In the DC Universe, the Justice League is the biggest team of them all, the greatest heroes brought together to fight the biggest menaces. In the DCEU, this is also their role, as the team came together to battle the threat of an invasion from the planet Apokolips. While their introduction would change a lot about the DCEU, the question needs to be asked—does the DCEU need them?
The DCEU has been through a lot of changes over its existence and those changes make the question of whether the Justice League is necessary very interesting. Both from an in-universe and real-world standpoint, the Justice League may be surplus to requirements in the DCEU.
10 The Relative Failure Of The Movie
Justice League was a troubled production, to say the least. Zack Synder’s vision for the DCEU was already being derided by critics and audiences, who were used to the MCU approach to superhero cinema- lighter, predictable fare that banked more on humor than grim looks at what it means to be a superhero. Snyder ended up leaving Justice League, with Joss Whedon taking over and the resulting movie was a mess that underperformed in every way.
With the release of the Snyder Cut, people are talking about the movie again but it’s doubtful that anyone will be clamoring for a sequel.
9 They’re Not Very Inspiring
In the comics, the Justice League are the most inspiring heroes in the DC Universe. Everyone looks up to them and wants to be a part of the team. They’re the heroes that define heroism. However, the DCEU is a very different place for a lot of reasons and those changes sort of invalidate why the team is so important to everyone else.
The way things are going, no one is going to want to be a member of the team. They sort of just came together to fight a big threat but they aren’t even the first team in the DCEU- that’s the Suicide Squad. There’s nothing very inspiring about the team and that’s a big reason why they aren’t needed.
8 Everyone Would Kind Of Be Scared Of Batman
One of the arcs of the character arcs of Justice League was Batman learning not to be so dark and grim all the time. While the movie sort of succeeded in this, the only people who really know about it are the members of the team. To the general public, Batman is still the psychopath in Gotham who brands people and doesn’t care about body counts.
Why would anyone want to join a team with Batman on it? Why would the general public trust a team with Batman on it? Sure, Batman in the comics is scary but he’s still sort of approachable. DCEU Batman isn’t this way at all.
7 The Shared Universe Approach Is Kind Of Dead In The DCEU
The failure of the early DCEU changed a lot of plans. Movies like Wonder Woman, Aquaman, and Shazam were all successful but each one sort of stayed in their own corner, eschewing the shared universe aspect that made the MCU so successful. This is actually sort of old-school DC, since originally Silver Age DC Comics didn’t have much overlap, with each book sort of existing on its own.
It’s been announced that the DCEU would move away from the shared universe model, which pretty much completely invalidates the need for the Justice League in future films.
6 Batman And Superman Aren’t Going To Be The Same Actors
With Robert Pattinson taking over as Batman and Henry Cavil’s future as Superman unknown, a big strike against the Justice League is how different two of the biggest characters are going to be. Sure, a Flashpoint movie could explain the changes but is that really the best thing to do so soon? The DCEU has been defined by a lot of bad decisions, some made by the characters and some by the people behind the camera, and rebooting everything already would definitely be a bad one.
Changing some of the actors but keeping others would be such a weird choice and rebooting the universe would be tantamount to admitting failure, which is never a good sign.
5 Superman’s Return To Life Would Freak Everyone Out
In comics, resurrection is kind of a normal thing but it wouldn’t be in the DCEU. Superman’s return to life is probably one of the biggest and weirdest things to happen that anyone can think of. The way his body works isn’t as well known, so most people probably think he’s some kind of weird zombie and this would make him, and the League, hard to trust.
The rationalization that he’s just an alien wouldn’t really help people either- they’ve already seen how far he was willing to go when he was alive, so they’d be even more frightened of him if they considered him some kind of weird undead monster and that would affect the way everyone saw the Justice League.
4 It’s Kind Of Hard To See What They Could Do Next
The biggest problem with starting an invasion by the most powerful villain and his army is where does one go in a sequel? It’s going to be impossible to really raise the stakes beyond that for the next movie. The Justice League has literally faced a dark god and his terrible armies- everything after this would be child’s play.
The MCU built up to Thanos, which was the right thing to. The DCEU pretty much threw the biggest threat at the League immediately and it kind of makes it hard to justify making another movie with them, unless it’s just going to be them going up against Darkseid and his forces again.
3 The Suicide Squad Is Around And Can Take Care Of Most Things
The Suicide Squad is canonically the first team in the DCEU, which just feels very weird. With the new Suicide Squad movie coming out, showcasing an expanded roster, the question is why does anyone even need the Justice League? The first Suicide Squad team was able to beat a Justice League caliber threat with a team of mostly normal humans, kind of invalidating the League.
The Suicide Squad has proven to be a rather efficient team, one that can tackle all kinds of threats, something that will only get easier with a larger roster. With a team like them around, it’s kind of hard to justify the existence of the Justice League.
2 It’s A Poisoned Brand
Even if the Snyder cut is a massive hit and makes people re-think their opinion on the movie, the Justice League is a poisoned brand with the general public and that’s going to hurt its future immensely. Most people already have made up their minds about it and aren’t even going to give the Snyder cut a chance. This bodes poorly for the brand’s future.
Even if every DCEU movie from now is a total success, the Justice League is still going to be a brand that has a lot of baggage attached to it and most of it is bad. Most would rather forget about it and move on than bring it back.
1 There’s Not Enough Dangerous Villains To Justify Its Existence
The Justice League needs villains to fight and there’s a paucity of villains worth fighting in the DCEU. Most of the villains are second-stringers and the ones that aren’t can easily be dealt with by the heroes they fight. Sure, a Legion of Doom team could arise, but even then, there’s no need for an actual Justice League- everyone can just team up and take them down, then go their separate ways.
There’s just no real reason to keep the team around as an extant entity in the DCEU. There are not enough villains for them to fight and just because a bunch of heroes team up, it doesn’t mean they have to be called the Justice League.
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