DCEU: The 10 Canceled Movies That Would Have Changed Everything

The DC Extended Universe continues to expand, with the likes of The Flash, The Suicide Squad, and Black Adam arriving within the next year, and the recently-released Zack Snyder’s Justice League arriving to restore the director’s full vision. However, it hasn’t always a smooth ride for DC movies or fans.

There have been many canceled DC movies over the years, and many of them showed tremendous promise. They were canned for various reasons, but no matter if they were good or bad, if they had been released, they would have changed the future of the DCEU forever.

10 Ben Affleck’s The Batman

Shortly after the release of Batman V Superman,  Warner Bros. confirmed that Affleck would be co-writing, directing, and starring in a solo movie tentatively titled The Batman. As set up by the end of Justice League, it would have featured Batman going up against Deathstroke (Joe Manganiello) and The Riddler would have featured too.

If it happened, not only would Matt Reeves’ upcoming The Batman movie and GCPD series not be happening, but the DC shared universe would be in a much stronger place. A Batman movie is a big deal, after all.

9 Superman Lives

The tragedy of the ’90s Superman reboot is well documented. Following Batman Returns, Tim Burton was hired by Warner Bros for a new Superman movie starring Nicholas Cage as the Man of Steel. Titled either Superman Reborn or Superman Lives, the movie would loosely follow the events of the popular “Death of Superman” graphic novel and would feature Brainiac, Lex Luthor, and maybe even Doomsday.

It got stuck in development hell, which ultimately leads to Superman Returns happening instead, and that movie’s failure in turn leading to Man of Steel and the whole DCEU. If Superman Lives had released and been a success, the DCEU may not have appeared the way it did.

8 Cyborg

Way back in 2014, Warner Bros. revealed its ambitious plans for the DCEU following Batman V Superman. It included two parts of Justice League and solo movies for all the established heroes. Aquaman and Wonder Woman already happened and The Flash is coming next year, however, Cyborg has been completely canceled – possibly because Warner Bros didn’t have confidence in it and due to Ray Fisher’s high-profile allegations against the studio.

If the Cyborg movie had been completed, it likely would have seen the introduction of Victor Stone’s main adversary Grid, but also it would have been the first DCEU movie to have lead by a Black actor.

7 Justice League Mortal

Around 2007, before the release of The Dark Knight, Warner Bros. made its first proper attempt to make a Justice League movie. Titled Justice League Mortal, it was planned to release in ‘Summer 2009’ and was to be directed by Mad Max series creator, George Miller. Maxwell Lord was planned as the main villain, and John Stewart’s Green Lantern would be part of the team (played by Common, who would later appear in Suicide Squad).

Ultimately, the Writers Strike and the success of The Dark Knight persuaded Warner Bros. to cancel the movie, meaning that the push to finally create a Justice League movie would drive the DCEU forward.

6 New Gods

Shortly after Justice League, Selma director Ava DuVernay signed on to direct a movie that was based on the New Gods series, created by comics legend Jack Kirby (which Darkseid, Steppenwolf, and Apokolips is all a part of).

In fact, New Gods was intended to directly expand upon the backstory of Darkseid and the world hinted at in Zack Snyder’s original cut of Justice League. Shortly after the recent release of Zack Snyder’s Justice League, Warner Bros announced it was pulling the plug on New Gods, meaning that there are no movies featuring the DC universe’s greatest villain, Darkseid, in production.

5 Green Lantern 2

Around 2010, things were looking very promising for the Green Lantern movie, starring Ryan Reynolds. It wouldn’t come out until 2011, but Warner Bros. was so confident in its success that they commissioned a sequel, with plans for a trilogy that would jump-start a whole DC shared universe and possibly connect to the upcoming Man of Steel.

The first movie teased several elements that would be important to this shared universe, including Amanda Waller (Angela Bassett) and Sinestro (Mark Strong) wielding the Yellow Lantern ring. Unfortunately, the movie was a critical and commercial failure, so Green Lantern never became the start of the DCEU.

4 Harley Quinn Vs The Joker / Gotham City Sirens

Hot on the heels of Suicide Squad‘s success, several movies featuring Harley Quinn as the lead were announced by Warner Bros – with the assumption that Suicide Squad 2 was also in the pipeline.

Cathy Yan’s Birds of Prey was the first to come along, but two others were in development: Gotham City Sirens, directed by Suicide Squad‘s David Ayer, and Harley Quinn Vs The Joker, which would bring back Jared Leto’s Joker. If these movies were real, then the upcoming The Suicide Squad might not be coming out this year.

3 Batman Vs Superman

Between Batman & Robin (in 1997) and Batman Begins (in 2005), there were no major DC movies released, but a lot was planned. By far, the biggest was Batman Vs Superman, which would have come out before Batman Begins and Superman Returns, and over ten years before Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice.

The movie was set after the death of many of Batman and Superman’s closest allies, and had Lex Luthor concocting a plot to get them to fight each other. Christian Bale was actually approached to play Batman, with Josh Hartnett as Superman. Rather ironically, Warner Bros. eventually canceled the movie for being “too dark” – although not before Will Smith’s I Am Legend threw in a teaser poster.

2 Mitchell & Lord’s The Flash

While Cyborg was canceled without finding a director, none of the members of the Justice League have had as difficult a time getting to the screen as Ezra Miller’s The Flash movie. Even ignoring the fact that Warner Bros has been trying to get a Flash movie into theaters since the late ’80s, the DCEU version has gone through multiple directors and was originally due March 2018, mere months after Justice League.

Originally down to be directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, the duo behind the likes of The LEGO Batman Movie and Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse, the pair sadly dropped out. Now, years later, and The Flash has turned into a crazy movie that could possibly reboot the whole DCEU.

1 Justice League 2

By far the biggest casualty of the DCEU and the one that fans of Zack Snyder’s Justice League lament the loss of the most is the planned Justice League 2 – and possibly a third movie too if the initial plan was to be believed. Warner Bros commissioned Zack Snyder to shepherd the DCEU, along with at least two Justice League movies.

However, following the lukewarm critical reaction to Batman V Superman, Warner Bros. got cold feet and pulled Justice League back to one movie. The studio then essentially began dismantling the “Snyderverse.” once Snyder left. Zack Snyder’s Justice League and the storyboards left behind showed off an epic tale that would have linked all the DCEU movies, but sadly it was not to be.