In the ever-expanding DC Extended Universe, there are a number of storylines, plot points,
and narrative threads that have disappeared without explanation. It doesn't mean they'll
never return, of course, but for now these are all major unfinished business for the growing DCEU.
The film that kicked off the DCEU as we know it was "Man of Steel." It followed the evolution of
one Clark Kent, played by Henry Cavill, from small town American alien boy to becoming
Superman. In the process he faces villains from his long lost Kryptonian heritage. Primarily,
General Zod, played by Michael Shannon, and his renegade soldiers after they escape
from imprisonment in the Phantom Zone. Zod's genocidal plan was to use The World Engine,
Kryptonian technology that can terraform a world into one inhabitable for Kryptonians, on Earth.
The result would be an Earth remade in the image of Krypton and suitable for Kryptonian life,
but at the cost of its existing life. Zod's own ship, the Black Zero, contributed towards
the terraforming on one end of the planet with the World Engine sitting over the Indian Ocean.
Here's the thing: the terraforming process would affect all life on Earth including the oceans,
and the World Engine was operating directly over the Indian Ocean.
We know from DC history and "Aquaman" that the Atlanteans are extremely sensitive to changes in
or mistreatment of the world's oceans. Also, they have strong weaponry and
technologically advanced vehicles. Given what we know, there's no reason why they wouldn't
respond to the World Engine, perceiving it as an attack against their seas and sovereignty.
While Superman did halt its efforts somewhat quickly, it's surprising they didn't react.
Where were they that was more pressing than this terraforming attack?
"Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice" is the first DCEU film to incorporate the Dark Knight himself,
folding Batman in after he's spent 20 years fighting crime in Gotham. At this point,
Batman, played by Ben Affleck, is a hardened and more violent vigilante—even taking to
branding criminals, and he works alone with the help of Alfred. When we see the Batcave,
one of its more haunting pieces is a damaged Robin costume in a glass case
with "HAHAHA JOKE'S ON YOU BATMAN" spray-painted across the front. There
are bullet holes in the suit, but there's little in the film to explain its backstory.
We know a few key pieces of backstory from subsequent comments and films. Harley Quinn's
introduction in "Suicide Squad" lists her as an accomplice to Robin's murder. This admittedly
causes problems for the intended timelines of both Snyder and "Suicide Squad" director David
Ayer. Joker has his gold grill in his mouth upon meeting Harley, but it is said to have appeared as
a result of Batman beating him in retaliation for Robin's death. If that's the case, when and how
did the Joker actually kill Robin, and what was Harley's actual relation to that crime?
Talking about the lack of clarity over Robin's death in the DCEU
highlights exactly how little we know about Batman's 20-year history of
fighting crime in Gotham. In a telling line to Alfred, Bruce Wayne laments,
"20 years in Gotham, Alfred. We've seen what promises are worth.
How many good guys are left? How many stay that way?"
The line suggests that fellow vigilantes have fallen, like Robin, and perhaps turned to crime.
In "Suicide Squad" we see Killer Croc and watch the Caped Crusader chase Joker and Harley Quinn,
and elsewhere intervene to capture Deadshot. But other than some vague generalities,
we know almost nothing about Batman's history in Gotham or with these villains,
nor the vigilantes that have supported his crusade. Plus, most of the DCEU has moved on
instead of clarifying any of these omissions. What's the history of this Batman and his
allies and conflicts? How did it contribute towards his actions in "Batman v Superman"?
“You’re out of your mind, Bruce Wayne!”
In "Justice League," we see the first war between Earth's forces
and the forces of Darkseid that took place 5,000 years ago. Regardless of the version,
both showed a Green Lantern fighting alongside Earth's forces, then dying in the battle with
its power ring flying off to find a new Lantern. Lanterns essentially protect sectors of space,
and will intervene in situations on a planet they specialize in protecting
from extraterrestrial threats, invasions, and other space-based attackers. Most importantly,
sectors shouldn't go without a protector, which is why the ring sought a new Lantern immediately.
So, where were the Lanterns over the last 5,000 years? Where were the Lanterns when Zod and the
Kryptonians attacked Earth in "Man of Steel"? Where were they when Doomsday emerged in "Batman
v Superman," or especially in "Justice League" when another extraterrestrial invasion occurred?
These are exactly the sorts of interstellar conflicts that Green Lanterns are supposed
to respond to. And, while we see Green Lanterns in an upcoming HBO Max series,
it makes little sense that they'd sit out these subsequent interstellar assaults.
In "Shazam!" the DCEU opens up its magical side. In the film,
the Rock of Eternity is said to be the source of all magic as well as the place
where the Seven Deadly Sins are kept. The original wizard Shazam and his seven family
members formed the Council of Wizards there. At some point in the past, Shazam gave Teth-Adam,
later known as Black Adam, powers in that realm. The conflict pitting Black Adam and the unleashed
Seven Deadly Sins against the Council of Wizards resulted in the deaths of most of the latter.
Considerable time passed before Shazam transferred his powers to Billy Batson and later Billy's own
Shazam Family to fight the newly released Seven Deadly Sins and the villainous Dr. Sivana.
Certainly a lot will be explained about Black Adam in subsequent films. But in the comics
he began life as an Egyptian slave, putting the events that killed most of the Council
of Wizards approximately around 5,000 years ago. This is exactly when the Atlanteans,
Amazons, and early humans fought the forces of Darkseid in "Justice League." If the Council of
Wizards were around, where were they when evil alien gods were invading? Gods, Atlanteans,
and Amazons were all there, yet the Wizards didn't show up to protect the Earth at this pivotal time.
In "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice," Lex Luthor, played by Jesse Eisenberg,
wages a multi-pronged attack on Superman. It involved many steps,
from blowing up the United States Capital to kidnapping Superman's mom. In a moment
of justification he claims that his motivation is basically being against the notion of 'gods' on
Earth. He argues that devils don't come from hell beneath us, rather they come from the sky. So,
clearly he sees Superman as an evil enemy. He also shares his interesting argument of a divine being.
"If God is all-powerful, He cannot be all good.
And if He is all good, then He cannot be all-powerful."
Ultimately, We aren't really given other reasons for Luthor to hate Superman. In the comics Luthor
is said to have a long history and personal vendetta against him. Not so here. The only
reason we have is Luthor's supposed disdain for "gods" that have power above humans.
Luthor's final plan beyond his convoluted mess of tactics involves mixing his own blood with Zod's
body, combining the two with Kryptonian technology to create Doomsday, the ultra-powerful behemoth
that kills Superman. So his motivating factor is apparently a hatred of gods,
and yet his final plan is to engineer a god that's more powerful,
more animalistic, and less subject to human control? That's not what a brilliant planner
would do with that motivation, so what's Luthor's real incentive for absolutely hating Superman?
Regarding Luthor's engineering of the Doomsday monster in "Batman v Superman:
Dawn of Justice," the process makes relatively little sense. Lex enters the Genesis Chamber
of the Kryptonian scout ship using Zod's fingerprints and command key. He's taught the
wealth of knowledge from the Kryptonian archives, learning of an ancient Kryptonian monster — aka
Doomsday — that he re-creates as a failsafe if Batman can't or doesn't kill Superman. The process
involves bringing Zod's corpse into the Genesis Chamber, then Luthor cutting himself and bleeding
into the Chamber and onto Zod. The resultant engineering feat is a version of the recreation of
Doomsday. It’s an effectively mindless creature with immense strength, at least on par with if not
stronger than Superman, boundless rage, and some serious regenerative abilities.
What makes little sense is why corrupting Kryptonian DNA with human DNA made such a strong,
if not stronger entity than Superman. Humans look like Kryptonians in every relevant way, but
Doomsday is larger than either and looks like neither. Kryptonians are massively stronger
on Earth than humans are, and Doomsday seems stronger than Kryptonians despite the addition
of human DNA. Adding human DNA wouldn't be the recipe to make this ancient beast,
because it's unlikely that its ancient Kryptonian creator had humans lying around.
Why in the world would blending Kryptonian DNA with human DNA
not make Doomsday a hybrid of the two, thus weaker than Superman? It makes little sense.
In "Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice," Bruce Wayne is
woken from a nightmare by a vision of Barry Allen,
aka The Flash. He offers Bruce a warning about the future—albeit vague and confusing—saying,
"Bruce! Listen to me now. It's Lois. It's Lois Lane. She's the key."
"You were right about him. You've always been right about him! Fear him! Find us, Bruce!"
In "Zack Snyder's Justice League," Superman succumbs to the Anti-Life
equation and under Darkseid's rule lays waste to many of his enemies.
The Flash, we can infer, went back in time to warn Batman about Superman's inherent danger.
Of course this was a plot thread that the DCEU didn't move forward with, so there's a
high chance it will never be fulfilled and we only see in part where it may have been intended to go.
At the same time, the Flash sequence still exists within DCEU continuity,
but it is unclear how they're going to try to give it finality and meaning, if at all.
In "Wonder Woman 1984," the FBI turn to Dr. Barbara Minerva to aid in the identification of
the wish-granting Dreamstone. Failing businessman Maxwell Lord wishes to become the stone itself.
It grants him the ability to gain power every time someone makes a wish through him.
He uses this to eventually take over the White House, secretive U.S. communications technologies,
and effectively the whole world as he grants the wishes of humanity.
All these wishes come with a cost to their users, of course, and it all pushes humanity
nearly to the point of global nuclear war. Wonder Woman uses her Lasso of Truth on Lord,
convincing the world — including Lord — to end the crisis by renouncing their wishes.
But even though there's no indication that renouncing wishes made anyone forget the
events that just occurred on a global scale, the movie just sort of moves on. If everyone on
Earth was allowed to make wishes that came true, causing massive global chaos, that would change
human history, civilization, and religion as we know it. It would reveal the existence of magic,
which is a big deal, and publicly confirm the existence of metahumans as early as the 1980s. It
would change literally everything in the DCEU, but instead it was dropped like it wasn't a big deal.
“That’s the truth.”
In "Suicide Squad," Amanda Waller builds a team of expendable super-villains to go on dangerous
missions in the wake of Superman's death in exchange for commuted prison sentences.
The main exception is Dr. June Moone, who is possessed by an ancient interdimensional sorceress
known as Enchantress. When Enchantress and her ancient brother Incubus move to take over Earth,
the pair use magic to turn a variety of people into their supernatural soldiers.
The odd thing about all this is that the villains here are clearly magical,
mystical threats and Waller knows this. Even still, most of the members
of the “suicide squad” have literally no mystical abilities or relation to magic.
This is a major oversight, because the only reason the team succeeds is due to the efforts of its
somewhat magical members. For example, El Diablo uses his cursed full fire form to fight Incubus
and push him over a bomb. Waller knows Enchantress is a sorceress, so why send an ill-chosen team
for a magical job? Was the U.S. government so uninterested in magic that they never bothered to
have good contingency plans against magic attacks? And have they gotten any better on that front?
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