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- "I want all the other directors of the other films to be able to stretch their legs and do what they want, but at the same time there is a big interconnected universe."
- ―Zack Snyder in a 2015 interview[src]
The Justice League and its heroes and villains are the main stories that the DC Extended Universe centers around.
The DC Films shared universe franchise, most popularly referred to as the DC Extended Universe[1][2] (DCEU) or the Snyderverse, is a collection of interconnected films and other media based on characters that appear in publications by DC Comics, produced by Warner Bros. and DC Films. The universe largely spans films, though many tie-in media have been produced, such as comics, novels, guidebooks, short films, and video games.
The DCEU was launched with Zack Snyder's Man of Steel in 2013, which was followed by Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016), Suicide Squad (2016), Wonder Woman (2017), Justice League (2017), Aquaman (2018), Shazam! (2019), Birds of Prey (2020), and Wonder Woman 1984 (2020). The main film franchise will continue with The Suicide Squad in 2021, Black Adam, The Flash and Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom in 2022, and Shazam! Fury of the Gods in 2023, and there are other DCEU film projects in various stages of development. The DCEU expanded outside of major theatrical releases in 2021 with the release of Zack Snyder's Justice League on HBO Max, and the television series Peacemaker, a spin-off of The Suicide Squad, will premiere on the streaming service in 2022.
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Etymology
The name "DC Extended Universe," while widely accepted as the name of the film franchise that started with Man of Steel in 2013, has had a strange and often inconsistent history in how it is used by fans, the media, and the filmmakers behind actual DCEU content.
When it was announced that Man of Steel would be the start of a new cinematic universe for DC Entertainment, this new universe was popularly referred to by fans and the media as the "DC Cinematic Universe" (DCCU), keeping with the naming convention of the already established Marvel Cinematic Universe. On July 1, 2015, the term "DC Extended Universe™" was jokingly coined by Entertainment Weekly writer Keith Staskiewicz in an article detailing EW's first look at Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.[3] This term and the abbreviation "DCEU" quickly spread among the media and fans, thinking of it as the official name of the franchise. Later that July, Zack Snyder himself would refer to the franchise as the DC Extended Universe when commenting about future plans for an interconnected universe with different filmmakers helming projects.[4] In September 2017, officials at Warner Bros. and DC confirmed to Vulture writer Abraham Reisman that the term was not used internally and was not considered official.[5] In 2016, the franchise was called the "Justice League universe" by Geoff Johns and Kevin Smith in the TV special DC Films Presents: The Dawn of the Justice League.
During the DC Films panel at San Diego Comic-Con 2018, a video banner displayed the words "Welcome to the Worlds of DC" after showcasing some of the studio's upcoming films. As a result of this, some media outlets and fans interpreted this as DC officially naming their shared universe "Worlds of DC," however this would not hold true.
In March 2020 during a panel at C2E2, DC Comics publisher Jim Lee officially referred to the franchise as the DC Extended Universe, and the name was seemingly set in stone when a "DC Extended Universe" category was included with the launch of HBO Max. However, HBO Max has since pulled the name from their platform for unknown reasons.
Around the release of Zack Snyder's Justice League, fans and cast and crew widely began referring to Zack Snyder's main Justice League story within the DC Extended Universe as the "Snyderverse" (alternatively spelled SnyderVerse) and demanded for more stories in this anthology with the hashtag #RestoreTheSnyderVerse on social media.[6]
Films
Released films
|
Film |
US release date | Director(s) | Screenwriter(s) | Story by | Producer(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Man of Steel | June 14, 2013 | Zack Snyder | David S. Goyer | David S. Goyer & Christopher Nolan | Charles Roven, Christopher Nolan, Emma Thomas, and Deborah Snyder |
| Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice |
March 25, 2016 | Chris Terrio & David S. Goyer | Charles Roven & Deborah Snyder | ||
| Suicide Squad | August 5, 2016 | David Ayer | Charles Roven & Richard Suckle | ||
| Wonder Woman | June 2, 2017 | Patty Jenkins | Allan Heinberg | Zack Snyder & Allan Heinberg and Jason Fuchs | Charles Roven, Deborah Snyder, Zack Snyder and Richard Suckle |
| Justice League | November 17, 2017 | Zack Snyder and Joss Whedon | Chris Terrio & Joss Whedon | Chris Terrio & Zack Snyder | Charles Roven, Deborah Snyder, Jon Berg and Geoff Johns |
| Aquaman | December 21, 2018 | James Wan | David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick & Will Beall | James Wan & Geoff Johns | Peter Safran & Rob Cowan |
| Shazam! | April 5, 2019 | David F. Sandberg | Henry Gayden | Henry Gayden & Darren Lemke | Peter Safran |
| Birds of Prey (And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) |
February 7, 2020 | Cathy Yan | Christina Hodson | Margot Robbie, Bryan Unkeless and Sue Kroll | |
| Wonder Woman 1984 | December 25, 2020 | Patty Jenkins | Patty Jenkins & Geoff Johns and Dave Callaham | Patty Jenkins & Geoff Johns | Charles Roven, Deborah Snyder, Zack Snyder, Patty Jenkins, Gal Gadot and Stephen Jones |
| Zack Snyder's Justice League | March 18, 2021 | Zack Snyder | Chris Terrio | Chris Terrio & Zack Snyder and Will Beall | Charles Roven and Deborah Snyder |
Future films
| Film | US release date | Director(s) | Screenwriter(s) | Story by | Producer(s) | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Suicide Squad | August 5, 2021[7] | James Gunn[8] | Charles Roven and Peter Safran | Unreleased | ||
| Black Adam | July 29, 2022[9] | Jaume Collet-Serra | Adam Sztykiel, Rory Haines,[10] and Sohrab Noshirvani[10] | Dwayne Johnson, Hiram Garcia, Dany Garcia, Beau Flynn, and Scott Sheldon | Post-production | |
| The Flash | November 4, 2022[11] | Andy Muschietti | Christina Hodson | Michael Disco & Barbara Muschietti | Filming | |
| Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom | December 16, 2022[12] | James Wan[12] | David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick and Jason Momoa[12] | James Wan & Peter Safran | ||
| Shazam! Fury of the Gods | June 2, 2023[11] | David F. Sandberg | Henry Gayden and Chris Morgan[13] | Peter Safran | ||
Other films
- Main article: Unrealized and other DCEU projects
| Film | US release date | Director(s) | Written by | Producer(s) | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blue Beetle | TBA | Angel Manuel Soto[14] | Gareth Dunnet-Alcocer[15] | Zev Foreman | Pre-production |
| Batgirl[16] | TBA | Adil El Arbi & Bilall Fallah[16] | Christina Hodson[16] | Kristin Burr | |
| The Amazons[17] | TBA[18] | In development | |||
| Wonder Woman 3 | TBA[19] | Patty Jenkins[20] | Patty Jenkins | TBA | |
| Zatanna[21] | TBA | TBA | Emerald Fennell[21] | TBA | |
TV series
Future TV series
| TV series | Season(s) | Episodes | Originally released | Showrunner(s) | Status | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First released | Last released | Network | |||||
| Peacemaker | 1 | 8 | January 2022[22] | TBA | HBO Max | James Gunn | Post-production |
Short films
Tie-in
- Etta's Mission (2017)
- Black Adam precursor (2020)
Promotional
Comics
- Man of Steel Prequel (2013)
- Warner Bros. Pictures Presents Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016)
- General Mills Presents Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016)
- Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice - Upstairs/Downstairs (2016)
- Suicide Blonde (2016)
- Mercedes-Benz Presents: Justice League (2017)
- Superhero Hooky (2019)
- Wonder Woman 1984 1 (2020)
- Shazam! Thundercrack (2022)
Books
Novels
- Man of Steel: The Early Years: Junior Novel (2013)
- Man of Steel: The Official Movie Novelization (2013)
- Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice – Cross Fire (2016)
- Suicide Squad: The Official Movie Novelization (2016)
- Wonder Woman: The Junior Novel (2017)
- Wonder Woman: The Official Movie Novelization (2017)
- Aquaman: The Junior Novel (2018)
- Aquaman: Undertow (2018)
- Shazam!: The Junior Novel (2019)
- Wonder Woman 1984: The Junior Novel (2020)
Companion books
- Man of Steel: Friends and Foes (2013)
- Man of Steel: Reusable Sticker Book (2013)
- Man of Steel: Superman Saves Smallville (2013)
- Man of Steel: Superman's Superpowers (2013)
- Man of Steel: Superman Takes Flight (2013)
- Man of Steel: The Fate of Krypton (2013)
- Man of Steel: Sheet Music Selections from the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack: Piano Solos (2013)
- Guide to the Caped Crusader/Guide to the Man of Steel (2016)
- Time Out Shortlist Gotham and Metropolis (2016)
- Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice: Tech Manual (2016)
- Batman v Superman Annual 2017 (2016)
- Justice League: Sticker Activity Book (2017)
- Wonder Woman: I Am an Amazon Warrior (2017)
- Wonder Woman: Meet the Heroes (2017)
- Justice League: Sticker Album
- Justice League: Mega Sticker (2017)
- Justice League: The Official Collector's Edition (2017)
- Justice League: The Official Guide (2018)
- Aquaman: Arthur's Guide to Atlantis (2018)
- Shazam!: A Shazam Showdown (2019)
- Shazam!: Becoming Shazam (2019)
- Shazam!: Freddy's Guide to Super Hero-ing (2019)
- Wonder Woman 1984: Destined for Greatness (2020)
- Wonder Woman 1984: Meet Wonder Woman (2020)
- Wonder Woman 1984: Truth, Love & Wonder (2020)
- Wonder Woman 1984: Colouring Adventures (2020)
- Wonder Woman 1984: Ultimate Colouring Book (2020)
- Wonder Woman 1984: Super Sticker Book (2020)
Art books
- Man of Steel: Inside the Legendary World of Superman (2013)
- Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice: The Art of the Film (2016)
- Suicide Squad: Behind the Scenes with the Worst Heroes Ever (2016)
- Wonder Woman: The Art and Making of the Film (2017)
- Justice League: The Art of the Film (2017)
- The Art and Making of Aquaman (2018)
Soundtracks
- Man of Steel (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) (2013)
- Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) (2016)
- Suicide Squad: The Album (2016)
- Suicide Squad (Original Motion Picture Score) (2016)
- Wonder Woman (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) (2017)
- Justice League (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) (2017)
- Aquaman (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) (2018)
- Shazam! (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) (2019)
- Birds of Prey: The Album (2020)
- Birds of Prey: And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn (Original Motion Picture Score) (2020)
- Wonder Woman 1984 (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) (2020)
- Wonder Woman 1984 (Sketches from the Soundtrack) (2021)
- Zack Snyder's Justice League (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) (2021)
Video games
- Kellogg's Man of Steel (2013)
- Man of Steel (2013)
- Man of Steel: Hero's Flight (2013)
- Batman v Superman: Who Will Win (2016)
- Suicide Squad: Special Ops (2016)
- Wonder Woman: Rise of the Warrior (2017)
- Justice League VR: The Complete Experience (2017)
- Wonder Woman: The Themyscira Experience (2020)
Newspapers
- METROPOLIS UNDER CONSTANT ATTACK! (2013)
- BATMAN OR SUPERMAN? (2016)
- CORPORATE LOBBYING SCANDAL (2016)
- A CITY OF NEIGHBORHOODS
- ARCTIC ADVENTURE MYSTERY MAN
- GOTHAM CRIME RATE SOARS
Theme park attractions
- Suicide Squad: Six Flags Fright Fest Experience (2016, 2017)
Trivia
- While the DC Extended Universe films are not impacted by The CW's Arrowverse, Ezra Miller's version of Barry Allen did make a brief appearance during the fourth part of the Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover event.
- Originally, Green Lantern was to serve as the start of the DC Extended Universe. However, due to the film's poor box office and its negative critical reception, these plans were scrapped.
References
