DC Retrospective: Ultimate Edition Screen or Stream

Zack Snyder’s Justice League hit streaming and we decided to discuss the entire history of the DC Extended Universe movies so far. This massive tour through the DCEU is 2.5 hours total, rivalling even Snyder’s work in its duration. To kick things off we consider our introductions to DC characters, especially our first Superman encounters across animation, television and film. Launching into Man of Steel we compare Christopher Reeve to Henry Cavill, consider the messianic Christ allegory, Kryptonian design, superpower development and Hans Zimmer. As we move to Batman v Superman we highlight the brilliant casting choices of rounding out the trinity with Batfleck himself Ben Affleck, Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman, as well as the Wonder Woman unaired pilot, and Martha, Martha, Martha.
Margot Robbie excels in her Harley Quinn debut in Suicide Squad, Jared Leto as Joker not so much. Joel Kinnaman’s Rick Flagg and the gross texture of Killer Croc also get a mention. Then, Wonder Woman finally receives a solo live-action film complete with a bombastic score, wartime feminism, and a lacklustre romance?
The original 2017 release of Justice League was a rapid-fire mess that mishandles Flash, sidelines Cyborg, mangles Superman’s face and bathes the end of the world in a red filter. After that, cheesy underwater melodrama abounds in Aquaman, so we talk primarily about Jason Momoa in the titlular role.
Zachary Levi shines as kid turned superhero Billy Batson in Shazam. A movie with some odd lore, stranger villains, a Black Adam connection and its own upcoming sequel too. For something completely different, Birds of Prey with breakout star; Harley’s Perfect Egg Sandwich not to mention a completely colourful look and introductions for Black Canary and Huntress.
Sequel Wonder Woman 1984 suffers pandemic release woes as well as criticisms over Steve Trevor’s “return”. Diana gains some new abilities in this excessive sequel, and we gain a perfect Pedro Pascal performance as Maxwell Lord.
In the practically fan-demanded redux of Zack Snyder’s Justice League; Steppenwolf gets a more imposing appearance, Cyborg becomes the heart of the movie, Flash demonstrates the extent of his powers, Snyder indulges (especially with the slow-mo), Batman is redeemed, Martian Manhunter is introduced and a future with both Darkseid and the Knightmare reality is teased.
Finally, we look to the future with Harley Quinn and Peacemaker on HBO Max plus The Suicide Squad, Aquaman 2, Shazam Fury of the Gods and Black Adam all on the horizon.
Topic Timestamps: Introductions to DC & Superman (00:20) Man of Steel (2013) (13:24) Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) (32:20) Suicide Squad (2016) (46:34) Wonder Woman (2017) (57:57) Justice League (2017) (1:05:36) Aquaman (2018) (1:12:25) Shazam! (2019) (1:20:20) Birds of Prey (2020) (1:26:16) Wonder Woman 1984 (2020) (1:34:37) Zack Snyder's Justice League (2021) (1:44:30) Title Availability: All DCEU movies except Zack Snyder's Justice League:
Apple | Amazon | Google | Microsoft | Youtube | Fetch (AU) DVD | Blu-ray | 4K UHD Most titles are also available via these platforms:
HBO Max | VUDU | RedBox | Fandango | DirecTV | AMC OnDemand | Sling | TNT | TBS | Tru | Telstra (AU) DVD | Blu-ray | 4K UHD Zack Snyder's Justice League only:
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