These days the DCU is a sad, shambling zombie of a franchise. Black Adam, Shazam! Fury of the Gods, and The Flash have all cratered at the box office, with the upcoming Blue Beetle and Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom not exactly looking like all-time blockbusters.
James Gunn’s rebooted DCU future is just around the corner, but it’s understandable DC die-hards are taking a wistful glance back at a more optimistic time. Zack Snyder’s controversial storytelling decisions are still very much up for debate, but the argument over his visual flair appears to have been settled:
It’s great stuff, though if you’re particularly attentive you may have one teeny-tiny quibble about that last image, which is from Patty Jenkin’s Wonder Woman. And, as this is the internet, there’s someone ready and waiting with a correction:
Even so, it’s pretty obvious that Snyder had some influence on Wonder Woman‘s look, whether he actually advised on the movie or not. After all, cinematographer Matthew Jensen returned to work with Patty Jenkins on Wonder Woman 1984, which turned out to be an utterly dreadful-looking movie.
Whatever else happened, neither Snyder nor Jenkins’ services are no longer required by Warner Bros. Snyder eventually got to go out on a high with Zack Snyder’s Justice League, while Jenkins’ was unceremoniously booted out and Wonder Woman 3 canceled.
With The Flash being one of the ugliest blockbusters in years, we miss the look of the old DCEU, as at least it had a distinctive visual style that set it aside from the MCU. Let’s hope that Gunn focuses on making superhero movies that actually look good when Superman: Legacy kicks off the next iteration of the live-action DC movies in 2025.
