An ode to the DC Extended Universe

Tinashe Kusema

Film Review

RATHER than doing what would probably be a run-of-the-mill review of “Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom”, I am going to mainly focus on giving my eulogy to the DC Extended Universe (DCEU).

As most of you will by now know, the release of “Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom” signalled the end of the old DCEU.

James Gunn, the chief executive officer of DC Studios, has taken over creative control of the company, relaunching what was known as the DCEU into the DC Universe.

What this means is everything that has occurred in the movies that made up the DCEU does not matter anymore. We are set to have new actors playing some of our favourite characters and new stories to be told.

It will all start with the release of “Superman: Legacy” next year (July 11, 2025) and already young American actors David Corenswet and Nicholas Hoult have been cast as Clark Kent/Superman and Lex Luther, respectively.

Corenswet certainly looks the part, with some fans calling him a clone of British heartthrob Henry Cavill, who played the role of Clark Kent in the DCEU. Hoult makes an odd choice to play the villainous Lex Luther, but I am one of the few excited people to see his take on the character.

Before I get carried away, let me give my two cents on the “Aquaman” movie.

I would be remiss not to mention the soft spot I had for this movie; after all, it seemed doom well before the theatrical release.

Warner Brother’s decision to fire Johnny Depp but keep Amber Heard after their messy divorce and trial last year did not sit well with many.

The fact that she is hardly in the movie does, however, come as little consolation. Also, Warner Brothers could have waited a while to announce any cancellations and reboot until every movie on the DCEU slate had done its rounds. It is hard to care about this particular movie or any of its stories as we now know that both the studio and fans alike will likely forget about it as soon as the end credits drop.

Luckily, that does not stop Jason Momoa (Arthur Curry/Aquaman), Patrick Wilson (Orm Marius) and Yahya Abdul-Mateen from delivering great performances.

The chemistry between Momoa and Wilson is by far the film’s biggest strength.

The two dominate a huge chunk of the film’s 124-minute runtime and put up solid performances.

Mamoa is the real star.

Gunn and his DCU need to sign him up for his dream role of Lobo, the alien bounty hunter who wiped out his entire race all in the search for immortality.

Crying over a one-dimensional villain, which Mateen’s Black Manta certainly is, is like flogging a dead horse.

The same goes for the story which was rendered useless when Gunn announced the reboot.

All I will say is that Black Manta is still vengeful over the death of his father at the hands of Aquaman in the first movie and gets his hand on an ancient Atlantis artefact that imbues him with the power to fight back.

The story is simple, carries very few twists and turns, and gets wrapped up well. As far as the DCEU eulogy is concerned, my only regret is that we are saying goodbye to Cavill, Gal Gadot and Ben Affleck as Superman, Wonder Woman and Batman, respectively.

It is sad that Gunn and company could not find space for them in their re-branded DC Universe.

I also hope that, as someone who briefly and memorably worked under Marvel, there are lessons that he is taking to his new paymasters and fan base.

Top of the list is the importance of long-term planning and storytelling.

One often got the feeling that the writers and producers had no clear vision of where they wanted to take things and often improvised some of their projects.

Gunn needs to create a vision board and stick to it.

The other lesson is on the importance of good casting as Robert Downey Jnr, Samuel L Jackson, Tom Hiddleston and Chris Evans are the living embodiment of their characters Tony Stark/Ironman, Nick Fury, Loki and Steve Rogers/Captain America, respectively. Their performance, and sometimes mere presence, carried movies and a lot of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU)’s hugely successful Phase One to Phase Three.

Finally, and I cannot stress this enough, but sometimes less is more.

One of the biggest problems with the MCU is that they are trying to do way too much and way too fast.

Every couple of months, a new project is either released or announced and fans are now overwhelmed.

Gunn needs to space his releases and projects.