10 years ago today, Suicide Squad began the end of the DCEU, with its impact on the wider franchise and the long-term significance of its less than stellar reviews only being truly clear all these years later. The DCEU timeline, though at points controversial, was a major point in DC history in terms of establishing what was possible for a cinematic universe adapting the wider range of DC’s comic lore, and bringing it to life in a major way.
However, a full extensive run for the DCEU was not to be, as the franchise officially ran from 2013 to 2023, and faced increasing issues as a result of the franchise’s divided results critically and commercially, as well as because of the issues crafted by the ever-changing landscape of the DCEU due to behind-the-scenes matters, which destabilized the overall franchise and left fans unsure about what was going on at several stages of its run.
Today, there are various points of time that are regarded to be catalysts for the DCEU’s downfall, with the behind-the-scenes issues with Justice League being a commonly cited point wherein the plans for the franchise began to go awry. That said, the earliest signs and stages of the DCEU’s bigger problems arguably began before then, as a result of Suicide Squad‘s 2016 release.
Suicide Squad Began The DCEU’s Downfall Exactly 10 Years Ago Today
Suicide Squad was, on paper, the perfect kind of film for the DCEU to add to its roster, as a lively and chaotic release focused around a team of villains forced to work for the government in order to try and secure their release from incarceration, or simply to save their own lives from being ended.
With the Suicide Squad comics having a range of exciting stories and characters to draw from, the possibilities seemed rife, and the casting of figures like Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn and Viola Davis as Amanda Waller made things look even more promising. Unfortunately, despite engaging performances from some actors, said promise was not fully lived up to by the story that unfolded, resulting in Suicide Squad becoming one of the least popular comic book movies in history.
There were many complaints about Suicide Squad, with some of the most pressing being the way in which the plot never seemed to truly get going, the lack of engaging characterization or proper chemistry being built between the characters in the story, and the timing of the cuts between scenes and specific moments creating a choppy, disjointed effect that only really worked when initially introducing the main cast in the film’s very first scenes.
This all created several issues, and crucially reduced trust in the DCEU and the franchise’s capacity to provide solid film stories that would engage audiences, serving as the beginning of the end of sorts for the DCEU and its eventual fate, wherein it ended with plenty of mysteries and stories still unresolved in order to lead into the rebooted DC Universe timeline.
Suicide Squad’s Successes Made Its Issues Harder To Ignore
Somewhat ironically, had Suicide Squad grossed lower, its issues may have been less pressing for the wider DCEU to deal with, and could have been contained to a small portion of the overall DCEU audience. As it stands, though, Suicide Squad‘s respectable $749 million box office (as per The Numbers) meant that the issues present within the movie were seen by a good chunk of the franchise’s viewerbase, meaning things were more complex to say the least.
Pressingly, Suicide Squad featured several major players in the DCEU, including revealing Jared Leto as the franchise’s Joker, and a scene wherein Ben Affleck’s Batman appeared to set up the Justice League before the movie’s debut.
Both of these stories facing tumultuous roads forward following the reaction to the Suicide Squad movie itself only complicated the DCEU’s trajectory further, and ensured other challenges the franchise would face, such as the later issues around the Justice League, were harder to manage, since the Suicide Squad scene introducing the Justice League itself was part of a less well-received installment.
Looking back, given the lastingly negative reception to Suicide Squad, it is impressive to note the DCEU was able to continue forward for some time after this and have some major successes, even if the movie does appear to have sown the first seeds that would see the eventual end of the franchise.
Ultimately, the road the DCEU was able to walk after this time is a testament to the talents and commitment of many of those who worked on its release roster and the mythos around it, and hopefully the DCU will learn from all its successes as well as its failures, as indeed the 2021 story of The Suicide Squad appears to have learned from Suicide Squad itself.
