ones they're making fun of and the ones they aren't. Anyways, I don't think I'm saying anything new or groundbreaking or #deep, I just needed to word vomit my thoughts somewhere.

[tljisthegoat]

JJ Abrams is one of the most boring directors of all time. Why? Because he truly can't make an original movie that makes me feel in any way possible. His cinematography? Wack. Him copying Rian Johnson after retconning TLJ? Wack. His ability to work with actors and get the best performances outta them? Wack. His ability to use mystery boxes that he LOVES using without any understanding on HOW to use them? Wack. His understanding of Reylo (which he started ironically enough lmaooo) Wack.

His understanding of Star Wars? Wack. Him being a corporate stooge? Wack (like seriously grow a backbone & stop taking it like a bitch from the mouse). His use of themes & messages to really make a memorable movie beyond the typical popcorn flick? Wack.

Star Trek fans tried to warn us about him. Unfortunately, we didn't listen.

He's right there next to Joss Whedon. The Butchers of Beloved Franchises.

When you see a movie directed by either of these men, you just wonder how they got so lucky directing some of the most iconic movies in cinema history. Instead of unique directors like Zack Snyder & Rian Johnson, who both made absolute masterpieces.

You compare TLJ & BVS to TFA, TROS & Josstice League, and it's like comparing a timeless magnum opus to a dumpster fire.

[dirbenaffleck]

THE GUY YOU LOVE has THE GUY YOU HATE on speed dial 🥰 yes this is about nolan and snyder(s) cos i always have them being overportective over zack and never wanting him to see the monstrosity of josstice league

[musikat18]

DCEU 10 Year Anniversary: "I Have No Idea Where I Am Going To Be Tomorrow, But I Accept The Fact That Tomorrow Will Come" (Edit-- Tomorrow Is Not Coming I Guess)

The quote in the subtitle for this retrospective comes from Titans/Young Justice: Graduation Day. Donna is talking to a concerned Cassie Sandsmark-- old guard assuring the new guard, promising that though the future is inherently uncertain, the important thing is they rise to meet the challenge.

Donna, in Graduation Day, is killed by a Superman robot, and Cassie is ultimately disillusioned and leaves behind her group of inseparable Young Justice teammates.

For a while, it kind of seemed like the DCEU was going the same way.

For some context: I was 13 when Man of Steel, the first movie in the DCEU, released in theaters (and I DID see it in theaters when it came out, maybe a week or two after opening weekend because I was 13 and still in a town where the nearest new releases theater was about half an hour to forty-five minutes from home). As of now (a little over a week after I started writing this post), I'm officially 23 years old-- by the time I'm halfway to 24, the DCEU will officially be 10 years old.

I don't particularly know why this hit me now. Maybe it's because I'm another year older and haven't particularly liked myself for the last few years and wanted to focus my attention on something I did love, or maybe it's because the more I think about it, the less ten-years-old the DCEU feels, OR maybe it's because the DCEU just had a formal set of captains announced in James Gunn & Peter Safran which naturally kind of lends to looking back at what came before to try and figure out, well, where we're going to be tomorrow.

And because that fascinated me, and because we just had the 12th DCEU movie come out (yes I do count Josstice League and ZSJL as two different movies), I felt the need to kind of look back on everything and unpack my feelings on each project.

So that's what I'm going to do.

I did a similar kind of post a couple of weeks ago for Phase 4 of the MCU, but I'm not actually going to rate these movies because I feel like the DCEU movies themselves in comparison to Marvel, my feelings about them are a lot more...complex and not very easy to assign a ranked number to. And I kind of just want the freedom to talk about the movies and how they made me feel and how I feel about them today.

Pop your popcorn and feel free to leave your own thoughts in reblogs and replies.

EDITOR'S NOTE!

Hi, I thought I could just put this post aside for a week and nothing could happen. Anyway, my hubris has become my downfall again and now I guess I have no reason to put this off given that the DCEU as a concept is effectively dead.

I put an addendum in the title to kind of underscore the news out this week confirmed by James Gunn that both the Henry Cavill Clark Kent that kind of encapsulates this era and the larger DCEU in its current form are all but dead, but I think it's kind of...it doesn't REALLY capture the full effect of how I feel about the potential future of DC films, but I'll save that for the end. You're here for tea. It's below the keep reading. I promise.

Man of Steel (06/14/2013)-- dir. Zack Snyder

Now that Henry Cavill is back as Superman (Future Kat: and now that he's been once again cut out of future plans for the time being lolol oops), I feel like it's overdue for me to retrospect his whole run in the DCEU so far, and I feel like over time, I've become...a lot kinder about Henry Cavill's Superman? And I feel like a lot of that is because of my own learning about how the filmmaking process works and what's in the actor's control vs. the directors and writers and producers, as well as kind of just watching other parts of his filmography, especially The Witcher.

I don't mean that in a way of like "wow his Geralt shows how great he'd be as a true modern day Superman" because Geralt and Clark Kent are EONS apart as far as character types and mannerisms. I mean I think it kind of opened me up to what Henry Cavill can do as an actor and even though the Witcher scripts aren't STELLAR, he's an excellent performer.

I kind of remember my very first impression of this movie being a mixture of awe and confusion-- I think the movie was a couple of weeks old, but I'm a DC stan first and a human being second and I was really excited to have a Superman for MY generation. And then I just???? Didn't really like him????? I think Zack Snyder is really good at painting striking imagery and moments, but the script just didn't really hit, now that I'm old enough to look back on it and rewatch it and articulate what I don't like about it. I know the idea is that Snyder's Clark feels kind of detached and is struggling with wanting to be connected to humanity but being inherently stronger and more powerful than them, but that's the SAME thing they tried with New 52 Superman, and it didn't work then, and it doesn't work now. It's not even a concept that doesn't work for Superman in general. DC Comics is very much the company of Gods Trying To Be Human. I just don't think MoS got it across in an effective way that makes US feel invested in Clark.

Also this is an ice cold take but Amy Adams was robbed. I don't know who she was playing in this movie but it was not fucking Lois Lane. Amy Adams was ROBBED.

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (03/25/2016)-- dir. Zack Snyder

They Sure Made This Movie Huh.

This is one I actually waited until it came out on DVD to watch, and I do have to say not only is it a slog to sit through-- no matter how many times I try to rewatch it, I can only make it through while streaming it with friends-- but the HARDEST part of this movie comes down to the fact that I just do not buy that Batman and Superman should be fighting.

A good Batman & Superman conflict stems from the difference in ideology of the characters: Batman, while he can be hopeful, ultimately upholds the flawed justice system while claiming to work outside of it, while Superman is generally associated with rehabilitation, compassion, hope, and honesty.

In this movie, though, Clark doesn't get to DO much of anything to differentiate him from Batman because Lex is pulling so many of the strings, and Bruce is just so.......................................The Dark Knight Returns of it all was a mistake and I don't think it did anything to make the conflict between the two engaging. It's not like Superman doesn't want to kill people and Batman (again because of the Dark Knight Returns of it all) is getting Rougher, it's one of those conflicts that could be resolved by like. Having ONE conversation.

I also feel like this movie, as I've said ad infinitum, was just trying to be TOO many things. It was Man of Steel 2. It was Batman 1. It was Wonder Woman 0.5. It was Death of Superman. It was Dark Knight Returns. And because of it, it didn't succeed at ANY of it. There's a lot of WB Fingerprints on the blueprint of this movie, and a lot of Snyder Fingerprints, and also a lot of Man of Steel just...not being a franchise vehicle. It doesn't come off that way when you watch it. It doesn't have the environmental richness needed and works a lot better as a character study rather than a franchise springboard.

I do have to say one GOOD thing about this movie, though, and that is the fact that it contains the FUNNIEST accidental canon contradiction in the world by having Patrick Wilson do a voice cameo as The President Of The United States. Yes I DO have my own personal headcanon for how this works with his OTHER DCEU character. No I will NOT elaborate unless asked.

Suicide Squad (08/05/2016)-- dir. David Ayer

Margot Robbie and Viola Davis deserve awards for carrying this entire movie on their backs-- anyway, now that that's out of the way...

This is another one I waited for DVD for, but that was mainly because I was coming off the heels of a long NYC vacation and school was about to start up again (I think this was the start of my junior year? *does some math* Yeah, I was a junior in high school at this time) and I was a busy busy teen but we don't have time to get into my perfectionism issues and completely-ignored anxiety issues at the time.

This movie is not really...a movie, I think, but more a series of short music videos/needle-drop sequences put together in a way that kind of creates a story? It has a LOT of needle-drop sequences in it. Like, a LOT. So many that when I think of this movie, I don't really think of individual scenes or lines or even characters, even if this movie gave us Viola Davis' STELLAR Amanda Waller. I think of all the musical moments. House of the Rising Sun. You Don't Own Me. Fortunate Son. I don't really think it's very effective to rely on the music to explain (sometimes poorly) to the audience the tone of the scene or inform about the character. That's kind of what you have actors there for.

And I guess we should probably discuss the elephant in the room that is Jared Leto's Joker, even though I really don't want to, but I'll at least give it a mention. I'll keep it brief, though, because a lot of what I have to say has been said to death before-- I don't MIND them trying a different angle with the Joker, I just don't think it landed. And I'll openly say I'm not married to Heath Ledger's preceding Dark Knight Joker (yes his work as an actor was stellar. No I don't think it offers anything particularly innovative and it doesn't always feel like a Joker to me), that was never my problem with Jared Leto. It was a valiant effort, but Leto's Joker really does feel designed to cater to the Edgy Teen crowd and that's not really Joker to me, either.

Again, I think studio fingerprints are all over this film, but I don't think I would have been in love with Ayer's version either, and I don't need to see an "Ayer Cut."

Wonder Woman (06/02/2017)-- dir. Patty Jenkins

I remember seeing this one. I REMEMBER it. And I remember CRYING in the theater. Mainly because 17-year-old me NEEDED this movie. Like, needed it, desperately, but because it just has a lot of heart behind it, and I don't think that's an accident.

You can tell that Patty Jenkins and Gal Gadot and the cast and crew have a lot of love for Wonder Woman, both as a character and as a concept. Wonder Woman is historically an arbiter of truth and justice and compassion and all that good stuff, and it really shines through in the movie. So much so that even a lot of its weaknesses I'm willing to forgive.

I do wish Diana had more women to interact with in the film. I get what they were going for here, but it felt so odd to have a film so definitively trying NOT to be "women good men bad" (even if it does kind of feel like it sometimes, I'll get into it in another post maybe if people have interest) where it was so focused on isolating Diana from other women and how much Diana didn't fit into Man's World.

But like, even with the things I didn't like and don't like when I look back on it, this film had a HUGE impact on me. I still have a quote from Diana's climactic "deserve vs. believe" speech at the end in my blog bio. The idea that people should do good and work to make things better no matter how hurtful the rest of the world seems is a HUGE part of my ethos personally, and this movie is almost exclusively what affirmed that for me and set it in stone.

Josstice League (11/17/2017) --dir. J*ss Wh*don

(Yes I know this gif is from the Snyder Cut but if there was ever a movie that exuded I'll Make Tea energy for me it's this one)

I...............................................................................................................

*sighs*

I know the exact moment I knew I was going to hate this movie.

Picture this. You are me. You are at the movies. You are watching Josstice League for the first time. You are having a good time in the first half, because you are really liking the supporting case of the JLA and you loved Wonder Woman and are so happy to see Gal Gadot back and Jason Momoa is so fun as Aquaman and you really like Ray Fisher a lot and are so intrigued by his Cyborg and Ezra Miller's Flash is pretty fun too and yeah Ben Affleck is there and you don't care about Batman but you are having a GREAT TIME WITH YOUR NEW JLA!

And then they lose ONE fight and Batman says "fuck it. We gotta resurrect Superman. We can't do this without Superman. Let's bring him back from the dead."

And you slowly, horrifically realize that this is not, in the end, going to be a Justice League movie. This is going to be a movie where all the fun new friends you just met, most for the first time, try their best but ultimately just sit back and let Superman do all the hard stuff.

I have a lot of problems with Josstice League, and now you're all going to hear about it.

I'm not here to talk about the boob fall scene, or the quippiness of the humor, or the fact that no one here seems to really like each other, or that this is almost basically just Avengers but with the serial numbers filed away and given new ones over it. I'm here to talk about the fact that, at the end of the day, the movie is not about the Justice League.

There is no teamwork in this film. There is no bonding in this film. There are no friendly co-workers in this film. This is not an ensemble movie or even a team movie. This is a Batman movie with some side characters who SHOULD be more important than they are written that is later turned into a Batman/Superman movie with some side characters who should be more important than they are written.

I don't know why WB Studios thought the best move would be to bring Joss Whedon in to essentially remake Avengers and hope it would work, because at the end of the day, the Avengers and the Justice League have two very different dynamics going for them.

The Avengers are a found family, but a very dysfunctional one. They argue a lot. They split into factions a lot. They constantly switch out members because people are always dealing with too many personal complexities to maintain the teamwork. But they are, for all their faults, a family.

The Justice League are a found family, but in a very different way. Yes, they have disagreements. Yes, there are ideological conflicts among members. But at the core, the team is a group of individuals who come from all walks of life and yet all share the same loneliness. Whether it be Clark's alien status on a human planet, or Diana's deliberate separation from all she's ever known, or Bruce's self-imposed isolation out of grief for his parents, everyone on the Justice League has felt loneliness, and they stick together because they realize they are no longer alone and they do not have to be.

You can have them argue and have pet peeves with each other, but they can't not like each other at all on some level. And I did not see anyone on that team who liked each other, not even Diana and Bruce, my poor little WonderBat heart from the JLU cartoon days weeps.

Also, Ray Fisher was robbed. We all knew that, but it bears repeating. He was robbed.

Aquaman (12/21/2018)-- dir. James Wan

I've already talked this one to death so I won't keep you here too long lmaooooooooooooo

No but like for real, I love Aquaman. I love this movie. It's comfort food for me. I have a lot of love and respect for James Wan as a filmmaker, and I do think the smartest thing WB ever did was start hiring horror directors to do their superhero films because horror has SO much creativity in it, historically.

I know when the cast was announced, I was definitely confused because it just seemed like a very eclectic group of actors (Khal Drogo, Ed Warren, Boba Fett, Satine from Moulin Rouge, Ivan Drago, and Norman Osborn?????), but the end result was just so, so good. It explores deep themes if you're willing to read them, but it's also just a lot of explosive (literally) dumb fun.

Also, my blorbo. My special boy. My little war criminal. Mwah.

Shazam (04/05/2019)-- dir. David F. Sandberg

*presses mouth directly to microphone*

Shazam Fucking Slaps.

I think this is probably one of the strongest DCEU films and that's probably because it just lets itself be as bananas and fun as it wants. It really plays with the concept of "Big but it's Superheroes" to the fullest and has the feel of an 80s movie like The Goonies or The Sandlot, which isn't a bad thing at all. It's hard not to love seeing Billy and Freddy run around and geek out over how cool it is to have superpowers, especially because I remember being a kid like Freddy once and it absolutely warmed my heart to see Billy develop his relationships with all of his new siblings and his new family.

I also really love that this movie wasn't afraid to get kind of Dark at times despite having the Shazamily all over it. Again, WB having horror directors like Sandberg do their superhero films was a GREAT choice because of the inventiveness they have and the way it allows for Billy to really have a chance to grow both as Billy Batson and as the Champion and face really ultimately uncomfortable and scary things.

Also I related to Mary a little too hard here. I was like "wow she's just like me" and then I was like "hmmmm i think i have Unresolved Personal Issues."

Birds of Prey (02/07/2020) --dir. Cathy Yan

I-- okay. Okay. Okay. First let me share a fun fact: this movie, I actually saw at an exclusive early screening event WB hosted for my university about two days before the movie released, and also this was the last movie I saw before the Global Panini happened.

Okay, so I think this is a GREAT Harley Quinn movie, especially for the Harley of the current era. I like that it's fun and vibrant and colorful and just lets itself be about women who want to beat people up and do so in the most over-the-top explosive sometimes gross way possible, and I also like that it doesn't shy away from Harley being a bad person in certain moments. Like, sure, she's very much the protagonist of this movie, but she's still kind of an ass to everyone around her, even to the people she likes like Cassandra. Also, again, Margot Robbie is just fun to watch in this role. She's probably one of my favorite actors of the 21st century so far (with I, Tonya being one of my favorite movies ever), and it's clear that she loves being Harley Quinn and has a ton of fun with the role.

As a Birds of Prey movie.....................................................that kind of just isn't what it is at all. I get Margot Robbie's logic from what I understand from the behind-the-scenes development of the movie-- the Birds of Prey from the comics are a group of badass women and they go kind of unsung for the wider audience and she wanted to highlight them, and that's cool and I agree with her-- I just don't think this movie accomplished that with Harley at the center of it.

I think there IS a version of this movie that accomplishes both things, and also lets Cassandra Cain ACTUALLY be Cassandra Cain and not just Pre-Transition Jason Todd, but I don't think that's the movie we got. The movie we got is a lot of fun! I loved it! I think it's fun to watch, it's fun to talk about, I always have a good time with it. But I don't know if I'd call it a Birds of Prey movie.

Wonder Woman 1984 (12/25/2020)-- dir. Patty Jenkins

*blows out a long breath of air*

I have a lot of..................complicated feelings about this movie.

I don't really have a problem with the cheesiness of it all-- like I said above, I think that's been a strong point for a DCEU that has been way more willing to lean into the cheesiness of comics in general compared to the MCU (especially EARLY MCU). It really does seek to emulate an 80s action movie with magic and action and big set pieces, and that's fine.

I also definitely GET what they were going for here. I can see all the moving pieces and the themes and everything, and I don't even necessarily think it's a bad thing or a bad story for Diana's character.

I just-- listen, as much as I love Chris Pine and as much as I loved WonderTrev in the first movie, I...think the BIGGEST mistake of this movie was framing it around WonderTrev.

Steve was a really important part of Diana's life, and I can see her struggling with her grief, but I just do NOT think it works to have Diana feeling isolated and lonely in Man's World SPECIFICALLY because Steve isn't there with her. Double especially because I think framing this movie around a tragic friendship to enemyhood between Diana and Barbara is so much more effective! A lot of the parts of Diana's character and mythos that make her unique and compelling like the Amazons end up lost in the Steve of it all, and that's SO sad to me because the idea of Diana having to contend with the greed and envy and gluttony for power among humanity is a GREAT story! I just wish it had been framed on a different idea.

Also it was lovely to see Lynda Carter in this movie. Fuck, don't show this post to her. I forgot she's here now. Fuck. Oh god the nerd embarrassment is hitting I'm sorry Lynda

Zack Snyder's Justice League (03/10/2021) --dir. Zack Snyder

Okay, so I WAS a Snyder Cut truther from the beginning. Partly for the meme, and partly because I hated Josstice League so much that I needed to believe there was something better out there, and to my credit (and everyone else's), I was right.

Just because the movie is better AS FAR AS THE STORY GOES though doesn't mean it's not full of the ZS stuff that I'm not a fan of, like a lot of the slomo and tacking on the Knightmare future ending at the end-- I always kind of hated the Knightmare concept and I'm glad we'll never get to see it actually. But DUDE this was SO GOOD.

I especially ADORE all the added content with Cyborg. Ray Fisher is a PHENOMENAL actor and Victor's storyline is absolutely the best part of the movie that makes even the slower parts worth it. Actually, let me tell you WHERE you can watch more stuff he's been in because he absolutely deserves a career boost after all the shit WB put him through:

He was in the HBO series True Detective's third season as a main character, which is obviously on HBO Max along with ZSJL.

He had a role in the ABC series Women of the Movement, which is about Mamie Till-Mobley and the murder of Emmett Till centered on her activism right after his murder. This one you can watch on Hulu or the ABC website itself.

He's also GOING to be in Rebel Moon, which is another Zack Snyder film that is (in theory?) going to be on Netflix in 2023, though I know Charlie Hunnam was just injured on set (yikes hate it not a fan) so it might end up pushed back.

Anyway, my point is this was ABSOLUTELY worth coming back and finishing it, and I'm SO glad it got to see the light of day even if it's kind of almost impossible to rewatch.

The Suicide Squad (08/05/2021)-- dir. James Gunn

Okay, okay, not even going to lie, I LOVED this one, and it's what made me so excited to see James Gunn named co-executive of the DC division at WB. I know James Gunn has a very specific style and approach to writing and directing that you either love or hate, so I can understand why this one isn't going to be everyone's favorite, but I for one had a BLAST with it.

First of all, I'm so glad Rick Flag was able to get a little glow-up before his death. I actually almost didn't think he was the same character, and in a lot of ways he really isn't, but a lot of this movie pulls from the older Ostrander run comics, and I can see a lot of that Rick in this Rick.

I also LOVE all the new characters and think they really demonstrate the power of a great ensemble movie. There's someone for everyone to root for and the healthy mix of newer faces and established names makes for a great cast.

Also I think the fact that this movie is SO strong in its writing is what makes Peacemaker work, but I'll talk more about him specifically in a minute. But like Wonder Woman (weirdly), there's an earnestness and heart at the core of the movie that makes the irreverence and more ridiculous elements work-- it has a larger-than-life conflict and villain and sense of style, but at its core it is really about people just trying to not die, both in the middle of battle and in a world that has REALLY shown them no sympathy.

Peacemaker (01/13/2022-present)-- written by James Gunn

James Gunn is really the guy you get to do your show if your first instinct about the main character is "who the fuck wants a show about THAT guy?"

I came into this show really, really, REALLY not sold on the concept, and then in the last episode, I was in TEARS by the end. I think that this show was, in the end, not just a fun little quarantine project James Gunn put together, but it really does provide a commentary and study on how to empathize with people who are NOT like you and who you DO NOT like, especially when they're willing to open that door to understanding and compassion.

Like, everybody on this team is a little bit of an asshole, yes even Leota, and that's why it WORKS. For a very silly show with a very silly premise and a REFUSAL to take itself too seriously, it does feel very grounded and realistic and like you could get a drink with just about everyone it sets you up to root for. We KNOW the Eleventh Street Kids. We ARE, to some degree, the Eleventh Street Kids. It's very cliche but it's also very true.

The core of this show, like many other James Gunn projects of late, is really about empathy over apathy, and that's what I think struck a chord with me. If you haven't given it a shot yet, I really strongly suggest you do.

Black Adam (10/21/2022)-- dir. Jaume Collet-Sera

Oh, FUCK yeah.

This movie reminded me of Aquaman in a lot of ways, in that there's a lot of deeper themes about colonization and the idea of hero idolatry that you CAN read for the film if you want, but it's also a great movie to just turn your brain off to and watch Mr. The Rock fly around and punch people.

Much like Birds of Prey, I don't know if I'd QUITE call this a Black Adam movie because they do a LOT of make him more front-end heroic-- in wrestling terms, the JSA is largely there to play jobber for Adam until things start heating up with Intergang and Sabbac for the main event-- but it is certainly a fun one.

And I do ADORE the JSA in this movie. Pierce Brosnan is a great Kent Nelson, Aldis Hodge is my FAVORITE Hawkman I've ever seen so far (sorry Falk Hentschel I'm sorry I'm so sorry sir but your writing was CW-standard), and I wanted to see a LOT more out of Cyclone. Atom Smasher was there too I guess idk for some reason he didn't really stick out for me but he was a good kid.

Also ADRIANNA TOMAZ IS THE STRONGEST BITCH IN THIS HOUSE. I felt kind of bad watching the movie because I miss Legends so much that I kept calling her Zari in my head, but in her closer-to-source form, she's FABULOUS. I want to be her when I grow up. She is 100% the real star of this movie and Sarah Shahi did an EXCELLENT job.

I think, now that I'm writing this in a post-Henry Cavill Again Superman world, the post-credits scene is unintentionally really really funny, but in the end, I had a good time with it and I'll look back on it fondly.

Conclusion, Literally

There are exactly four movies left to be released in the DCEU: Shazam 2, Blue Beetle, The Flash, and Aquaman 2.

After that, we really don't know what we're going to get. At least until James Gunn makes his early-next-year announcement (I know I will be waiting on the edge of my seat to find out if I am still getting my Black Canary movie).

When I went to finish this post, I added on Tomorrow Is Not Coming I Guess to the main title, but I also said that didn't really capture how I felt about the future of DC films. I don't really see this as the DCEU dying-- frankly, it never really got off the ground to begin with. After Josstice League flopped, the focus was way more on strong solo films than trying to build a connected universe, which I think actually made it stronger.

At the end of the day, this is the chance to put the characters and storytelling at the forefront, and that's why I have so much faith in the Gunn-Safran team for whatever is coming next. Safran has produced some really strong, character- heavy movies with James Wan and WB. James Gunn is a strong writer with a good head on his shoulders for how to best balance creative freedom for directors with not letting their voice overpower every part of the process.

For whatever comes next to work, it HAS to be a collaborative effort on all parts with no one voice overpowering the other. Tomorrow IS still coming. I have no idea what it will look like. But I know that when it comes, I will rise to meet it, and so will whoever is involved in what comes next.

Also James Gunn, if you're reading this, I will write and direct Booster Gold myself. This is not a joke. I am dead serious. I will do it. I have thoughts already and my DMs are open.

Anyway, share your thoughts freely. You know, without being an ass.

[falllpoutboy]

the flush is the spiritual successor to josstice league (2017) all the way down the corny jokes and scene set up