Credit: DC / Warner Bros. While Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, and Gal Gadot remain synonymous with their respective iconic superhero roles, Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman, the DC Extended Universe (DCEU) suddenly feels like a distant memory.
It’s not all that surprising, though, considering that the film series had more stink bombs in it than Fred and George’s practical joke shop Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes in Harry Potter.
DC Extended Universe Is Dead in the Water
Things got off to a promising start with Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel (2013), but by the time we arrived at the second film, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016), fans and critics weren’t impressed.
Only in recent years has the crossover sequel gained a newfound appreciation from fans. So much, in fact, that the petition “Restore the Snyder Cut” led to the official release of Zack Snyder’s Justice League (2021) as it was always intended to be, whose existence meant the eradication of the widely hated 2017 version–part-directed by Joss Whedon–from canon.
But that’s more than what we can say about other entries in this series. Wonder Woman 1984 (2020), Suicide Squad (2016), Shazam! (2019), Birds of Prey (2020), The Suicide Squad (2021), Black Adam (2022), Shazam! Fury of the Gods (2023), The Flash (2023), Blue Beetle (2023), and Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom (2023) are all pretty terrible.
As for the term “canon”–an interesting word to throw around the DCEU–while you could easily connect Wonder Woman (2017), Aquaman (2018), and Wonder Woman 1984 to the “Snyderverse”, seeing as those characters appear in Man of Steel, BvS, and Justice League (2021), everything else is a huge mess, largely due to the jarring shifts in overall style and tone between films, which make it impossible to view the series as a whole.
Either way, none of that matters anymore, because the DCEU as we know it is now defunct.
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DC Universe Reboot
The DCEU is being rebooted into the DC Universe (DCU), spearheaded by DC Studios’ co-CEOs James Gunn and Peter Safran. The first film in the new continuity will be SUPERMAN (2025), directed by Gunn and starring David Corenswet, followed by Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow (2026), and the Batman reboot titled The Brave and the Bold (TBA).
Gunn has already outlined the first wave of movies and television shows (which include animated installments) titled “Chapter 1: Gods and Monsters”. But the question is, do we even care? It’s hard to imagine being anywhere near as invested in this new timeline as much as we were during the early days of the Snyderverse. For starters, it feels too early.
Here’s a quick outline of the new DCU in film either way:
- SUPERMAN
- Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow
- The Authority
- The Brave and the Bold
- Swamp Thing
- Untitled Teen Titans film
- Untitled Bane and Deathstroke film
- Sgt. Rock
- Untitled Clayface film
We think you’ll agree that all the entries beyond The Brave and the Bold don’t exactly revolve around traditional DC characters. Fortunately, though, there’s another brand-new DC universe that does–even if its characters are nothing like their traditional counterparts.
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DC’s Absolute Universe Is All You Need
DC Comics‘ Absolute Universe is a brand-new comic book series that completely wipes the floor with the DCEU while raising the bar almost impossibly high for the upcoming DCU.
So far, the Absolute Universe is comprised of three separate stories, each led by one of the three most famous members of the Justice League: there’s “Absolute Batman,” “Absolute Superman,” and “Absolute Wonder Woman.”
But these aren’t your everyday Man of Tomorrow, Caped Crusader, and Amazonian Warrior — these are shockingly bold reimaginings of the iconic characters.
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How the Absolute Universe Differs From Others
We won’t get into spoilers, but in a nutshell, Bruce Wayne is no longer a billionaire bachelor playboy–he’s a city engineer who hails from Gotham City’s Crime Alley, Kal-El/Superman seems to be missing his alias, Clark Kent, which likely has something to do with him arriving on Earth as an adult and not a baby, and Diana Prince wasn’t raised in Themyscira–she was raised in the burning fires of Hell. Is that enough to convince you to give it a read?
“Absolute Batman,” “Absolute Wonder Woman,” and Absolute Superman” are now two issues’ deep, with third issues set to release on December 18, December 25, and January 1, respectively.
Each series will collect five issues, but that won’t mark the end of the Absolute Universe as other new iterations of famous DC heroes are incoming, with “Absolute Flash,” “Absolute Green Lantern,” and “Absolute Martian Manhunter” set to arrive in March, 2025.
James Gunn’s SUPERMAN releases on July 11, 2025.
Have you read any Absolute Universe stories yet? Let us know in the comments!