Unless you’ve been living in a Fortress of Solitude, you may have noticed that the hierarchy of the DC universe has changed. James Gunn and Peter Safran now co-lead DC Studios, and with that came a new cinematic universe — the DCU.
With a focus on penning scripts before moving forward with production, and only scripts of a certain level of quality, over the churning out of content, this marks a positive difference from the obvious competitors of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which has seemingly turned to the easy pull of nostalgia, if recent releases and trailers are anything to go by. This is the very same MCU that James Gunn previously worked for as a director and writer, with his experience now informing his decisions as the co-lead for the DC franchise.
Needless to say, I am excited to see what the future of the DCU holds, with Supergirl, Lanterns and Clayface later this year.
Before then, however, I thought it would be a good time to take a look at the first entries into this new universe, in the form of a ranking. What was my favourite as a long-time fan of DC? You’ll have to reach the bottom of this article!
The following article contains spoilers for both Superman (2025) and the second season of Peacemaker.
Krypto Saves the Day
The final episode of this series of animated shorts releases this year!
This is a tough one to rank as it wasn’t bad — I just wasn’t the target audience. With just four episodes, the series follows Supergirl’s dog, in the care of Superman, as he gets up to unexpected hijinks, with plenty of cartoon humour.
While not canon to the DCU, this miniseries is included in this ranking as an offshoot of Superman (2025).
Peacemaker
Peacemaker’s first season aired before the soft reboot of the DCU. I would say that it was successful because it was in its own corner of the old DC Extended Universe and did not affect much on the grand scale. This gave it a clear focus on both the tight-knit characters of the show and the plot.
The second season diverged from that structure, becoming an integral part of the overarching narrative, to its detriment. Steered by James Gunn, not only as the showrunner, but also as the co-lead of DC Studios, placing Peacemaker as a key entry of the new universe would have been a known and intentional choice, but he clearly did not have the foresight to avoid putting an orgy into the first episode, immediately after the family-friendly Superman, in which Peacemaker briefly appeared. Although this scene was a good fit for the show, based on its first season, this showed a distinct lack of planning around building a new audience for a new cinematic universe.
Unfortunately, I also felt that the plot of the second season was weaker than that of the first, with subplots that beared no relevance and could easily have been cut; in particular, the subplot with Red St. Wild and the magical eagle convocation felt completely out of place. For this, I place blame on the delay of the reveal of an alternate Earth being a world where the Nazis won the war. I sincerely wish that more time had been devoted to genuinely exploring what this meant for that other world. Some interesting ideas were stated, but not witnessed. Had the reveal occurred sooner, there would have been more time to explore the ramifications of this and cut out needless padding.
It was hard to argue against the alternate Earth being used for anything other than shock value, beyond a bonding moment between Judomaster and Adebayo. I don’t think this one moment is enough to counter how superficial the use of the alternate Earth was when this situational bonding could have come about in a handful of other ways. I’ll concede to some small character moments from Chris, but they were barely enough to be notable.
I was surprised to realise that The CW’s Crisis on Earth-X from 2017 had more depth. It took time, with half the number of episodes, to explore the horrors of fascism and power, with more fleshed-out stakes, in deeper ways than a simple chase scene.
The change to the title sequence caught me off guard. The Foxy Shazam number grew on me, but the dance always felt disconnected from it. I was not the only one who felt this way. Eagle-eyed viewers noticed the rigid movements and lighting that was suggestive of fascistic imagery, and I do wonder if, on some subconscious level, this caused that lack of connection. Or maybe I simply love Wig Wam that much more.
Like a trade after Peacemaker appeared in Superman, the show made some good connections to the movie, especially with the return of Nicholas Hoult as Lex Luthor and his technology from the movie. A web is being spun, connecting different parts of the DCU, but enjoyment of the show did not rely on watching the movie, which I’m sure some will appreciate.
Superman
I love the character and mythos of Superman. I love the sci-fi action and the hope he inspires in others, fictional or not. I love that he stands for truth, justice and a better tomorrow. I love that different iterations of the character continually contribute to his legacy, which factors into his ongoing evolution, regardless of the medium. I love that he endures and always stays relevant.
I loved the music that John Williams gave us in 1978. This is what many of us hear in our minds when we think of the caped alien. Last year, John Murphy and David Fleming developed a new spin on that original soundtrack. Not only did it bring back the nostalgia of the original score through the use of the electric guitar and choir, but it also linked specific sections of the original soundtrack to different aspects of the character. In an interview with Gold Derby, David Fleming discussed how the end cadence was used for the titular character’s internal conflict, and the famous fanfare was used for action scenes. The new soundtrack wasn’t a cover of the original soundtrack, but a modern reinterpretation. It was a real treat to hear this at a cinema.
This movie was a much-needed reset after the seriousness of recent adaptations such as Superman & Lois and Man of Steel. It embraced the IP’s roots in the comic book medium and wholeheartedly translated elements from the page to the screen. It reframed Superman’s kindness as punk rock in a cynical world, and audiences loved it. We were given hope for a better tomorrow.
Rachel Brosnahan has secured a place in my eyes as the best Lois Lane in a movie. Her undeniable chemistry with David Corenswet is also one of my favourite pairings in Superman media across film and television. I took delight in seeing the rest of the Daily Planet crew, and would love to see more of them in the future. We did not get to see much of Clark Kent as a reporter in this film, but I did like that Lois had such an active role. I appreciated the moments showing Clark’s humanity when he rested at his home farm in Smallville, though I know some took issue with his adoptive parents feeling stereotypical.
On the other side of the moral coin, I found Lex Luthor to be underdeveloped, with no reasoning behind why his people work for him against Superman, though fear seems likely thanks to a few moments of abuse. Notably, there is a moment in the film where he keeps knocking pens or pencils off a desk to feel in control. However, just as his co-stars did, Hoult gave an excellent performance.
Sadly, after sitting with the movie for some time, its flaws became apparent to me. The film felt sterile, lacking any depth in the aftermath of action sequences. One innocent food vendor dies, but it’s alright because we hardly know them. Superman: The Animated Series got away with this as a Saturday morning cartoon, but this was for a character that we grew to like. We got to see the effect that this had on Superman in a following scene, informing his character, succeeding where the movie did not. The film did little to make us care for this single citizen, despite them clearly being a stand-in for any innocent people of Metropolis being caught in the crossfire.
I’m not asking for a take as gritty as Man of Steel — I loved this return to an optimistic and hopeful atmosphere — but this lack of consequences, where almost everything is clean, and things can’t really go wrong, rubbed me the wrong way in retrospect. This does not match the feeling I get when I read the comics. It’s not impossible to create an optimistic atmosphere with realistic stakes, and other adaptations have successfully achieved this. To look at another example, a giant rift tears the city in two, but it’s swept aside because all the buildings slot back together again, as though they’re LEGO pieces. This is one of the reasons that I am excited for Supergirl this year, with its darker take on a last child of Krypton.
Close to the beginning of the movie is a brilliant scene of exposition framed as an interview between Superman, in civilian clothing, and his romantic interest, who is also an investigative journalist, in her apartment. I loved how this showed the complexity of their relationship, coupled with the questionable ethics of Superman being a news reporter, with both actors at the top of their game.
Taking a step back, however, it didn’t have the confidence to actually show us Superman intervening in a foreign affair. After watching the movie in cinemas twice, I learned that this was used in the trailers, which I had avoided so as to not spoil the movie, and I can see why. I love Superman and the fact that he is a global hero for all, but this movie failed to follow the golden rule — show, don’t tell.
Finally, Superman’s creators were both children of Jewish immigrants who had fled from persecution in Europe. Superman is essentially a tale of an immigrant, mirroring the experiences of the parents of his creators, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. One would reasonably expect the two children to see their parents as their first heroes, inspiring them to put ink to the page. I did not like that the movie painted the parents of an immigrant as villains, in contrast to this real-life origin of the character.
Superman is special in that he loves both sets of parents — the parents that had to let him go, and the parents that simply couldn’t. If this was faked, whether the moviemakers planned it in advance or course corrected, it would undo the fact that the movie goes out of its way to show that his birth parents had evil intentions, but it would allow this to be more relevant to modern times, with the El family being falsely painted as villains.
In the end, Superman succeeded in building an audience and generating discussion for this new universe.
For an analysis of what the movie excelled at, click here.
For full disclosure, if I was ranking these purely in terms of which I enjoyed most, especially last summer, Superman would top the list. I rarely watch movies more than once at a cinema! But time tells a different story, and my favourite may surprise you…
Creature Commandos
The first entry in the DCU universe, and the top of this ranking, Creature Commandos explores a black-ops team of non-human inmates on a mission. The mission? To stop an attack on a nation with American interests, thanks to its resources, from one of Wonder Woman’s enemies, Circe.
Along the way, most episodes focused on a single member of the team, adding emotional weight to the cast with some tragic backstories, while still propelling the main narrative forward. I was left feeling satisfied with this character exploration. It showed that actions had consequences, and I appreciated the cast of misfits with differing moral viewpoints. What turned these characters into monsters? Is “monster” really the right word for them?
There is an argument to be made against the show of the cast being put together like the Suicide Squad, but this is what Gunn excels at, and it was this show that had the most depth to its characters, due to their nature as a band of misfits. With voice actors staying consistent across media types, it would be exciting to see some of these characters in live-action.
As it stands, Creature Commandos forged a solid foundation for the DCU as the first entry. I look forward to its second season.
New Year, New Directors
Fundamentally, this first collection of media set out to prove that the DCU could be viable, laying out the groundwork. Whatever comes next should, I hope, be able to embrace creativity with braver, bolder visions instead of being held back to please crowds and minimise backlash; I’m looking at you, Superman. This year, I’m very excited for directors other than James Gunn to take control of further characters and put their spin on the world.
For an analysis of the Supergirl trailer, click here.