Rank Order of DC Extended Universe (DCEU) Movies-Best to Worst

DC is attempting to replicate the amazing success that their ancient rival, Marvel, has enjoyed over the past eleven years in building a shared movie universe for its characters. Since 2013’s Man of Steel film starring Henry Cavill as Superman, the DC Extended Universe (DCEU) has begun to take shape.

Unfortunately for DC, the overall quality of their movies, at least in plots, and, in some cases, the casting of iconic characters (Ben Affleck as Batman?), continues to plague DC’s overall plan. While this reviewer believes that imperfect DC superhero movies are better than no DC superhero movies, in our opinion, Marvel still reigns supreme in the superhero and comic book movie arena.

Having said that though, DC has had some real success. Having just finished viewing and reviewing the Shazam! Movie, we feel confident in creating a rank order of the seven existing DCEU films, going from best (Wonder Woman) to least best (BvS).

Below is our list of DC movies ranked best to worst, with some annotations as to why we liked or disliked each film. This list will expand as the DCEU grows (better, we hope!). Have an opinion on DC comics movies and how we rank them? Let us know your thoughts.

 

BvS:Wonder Woman, Superman, Batman

Wonder Woman (2017)-The queen of the DCEU films, Wonder Woman was a great origin film, that retroactively sets up future adventures for the Amazon princess. Gal Gadot is great as Wonder Woman, and the overall plot and dialogue are of high quality.

 

Shazam! (2019)-A fun movie that introduces one of the oldest and most beloved characters in comic book history. The original Captain Marvel has his own movie now, with the name of Shazam! Everything about this film clicked, and it sets up a future with Shazam interacting (maybe joining?) with the Justice League. Plus, a bunch of other heroes...appear in this movie (no spoilers here…).

 

Aquaman (2018)-Another fun DC superhero film with the great Jason Momoa starring as the King of Atlantis. Long the butt of superhero fish jokes, the Aquaman character shows off his power and importance in this great origin story. And the special effects, particularly in the underwater scenes, are amazing!

 

Justice League (2017)-This movie ties in all of the existing DCEU films, but falls flat in a couple of areas. While Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman all previously appeared in prior films, Aquaman, Flash, and Cyborg make their first substantial appearances here, and, while both Aquaman, Cyborg, and Flash have good first appearances, a lot is left up in the air regarding who they are and what they can do (pretend you have never read a comic nor seen the CW TV shows). By comparison to the Marvel movies, most fans and critics would put the first Avengers film as the undisputed number one movie. Here, the DC equivalent is a distant fourth.

 

Suicide Squad (2016)-We actually liked this one quite a lot, but the antagonist villains (as opposed to the “good” villains in the Squad), were pretty badly done, and the overall plot was a bit formulaic. The best parts of course, were Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn, Will Smith as Deadshot, and Jared Leto as Joker. Robbie is good enough to have a whole mini-franchise of Harleys, and Leto’s Joker was much better than anticipated.

 

Man of Steel (2013)-This movie should have been better. We wanted it to be better. But it had a couple of major failings. First, Henry Cavill was and is miscast as Superman. Sorry to say it, but yes, he has the muscles, but in comparison to Christopher Reeve or even Brandon Routh, he has trouble filling the red boots and wearing the glasses. Reeve and Routh both made better Clark Kents.

 Another big failing is the ending, where Superman allows his battle with Zod to devastate Metropolis, and then he takes the life of his foe. Call us old-fashioned, but Superman should not kill. (to be fair thought, the opening of the BvS film does lend more detail to the Metropolis battle scenes).

 

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016)-Again, this should have been better. The big problem in our mind was basing this film on the Frank Miller tale “The Dark Knight Returns.” While a classic story, Miller’s tale was set in an alternate version of the 1980s, where Superman was a shill for the Reagan Administration, and served more-or-less like Dr. Manhattan did in The Watchmen. That is not the universe that the Batman v Superman movie is set in, and that makes a big difference. And the whole “Martha” scene between Bats and Supes, while kind of cool at the moment, is really rather lame when looked at from a distance. The saving grace to this film is that it introduces Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman, and sets up the Justice League movie.

 Oh, and Batman kills people in this film. Call us old-fashioned, but Batman, like Superman, should not kill.

That is it for now. As DC adds more films to their expanding universe, we will update this list.

Suicide Squad: Deadshot and Harley

Future (planned) DC Movies:

 

Oct. 4, 2019-Joker

February 7, 2020- Birds of Prey

June 5, 2020-Wonder Woman 1984

June 25, 2021-The Batman (not with Affleck, it seems)

August 6, 2021-Suicide Squad 2 (not with Will Smith, apparently)

December 16, 2022-Aquaman 2

TBD-The Trench (an Aquaman spinoff?)

TBD-The Flash (why so long? Pretty slow-moving project)

TBD-Batgirl

TBD-Green Lantern Corps (not with Ryan Reynolds, it seems)

TBD-New Gods (based on the amazing Jack Kirby DC comics series)

TBD-Blackhawk

TBD-”Untitled” Joker movie (with Jared Leto?)

TBD-”Untitled” Joker/Harley Quinn movie (with Jared Leto?)

TBD-Supergirl

TBD-Nightwing

TBD-Justice League Dark

TBD-Gotham City Sirens (with Harley)

TBD-Blue Beetle

TBD-Plastic Man (oh, MY!)

TBD-”Untitled” Man of Steel sequel

TBD-”Untitled” Deathstroke movie

TBD-”Untitled” Dark Adam movie (we assume after a Shazam sequel)

TBD-”Untitled” Lobo movie

TBD-”Untitled” Cyborg movie