Before the DC Universe was not even officially the DC Extended Universe, Warner Bros., and their then-visionary Zack Snyder unveiled a large slate of projects that went into pre-development stages right before Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice. A whole line of movies would be released in the next decade and included some exciting titles. It was clearly a plan to match the pride and fame of DC’s counterpart, the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and make a place for DC Comics characters in the live-action space. Snyder even introduced us to confirmed directors for some of those projects, including Rick Famuyiwa and Ben Affleck, who never sat in the director’s chair for the franchise.
In the past decade, the DCEU underwent major turnarounds, eventually ending up with an impending reboot. After this year’s Aquaman and The Lost Kingdom, James Gunn’s DC Universe will begin a new ten-year plan of DC Universe, comprising all interlinked movies, animated projects, and video games. Fast-tracking these plans, Superman: Legacy and Creature Commandos are already in motion.
But some fans can’t let go of what the franchise could have been. Flashpoint, Aquaman, The Batman, Justice League, Justice League Dark, Cyborg, Green Lantern Corps. Though some of these projects were eventually repurposed, the original vision never saw the light. A Reddit user, @HawkNo4424, shared an image featuring those potential titles, asking others what could have been their favorite one among those projects.
Though Ben Affleck’s The Batman would have been a fan favorite, given the rigorous campaign from fans to revive that project, some fans would have loved some other titles to get into production.
At one point, Academy Award-winner Guillermo Del Toro was attached to Justice League Dark. Given the director’s history with dark dramedies, seeing how the supernatural League could have shaped the series’ narrative would have been exciting. Justice League Dark did get an animated treatment out of the DCEU.
Another DCU project was once a part of the DCEU – Green Lantern Corps. Snyder had a plan for the character John Stewart, as hinted in Zack Snyder’s Justice League’s rejected concept art featuring Wayne T. Carr. Now, James Gunn is overseeing Lanterns, a TV show featuring John Stewart and Hal Jordan investigating an anomaly on precinct Earth.
Someone pointed out that there was Ava Duvernay’s New Gods, which DC canceled. That was a major blow for the fans and the makers alike.
If we ever got an Ayer Cut of Suicide Squad, we might get a glimpse or some details of what the director had planned for the second part. At a point after Ayer’s exit, Gavin O’Connor was attached to the sequel before it got repurposed by James Gunn and became The Suicide Squad.
Did you know that even Steven Spielberg was a potential part of the DCEU? Is it still happening?
There was also a time when Ray Fisher was supposed to have a long-term relationship with Warner Bros. We all know that went down the drain. The actor was supposed to return for a solo Cyborg movie. Regardless, his fallout with the studio and Walter Hamada ripped him off the film and a cameo in the upcoming The Flash.
And talking about The Flash, there was a point when Jeffery Dean Morgan and Lauren Cohan showed interest in returning as Flashpoint Batman and Joker. That would have been daring, right?
But the biggest heartbreak of them all would be Man of Steel 2. It would have been one thing to cancel the project. But to bring back Henry Cavil for Black Adam, announce his return, and then drop him permanently? That was cruel not just to the fans but to the actor as well. He started the whole thing and didn’t get a chance to explore and expand Superman’s arc despite a promise from the studio. And this comment rightfully details it.
It was nostalgic to see these title cards again, given they had been revealed a year after The Avengers had released. To know that DC would have a cinematic universe was exciting. And then Snyder dropped these potential names, and nothing could have been better for pop culture fans – to have their favorites across both publications to get a simultaneous live-action treatment.
Let’s hope the reboot continuity brings us some intriguing stuff with Superman: Legacy.