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The DC Extended Universe (DCEU)[1] is a shared universe of several live-action DC films, beginning with Man of Steel and ending with Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom. It also includes comic books, video games, and the first season of a TV series, and was eventually replaced by the DC Universe.

History

Early History

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The Old Gods

The DC Extended Universe is designated as Earth-1 in the post-crisis multiverse, replacing the previous Earth-1.[2] Various advanced races from many worlds reside here, but its Earth's technology and connection to other planets and alien races is rather primitive compared to some other universes. In the early years of human civilization, wizards gifted some humans such as Black Adam magical abilities and making them "champions of magic", while other races related closely to humanity, such as the Olympians, Amazons, and Atlanteans, existed separate from them, using their natural enhanced abilities to build their own civilizations. They came together once to face the invading intergalactic tyrant Darkseid, and after that became separate once more for thousands of years.[3][4][5]

Age of Heroes

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Heroes of Earth

The first superhero of this world seems to be the Amazon Wonder Woman, who emerged in 1917 during World War I. Later in the 20th century, other superheroes like Hawkman, Doctor Fate, and Atom Smasher formed the Justice Society to battle evil as a team.[6][7]

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An influx in superpowers

But despite various vigilantes like the Batman operating throughout the 20th century, Superman's arrival and battle with General Zod in 2013 changed the public perception of superheroes and made them seem more important to human culture. Soon after this, there was a huge influx in metahuman activity, leading to the formation of teams like the Justice League, the Suicide Squad, the Shazam Family, and the reformed Justice Society to protect the world from threats like Steppenwolf, Doctor Sivana, and Sabbac.[8][9][10][5][4][11]

Representatives of the Amazons and Atlanteans, Wonder Woman and Aquaman, joined the Justice League, to protect the wider world while also dealing with the conflicts of their nations. The Atlanteans in particular have come close to war with the surface world on a few occasions, but Aquaman and his allies have stopped it from breaking out.[5]

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Flash of two worlds

Since 2019, interdimensional travel across the multiverse began to occur, with the speedster known as the Flash meeting his Earth-Prime counterpart during a multiversal crisis,[3] Wonder Woman meeting a counterpart of Serena Williams who had her powers and used the moniker Wonderous Serena,[3][12] and a hero from another universe, Beast Boy, traveling across the multiverse using the Red, briefly flying past this world and several others.[13]

The Flashpoint Event

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An altered world

In 2022, the Flash used his powers to traveled back in time to save his mother from death. He was successful, but ended up scrambling the entire timeline, creating an alternate timeline where Zod's invasion was more successful, Batman had retired, and the boy who would become Superman had been killed as a child.

Frantic to fix things, the Flash, along with his alternate timeline counterpart, teamed up with Batman and Kara Zor-El to save the Earth from Zod's forces. When all hope seemed lost and the multiverse began collapsing due to their meddling with time, the Flash was forced to go back in time once more and stop himself from changing anything. However, his actions rewrote the universe again, creating a timeline similar in some ways to his original, but completely different in others. Currently, the Flash is stuck in this new world, as the only individual who remembers the original version of his universe.[14]

A Potential Future

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A nightmarish future

In a potential future of the original timeline, Superman was brainwashed by the intergalactic tyrant Darkseid using the Anti-Life Equation, and was turned into his slave. While the Justice League fought against them, they were no match for their combined power and were defeated easily as Darkseid conquered and ravaged Earth, transforming it into a hellish wasteland. The Batman formed a resistance of remaining heroes to battle Darkseid and Superman, but it wasn't enough, and eventually the Flash traveled back through time to warn the League of the past how to stop the threat. It is not known if he was successful, but it can be presumed this future was prevented by the Flashpoint event.[5][8][14]

Media

Films

TV series

Ancillary material

Comics

Motion Comics

Prose

Shorts

Video Games

  • Man of Steel: Hero's Flight
  • Man of Steel
  • Batman v Superman: Who Will Win
  • Suicide Squad: Special Ops
  • Wonder Woman: Rise of the Warrior
  • Justice League VR: The Complete Experience
  • Wonder Woman 1984: Chaos Maze
  • Wonder Woman: The Themyscira Experience
  • Black Adam Experience

Podcasts

Residents

Notes

  • The Suicide Squad, the first season of Peacemaker, and Blue Beetle are set in the DC Extended Universe, but according to James Gunn at one point, a "rough memory" of them existed in the DC Universe.[15][16][17][18]
  • The "DC Extended Universe" name was coined by Zack Snyder, the director of Man of Steel, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, and Justice League.[1]
  • Green Lantern was meant to jumpstart the DCEU, but it did so poorly commercially and critically that Warner Bros. decided to start over with Man of Steel two years later.[20]
  • Two different edits of the film Justice League have been released, those being the 2017 theatrical release, and the 2021 director's cut Max release, Zack Snyder's Justice League. While they share many similarities, The Flash confirms Snyder's version to be canon to the DCEU, referencing the time travel sequence exclusive to that version.[14]
  • George Clooney appearing as Bruce Wayne at the end of The Flash implies that the events of Batman & Robin may have occurred in the new timeline created by Barry at the end of the film.
    • However, Clooney also likely appeared in the film because James Gunn and Peter Safran had not yet cast their Batman actor for the DCU yet.
  • When originally announced, the TV series Krypton was going to be set in the DCEU, but it was later decided to set it within its own universe.[21]
  • Every project in the DCEU from The Suicide Squad to Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom was produced by DC Studios.

Multiverse

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The Multiverse

The DCEU is set in an reality designated as Earth-1, existing alongside another unnamed universe, home of superheroine Wonderous Serena and an extra-dimensional source of power called the Speed Force; that gifts to whoever taps into its energy the ability to move at superhuman speed.[12][14] The Speed Force is also connected to the Multiverse and its users are able to move through the universes and travel back and forward in time. The speedster known as the Flash had already met his Arrowverse counterpart inside the Speed Force during the Crisis on Infinite Earths.[14][3] The DCEU was eventually expanded to include worlds which were home to several related film franchises and licensed live-action adaptation of DC intellectual property when occurred the adaptation of the Flashpoint storyline. These worlds include;

Canceled media

  • The films Joker and The Batman were originally meant to be set in the DCEU, but due to shifting creative teams and other matters, they became standalone movies.
  • The film Batgirl was meant to be released in 2022 as a part of the DCEU, but a few months before release, the project was permanently shelved for a tax write-off, despite being in post-production at the time. The film was shot from November, 2021 to March, 2022. After entering post-production, the film was cancelled by Warner Bros. Discovery in August 2022. It was reported that WBD felt the film "simply did not work" and went against the new desire and mandate from CEO David Zaslav to make DC films "big theatrical event films". The film was directed by Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, and starred Leslie Grace as Batgirl, J.K. Simmons as Commissioner Gordon, Brendan Fraser as Ted Carson/Firefly, Michael Keaton as Batman, Ivory Aquino as Alysia Yeoh, and Jacob Scipio as Anthony Bressi.[22] It was also reported that writing off the film as a tax break was the most "financially sound" option for WBD.[23]
  • A number of films and shows initially announced by DC Studios to be set in the DC Extended Universe were cancelled or reworked into other projects over the years, including David Ayer's Suicide Squad, Wonder Woman 3, Zatanna, a Justice League Dark television series, Harley Quinn vs. The Joker, The Trench, Black Manta, The New Gods, The Wonder Twins, Nightwing, Lobo, Cyborg, Deadshot, Deathstroke, Green Lantern Corps, Gotham City Sirens, Blackhawk, Strange Adventures, Plastic Man, Metal Man, Static Shock, Aqualad, Hourman, Crisis on Infinite Earths, Constantine 2, Supergirl, Batman Beyond, and sequels to Man of Steel, Black Adam, and Justice League (specifically Zack Snyder's Justice League according to their outlines).



See Also


Links and References

References

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