The DCEU has become a crisis of Warner Bros.’ own making

One of the most curious details to come out of recent reports was the announcement of a 10-year plan for Warner Bros. films by David Zaslav. One might think that Warner Bros. was already in the middle of a years-long effort to build out a cinematic universe of superhero movies. One would have to have forgotten or blocked out the DCEU to get that impression.

The new guard at Warner Bros. Discovery wants to distance itself from the current iteration of the DCEU. It is going to be very difficult to do so because of a number of reasons, including the upcoming release of Black Adam and the fact that the studio still seems very bullish about its upcoming feature film.

The DCEU felt like it was racing towards a crisis event that could break the franchise. What has become clear over the past few weeks is just how fraught the DCEU's future is, and how the studio may not be working with it.

Warner Bros.

There were a number of issues with the DCEU before Warner Bros. took Discovery's name. Justice League was an attempt to catch up to the MCU that put too much faith in the power of people's familiarity with characters like Wonder Woman, which didn't really have a presence in the DCEU

Justice League made a bit of money, but it was not the financial success that Warner Bros. wanted. In the wake of the disappointing box office performance of the movie, Warner Bros. opened itself up to the idea that the traditional DC Trinity of Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman may not be needed.

It has a lot to do with the fact that Black Adam will headline his own film before so many other things. Sometimes it is odd to think about Black Adam, an existing and finally escaping development hell. It seemed as if Warner Bros. might have decided to make big, bold, standalone movies meant to win viewers over with their distinct voices after seeing The Batman and The Joker.

Warner Bros. Discovery is planning to keep chasing after the white whale despite the fact that both The Batman and The Joker will get sequels. Black Adam's post-credits scene was added by Warner Bros. Discovery in order to establish the anti-hero as a more significant power player in the DCEU.

Warner Bros.

Black Adam should be connected to the DCEU in order to fight his gang of child nemeses.

As Hollywood settles into its current addiction to multiverses, the fate of the DCEU is at risk because of its reliance on the character of the same name. Warner Bros. may just straight up not like making comic book movies, the possibility of director Andy Muschietti's flash feature using the multiverse to link Warner Bros' multitude of disparate comics adaptations together is a good one. One imagines that using The Flash that way could lay the groundwork for a completely new direction for Warner Bros. films.

The allegations of assault and grooming of children were leveled against Miller, who showed up for the movie's additional photography earlier this summer before being arrested. Warner Bros.' reasons for not immediately wanting to hit the brakes on a tentpole movie years in the making are easy to understand. Warner Bros. might be willing to completely disregard the actor's behavior in favor of putting The Speedster first.

It's clear that studio leadership thinks there's too much riding on the film Ultimately, that may be the case, but that sort of strategy-first, substance-second approach to franchise building is exactly what brought Warner Bros.

At this late stage in the superhero movie game, Warner Bros. Discovery needs to commit itself to a cohesive vision for its DC projects in order to make movies that are the same as those made by other studios.