The DCEU endured something of a rocky start in trying to find a unified creative direction in the early days, although the franchise seems to be finally be finding its footing as a viable alternative to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. As the architect of the first several movies, Zack Snyder came under a lot of criticism for the accelerated world-building that saw Man of Steel quickly snowball into Batman V Superman, which was stuffed to bursting point with layers upon layers of mythology and new characters.
However, it turns out that Snyder originally wanted the overarching story to progress much slower, with each new installment in the DCEU gradually building and expanding a narrative that would come to a head in the proposed second and third Justice League movies. The filmmaker confirmed in a recent social media livestream that his planned arc was set to unfurl over five entries in the superhero series, one that didn’t include solo outings for Wonder Woman, Aquaman or the adjacent Suicide Squad.
Justice League was intended to come directly after Batman V Superman, followed by a Man of Steel sequel and a further two-part adventure for the all-star superhero team that was set to wrap up the first wave of DCEU movies, similar to how Marvel separate their output into phases. Instead, many aspects of Snyder’s time at the helm are being slowly erased from canon, with the only interest people seem to have in Justice League anymore being the mythical Snyder Cut.
DC Films has undergone several creative shakeups in recent years in an effort to try and salvage the DCEU, and the studio’s desperation to play catch-up to Marvel as soon as possible is more than likely to be one of the main reasons that Snyder didn’t get to follow through with his ambitious five-movie arc. Although, the relatively disappointing box office returns might also have something to do with it.