12 Great DC Characters Failed By The DCEU

The DCEU got several characters right over its 10-year run, but an unfortunate group of heroes and villains were not properly brought to life by the shared universe. Despite a generally strong – though still divisive – start with 2013’s Man of Steel, the DCEU never quite seemed to catch a consistent streak of big-screen success. In an attempt to create a cinematic universe with stability, DC’s management changed multiple times over the years, culminating in the creation of DC Studios and the hiring of James Gunn and Peter Safran – with their 10-year DC plan — as its co-CEOs.

Gunn and Safran will soon do away with the old DCEU in favor of rebooting it with their new DC Universe, and Gunn will keep a hands-on approach to ensure DC’s characters are treated better in the DCU than they were in the DCEU, as the studio’s new creative chief is writing and directing 2025’s Superman: Legacy, the first movie release of the new DC Universe. While DC’s future doesn’t arrive, a look back at the classic DC characters the DCEU failed, for different reasons, explains why the universe never became the success it should have been.

12 Jimmy Olsen

Superman’s friend, Jimmy Olsen, was completely done wrong by the DCEU. Instead of being Clark Kent’s best friend, the character was nothing more than a cameo in the DCEU. Actor Michael Cassidy played an undercover CIA operative who was pretending to be a Daily Planet photographer to infiltrate a warlord’s HQ. The DCEU version of the character was Jimmy Olsen simply in name, having no traits of the fan-favorite comic book character’s charming persona. Jimmy Olsen was killed in his first DCEU appearance.

11 Martian Manhunter

A founding member in many iterations of the Justice League, Martian Manhunter was nowhere to be found when the team made its DCEU debut in 2017’s Justice League. However, the 2021 Max release of Zack Snyder’s Justice League featured Martian Manhunter. The director’s cut of the movie revealed that the character had already been a fixture of the DCEU, with actor Harry Lennix having played the human version of the hero in two previous films. With Martian Manhunter only appearing in the streaming version of the film, the character’s debut was missed by many.

10 Deadshot

Will Smith’s turn as Deadshot in 2016’s Suicide Squad was one of the high points of the flawed film. The character became so popular that fans started to campaign for him to get his own film. A Deadshot solo movie at DC was reportedly in development at one point, although it never moved forward. Despite the popularity of Smith’s performance as the character, Deadshot never returned to the DCEU. Gunn’s The Suicide Squad featured Idris Elba in a similar-but-not-the-same role.

9 Jonathan Kent

Kevin Costner’s Jonathan Kent completely failed as an adaptation of Clark Kent’s loving father from the comics. While Jonathan has always been known to care for his son in DC media, protecting Clark’s identity as a Kryptonian while he grows up, the DCEU version of the character goes way beyond that line. Costner’s Jonathan Kent constantly implies that Clark should suppress his powers. Jonathan ultimately takes that stance to the grave as he demands Clark not to save him from a tornado.

8 Cyborg

Cyborg was done wrong by the DCEU over and over again. The character was originally meant to be an important part of Justice League before Snyder left the film due to personal tragedy. After The Avengers director Joss Whedon was brought in to helm extensive reshoots, Ray Fisher’s role as Cyborg got heavily cut down. Despite getting a bigger role in the Snyder cut of the film released on Max, Cyborg would not appear in another DCEU movie, with his planned solo entry and supporting role in The Flash canceled after Fisher entered a public dispute with Warner Bros. executives.

7 Lois Lane

Amy Adams as Lois Lane was a great casting choice, but it ultimately did not convert into the performance that fans expected. While sympathetic, Adams’ Lois never felt like the intrepid reporter that she is known to be in other media, with the DCEU using Lois as more of a damsel in distress than a character with agency. Hopefully, Superman: Legacy‘s Lois Lane, who will be played by Rachel Brosnahan, will have a big role in the new DC Universe, which Adams’ limited screen time prevented her Lois from having in the DCEU.

6 Batman

Ben Affleck’s Batman was one of the best aspects of the DCEU as a whole, bringing an intimidating sense of physicality to The Dark Knight. However, the DCEU failed the character by making Affleck the only live-action Batman movie actor not to get a solo film as the hero. While Affleck once was set to write, direct, and star in a solo Batman movie, the project was eventually canceled, and the closest thing the character got to a feature film was the ill-received team-up Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.

5 Deathstroke

Joe Manganiello’s Deathstroke will go down in history as one of the DCEU’s biggest what-ifs. The actor looked pitch-perfect as Slade Wilson during his brief debut in Justice League‘s post-credits scene, and the movie teased Slade Wilson would become a bigger threat to DC’s heroes by teaming up with Lex Luthor to form the villain alternative to the Justice League. Recently, Affleck explained how Deathstroke would’ve been his Batman movie’s villain, with the actor saying he is “a big admirer” of Deathstroke. While Manganiello returned for ZSJL, Deathstroke never got the focus he deserved in the DCEU.

4 Darkseid

Another character that was hurt by Justice League‘s director swap was Darkseid. The villain should have had as big of a role in the DCEU as Josh Brolin’s Thanos had in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but as the universe ends, the DCEU only got teases of Darkseid in Justice League. The DC villain was originally going to have a much bigger role in the DCEU, as evidenced by his role in Zack Snyder’s Justice League. Darkseid would have grown in importance during Snyder’s planned Justice League sequels, which were canceled.

3 Superman

Henry Cavill’s Superman was sadly never given the chance to be true to his boy scout self from the comics. The character was always wrapped in darkness in the DCEU, and although Snyder wanted to have Superman go through a character arc that would see him end as his hopeful self, the multiple changes to the DCEU made by DC’s management led to Cavill’s Superman never reaching the heights he could have. Superman should’ve been the face of the DCEU, but he only got one solo movie and a few divisive team-up projects.

2 Lex Luthor

Jesse Eisenberg’s Lex Luthor was a far cry from the menacing Lex from the comics. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice showed a Lex Luthor that was more manic and witty in his way of speaking than the calm and collected persona Luthor is known to have. While the actor appeared to be headed in a more comic book-accurate route with the villain in one of Justice League‘s post-credits scenes, bald look included, the DCEU did not continue that scene. In the end, the DCEU’s Lex Luthor will remain as a caricature of one of DC’s most beloved villains.

1 Joker

Batman’s most iconic villain and one of — if not the most — iconic villains in any superhero comic book was done absolutely wrong by the DCEU. Jared Leto’s Joker debuted in Suicide Squad, and while the movie cut most of the villain’s scenes, what made it to the screen was enough to deem the DCEU’s take on the Joker as significantly lacking. From his edgy design choice to the villain’s less-than-enthralling onscreen presence, the Joker was the character the DCEU failed the most.