Justice League Reviews Have Been Mixed, But Where Does DC Go From Here?

Justice League actually makes me optimistic for the future of the WB/DC Universe. BvS was very disappointing and I feel JL has done a great job of pushing the cinematic universe in the right direction. Wasn’t a perfect film by any means, but it is a vast improvement over BvS and Suicide Squad.

*Spoilers*
Plus, that after credits sequence with Lex and Slade teasing an Injustice League? That would be so [frick]ing dope!

General audiences have really enjoyed the film, while most critics just can’t seem to get on board.

I think with the movies we've had so far, Warner Bros. have laid the foundations for a truly amazing film franchise, but desperately need to fix a few mistakes;

1.) Sack Zack Snyder.

2.) Create an independent film company within Warner Bros. to oversee the development of DCEU movies and put Geoff Johns in charge of it.

3.) Take more time with the development of the movies. David Ayer only had a total of six months to write the script for Suicide Squad, and then had to chuck out most of his plans halfway through the movie. The directors and their teams need to be given more time to work and figure things out, so that we don't get the half-churned out messes we've seen so far.

4.) Introduce Lex Luthor Sr. There are people who hate Eisenberg's Lex Luthor for being too different to the source material and others who love his take on the character for being different and much more of a threat to Superman. The simplest way to appease both camps is to keep Lex Luthor Jr. and introduce his father into the franchise. There can be a simple retcon by saying that he faked his death or something like that, and cast someone a little older to play the role, but not too old. Someone like Guy Pearce would be perfect for this role.

5.) Either push Ben Affleck into directing his own Batman movie with him in it, or recast him as someone else. Affleck is like the rockstar diva of the DCEU - he's the main attraction and the best part of the band so to speak, but is incredibly hard to work with behind the scenes and could walk at any minute. If he works under another director on a Batman movie he was originally set to direct, and has to work with a script, story and team that he didn't originally envision, there will inevitably be issues and that won't make for a good movie. Either let Affleck direct his own movie so that it will be brilliant and he'll be happy with it, or let Reeves take over and recast the character - but please God not with Jake Gyllenhaal.

6.) Focus more on the Justice League founding members and flesh them out in their solo movies. Planning for the Aquaman and Flash movies immediately after Justice League was a good call, and shooting the Wonder Woman sequel for a 2019 release while her character is incredibly popular makes total sense in terms of making money. But I feel after the Justice League movie, fans and general moviegoers will need a Man of Steel 2 to become completely reacquainted with Superman again and appreciate what they've lost when he was dead.

Don’t scrap what has happened so far. This film suffered from a trouble production that no one could have seen coming. Snyder had to step away and instead of just having Joss do post production, they allowed him to tamper with the movie (which he shouldn’t have) and it felt a little disjointed. Plus, with a critic campaign seemingly designed to ruin the movie (really big difference between audience and critic reviews). WB needs to do the following.

1). Stop interfering with directors. WB NEEDS TO STEP ASIDE. Someone else said it above, but give full creative and decision control to Geoff Johns.

2). Better scripts. The characters work. They had great chemistry. They were charming, and all of the actors pretty much nailed their comic book counterparts (except Flash, he wasn’t really like Barry Allen yet, but I liked the character still).

3). Seriously slim down the budget. Very hard to turn a big profit when the movie cost 300 mil to make and another 100 min for advertising.

4). Use flashpoint to make minor course corrections (like bringing Clark back, a new Perry White, and new Batman). Yes it’s a cop-out, but fans will understand what you are trying to do.