When Warner Bros. were first putting together the DC Extended Universe, their interconnected movie franchise following the superhero characters they owned the rights to in response to Marvel’s success with their own cinematic universe, they jumped the gun a little bit. Rather than feel out all their characters with solo origin stories before teaming them up like Marvel did, they rushed into an ensemble movie that ended up being one of the biggest box office disappointments of all time.
At first, Warner Bros. expected Batman and Superman to be their most popular characters, so they burst onto the shared movie-verse scene with a Superman origin story, followed by Batman fighting Superman, followed by the whole Justice League team getting crammed together. As it turned out, the most popular characters in the franchise would be Wonder Woman and Aquaman, who have had the warmest reception from both fans and critics.
Moviegoers are happier with less connected, more standalone movies in the DC-verse. Marvel has us all on our toes, keeping up with all their movies’ connected tissue. We can’t hope to keep up with two. Unfortunately, as the DCEU has been fazing out its interconnectivity and all the characters the audiences didn’t love, a lot of story arcs and plotlines have been forgotten about or abandoned. So, here are DCEU: 20 Storylines They Completely Dropped (For Some Reason).
The Knightmare Sequence
dream sequences like the Knightmare scene by the wayside.
What Drives The Parademons?
At first, it seems that the Parademons attack people based on fear. They seem to be able to sense fear, and that’s what drives them. At the end of Justice League, they sense that Steppenwolf is scared of Superman and attack him. But they left the Flash alone, and his whole character arc in that movie was that he was always frightened. Whenever he was near any signs of danger, he got all timid and afraid and refused to go near. Yet, the Parademons didn’t even give him a ing glance. So, what really drives the Parademons? It seems as though the DCEU has given up on trying to explain them.
Carol Ferris’ Appearance In Man Of Steel
Near the end of Green Lantern Corps movie is still a few years away, with no set release date or cast. And there’s no guarantee that Hal Jordan will even be the DCEU’s Green Lantern; they might go with John Stewart instead. Even if they do go with Hal Jordan, they’ll probably just recast the role. In the earlier DCEU movies, Carol was played by unknown actor Christina Wren. No offense to Wren, but the female lead in a DCEU blockbuster needs to be a big star like Amy Adams or Gal Gadot or Amber Heard.
Superman’s Official Records
Kal-El came crashing to Earth on a Kansas farm and was raised as a human boy named Clark by Jonathan and Martha Kent. But since he’s a Kryptonian alien and not a U.S. citizen, he doesn’t have a birth certificate or a port or a social security number. So, how did he manage to get a job at a newspaper? He could’ve gotten some fake documentation, but that would need to be explored, and it seems as though it’s not going to be. It was quickly skipped over in Man of Steel and, despite the many flashback sequences involving Clark Kent and his adoptive Earth parents in later DCEU movies, we haven’t seen any elaboration on this yet – and probably never will.
Cyborg’s True Origin Story
In Batman v Superman, before Superman’s “ing,” Bruce Wayne watches a video clip of Cyborg in action. However, in Justice League, we find out his origin story involved one of the Mother Boxes, which didn’t light up until after Superman “ed away.” The judging fan responses to decide their every move.
Deadshot’s Relationship With His Daughter
The underlying conflict of Deadshot’s character in Deadshot is being written out completely and Elba is playing someone else, so this will probably never have any emotional resolution.
Utopia Casino
In the background of a shot in Man of Steel, Utopia Casino can be seen in the Metropolis skyline. In the comics, this is run by ruthless business mogul Tony Gallo, who Perry White grows suspicious of and sends Lois Lane to investigate. Eventually, Gallo gets a hold of a Kryptonite Ring, which gets him involved with Superman. This would be a great storyline for a solo Superman movie, but there doesn’t seem to be any of them on the horizon. At one point, Warner Bros. was committed to giving Man of Steel a sequel – even when Supes was thought to have perished between Batman v Superman and Justice League – but this may have been called off, since it seems like Henry Cavill is leaving the franchise and its focus is readjusting.
Society’s Attitude Towards Superman
After Superman tore up Metropolis, resulting in a ton of civilian casualties, in Man of Steel, he was pretty much universally maligned in the world of the DCEU. He was protested and taken to court. But then after the events of Batman v Superman, when he perished at the hands of Doomsday, it was a global tragedy. He was mourned by the world. Everyone missed him. He was ed as a hero. So, he was hated for destroying a city trying to eliminate one alien villain, but celebrated for destroying another city trying to eliminate another alien villain? The world’s attitude towards Superman needs to be explained further, but it probably won’t.
What Are The Mother Boxes?
The Mother Boxes seem to be a MacGuffin copied from the MCU. The DCEU producers saw that they had a collection of indiscriminate plot devices to bring their characters together, the Infinity Stones, and so they invented their own, the Mother Boxes. But while the rules of the Infinity Stones have been pretty rigidly explained, the rules of the Mother Boxes remain pretty vague. They served their purpose in Justice League and then got swept under the rug. If there aren’t rules and origins outlined, then it cheapens the story – they’re just a bunch of powerful things that give the movie an inciting incident to kick off the action.
Lex Luthor’s Motivations
Many critics made unflattering comparisons between Jesse Eisenberg’s portrayal of Lex Luthor and Heath Ledger’s portrayal of the Joker. But the thing is, Lex is nothing like the Joker. The Joker is an agent of chaos; Lex is cold and calculating. The problem with that is that the DCEU’s Lex’s motivations don’t make sense. He seems to want to rid the world of superheroes, because he thinks they’re a danger to the world – but he creates a super-powered monster to do that, and that’s way more dangerous to the world than any of the superheroes. We should get some big grand plan reveal, but it doesn’t seem like that’ll be happening any time soon.
