The DCEU has changed shape dramatically since the first slate was announced in 2014. By 2011, Warner Bros. had come to the conclusion that a superhero shared universe was a surefire winner. It made sense; the Marvel Cinematic Universe was a blockbuster hit, and unlike Marvel, Warner Bros. still retained the film rights for all their most famous heroes. Warner Bros. execs were captivated by the idea of crossovers featuring big-name superheroes like Batman and Superman.

All eyes turned to DC seemed amused at that, ing in with the fun on social media.

Related: The DCEU Is Dead, Long Live The DCEU

But another superhero film was already in the works: Zack Snyder's Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice was going to release and truly set the stage for the shared universe's future.

The DCEU's Original Slate

Justice League 2017 team wallpaper

In 2014, Warner Bros. confirmed expected release dates for DCEU movies that ran all the way through to 2020. They initially didn't give titles for all of these, but many details were penciled in over the next two years; it was only later that the full slate was revealed, and here's what it looked like:

Related: Snyder's Justice League Trilogy Plan: What Kevin Smith Got Right (& Wrong)

At the heart of the crosses at the end of the Doomsday battle. At first the signs were promising that Warner Bros. would pull this off; David Ayer signed up for Suicide Squad in September 2014, writing a script in just six weeks because the film already had a release date. But then things began to change.

What Changed On The DCEU's Slate

Justice League and Ben Affleck as Batman

That was the initial slate, and the first few DCEU movies all landed pretty much on schedule. But the popular and critical reception to Batman V Superman led Warner Bros. to reconsider Snyder's five-film arc, with Justice League becoming a standalone that resurrected Superman and wrapped up the story. The sequels appear to have been completely ditched, with Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins recently saying she thinks there need to be a lot more solo films before DC tries a team-up movie again. She's probably right.

In 2015, Warner Bros. announced that Ben Affleck would write, direct, and star in The Batman, but he's gradually pulled back from the DCEU, with Matt Reeves taking over as writer and director; Warner Bros. is currently looking for a new Batman. Meanwhile, other Justice League spinoffs have found themselves delayed, with even Aquaman pushed back a little. The Flash and Cyborg are currently in development hell and don't even appear on the current slate. At the same time, though, the studio has pivoted to push a number of new entries; sequels to Suicide Squad and Wonder Woman, and a spinoff starring Margot Robbie's Harley Quinn, in particular. Surprisingly, projects starring lesser-known heroes like Aquaman and Shazam have become a priority, even as the A-list superheroes dropped off Warner's radar.

Page 2 of 2: What Is The New DCEU Slate?

Wonder Woman 1984

The New DCEU Release Date and Schedule

The current DCEU slate looks very different to the one announced back in 2014, and that's understandable; things change, but it's the behind the scenes reaction to these changes that caused fans to worry. But needless to say, the DCEU is very much on track to continue pushing out movies relatively quickly, after taking more than a year break between Justice League and Aquaman.

  • Man of Steel - June 10, 2013
  • Batman V Superman - March 20, 2016
  • Suicide Squad - August 1, 2016
  • Wonder Woman - June 2, 2017
  • Justice League - November 13, 2017
  • Aquaman - December 21, 2018
  • Shazam! - April 5, 2019
  • Birds of Prey - February 7, 2020
  • Wonder Woman 1984 - June 5, 2020
  • The Batman - June 25, 2021
  • The Suicide Squad - August 6, 2021

Related: All 29 & In-Development DC Films

While Snyder can rightly take credit for casting the likes of Jason Momoa as Aquaman and Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman, the fact remains that his entire plan has been ditched. Instead, Warner Bros. is taking a completely different approach.

Justice League Forced The DCEU To Change

Zack Snyder Justice League Better Whedon

Everything changed with Justice League, which was always destined to be a problem child for WB. Production began before the studio had even begun to absorb the disappointing reception of Batman V Superman, and WB attempted to pivot while it was still being shot. As a result, the script was drastically rewritten, and Justice League grossed under $700 million worldwide.

Both Henry Cavill and Ben Affleck seem to have been badly burned by this. There were recurring rumors that Affleck wanted out as Batman ASAP, and his commitment to The Batman seemed to shift depending on the month; he finally left the project in January 2019. There have been similar reports about Cavill, although Cavill insists he's sticking around; still, it's notable that no Superman film is on the slate right now. Of the much-vaunted DC Trinity, only Gal Gadot's Wonder Woman still stands strong, and that's largely because her solo film was pretty much unconnected to Snyder's vision (despite being a product of it). Naturally, all this behind-the-scenes drama has an impact on the slate.

Related: How Aquaman Corrected The DCEU's Marketing Mistakes

Interestingly, WB seems to have responded to the failure of the Snyder model by choosing to take a more experimental approach to building their shared cinematic universe. Where the original slate were all four-quadrant tentpoles, the current slate includes the likes of Birds of Prey, expected to have an R-rating. Diversity has become a mainstay of the DCEU, and both 2020 movies are female-led. The studio is eschewing tried-and-tested - and potentially overused - brands in favor of characters who've never appeared on the big screen before, with Aquaman proving that approach can pay off.

Continuity has become less of a focus as well; Aquaman contained only a single reference to the events of Justice League, and it looks as though Shazam! will follow suit, while Wonder Woman 1984 and The Batman won't even be set in the present-day DCEU. James Gunn is working with a whole new team on The Suicide Squad, meaning he doesn't have to worry about continuity. Oddly enough, Justice League appears to have given WB the confidence to play around with the typical shared universe model. As a result, while the early DCEU struggled to find a firm footing, the future looks a lot more secure.

More: How to Watch Every DCEU Movie Online