The DCU has officially landed at the box office with Superman, and it’s clear that DC Studios is building on the successes and failures of its predecessors. While Superman may not have made billions, with $550 million in under a month, Superman is the most successful superhero movie of 2025, which sets a promising precedent for the DCU.

And, looking ahead at the release schedule for the DC Universe, it’s clear that DC Studios is taking a very different approach compared to the DCEU. While the box office is not the beginning and end of success for films, it’s an important factor that needs to be considered.

With that in mind, the DCU appears to have invested heavily in their future, and the results of previous films appear to have helped to inform their decisions. This makes a lot of sense, as there’s plenty to be learned from major DC hits like Aquaman and Joker.

7

Clayface Already Shows The DCU Has Learned From Joker’s Box Office Results

The Joker has always been a popular villain as far as Batman movies go. The character has been adapted several times in animated shows and live-action films, but until 2019, the character had not gotten a chance to star in his own story.

That changed with Todd Phillips’ Joker. This dark psychological thriller took the comic book villain, explored a rich new backstory for the character, and delivered a story that completely dominated at the box office.

Clearly, there is a level of intrigue these darker characters have for audiences, and after years of seeing superheroes take the lead in the cinematic landscape, it’s refreshing to have a villain-focused story. So it makes sense for the DCU to follow Joker‘s footsteps with their dark horror-esque story, Clayface, which is set to release in 2026.

6

Recasting Jason Momoa Suggests The DCU Has Factored In Aquaman’s Success

As mentioned previously, Aquaman was the runaway success of the DCEU. While almost every тιтle in the franchise came in under the billion-dollar threshold, Aquaman finished its theatrical run with a box office of $1.1 billion according to The Numbers.

Traditionally, Aquaman has actually been one of the least popular members of the Justice League, with the big three – Superman, Wonder Woman, and Batman – garnering the most attention. However, both Man of Steel and Wonder Woman failed to reach the same level of success, and Batman didn’t even get a solo outing in the DCEU.

Evidently, there was something magical about Jason Momoa’s solo DCEU debut that attracted huge crowds, and his performance as Arthur Curry made him a fan-favorite. Thankfully, Momoa’s magic will also benefit the DCU, as he has been recast as Lobo for the upcoming Supergirl movie.

5

Several DC Universe Releases Suggest The Franchise Learned From Suicide Squad

While films like Justice League had mixed reviews, the response to The Suicide Squad, a film that had just a fraction of Justice League’s total box office success, was much more positive. Evidently, people enjoy team-up movies when they are done right.

The DCU is already pushing to include several teams which have similar tones to Suicide Squad, such as Creature Commandos, Peacemaker’s 11th Street Kids, and the Justice Gang. As the DCU progresses, having multiple teams established will likely aid in storytelling and ensuring that the crossovers make sense.

And, learning from the less-than-stellar box office return of The Suicide Squad, these teams are currently largely appearing in TV shows, where they have more room for their stories to be explored. Even the Justice Gang appeared as additional cast in the background of Superman’s story, allowing the feature film to focus more on its hero.

4

The DCEU Took Years To Get Sequels Made Or Even Announced

One of the biggest disasters for the DCEU was their approach to getting sequels made. While Wonder Woman performed well, earning more than $800 million at the box office, Wonder Woman 1984 was released three years later and earned just $169 million.

Shazam! started with a much more modest $365 million, but a four-year delay before the sequel came out appears to have played a role in Shazam! Fury of the Gods earning just $134 million. Similarly, the DCEU’s heavy-hitter, Aquaman, went from $1.1 billion, to earning a little over a third of that five years later for Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom.

These lengthy gaps certainly impacted the franchise’s overall success, and it seems that the DCU is taking a different approach. James Gunn has already confirmed he is working on a sequel to Superman, which will have a different character at the center, but that will still seemingly continue that story without the same lengthy delay.

3

The DCU Is Approaching Crossovers Differently

The way that the DCU is approaching crossovers is already worlds apart from the DCEU. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice may have come close to earning $900 million at the box office, but the reviews were incredibly divisive, with a major critique focusing on the way the movie shoehorns heroes from the Justice League into the story.

Comparatively, when members of the Justice Gang show up in Superman, they play an important role in the story, without taking away from the core narrative. Instead, these characters exist cohesively around each other, and they have built relationships, rather than being suddenly thrust together.

In this same way, future projects all appear to have some sort of overlap, like big-name characters making meaningful appearances in other stories. This ultimately makes the flow of the stories more digestible, and better for the shared universe.

2

DC Elseworlds Opens Doors For Alternative Storytelling Without Confusion

There were several projects that came during the DCEU era that became canonically confusing. However, they also ended up being some of the more popular projects. When Suicide Squad came out in 2016, its position in the timeline was uncertain.

Birds of Prey became equally confusing, along with The Suicide Squad, which was in some ways a sequel and in some ways not. But the DCU approach has built in a system to ensure these fun projects can exist, without taking away from the larger story.

Elseworlds is the official тιтle given to projects which are not strictly in the DCU, but rather exist in a different version of reality. This takes off a lot of pressure on these stories, and means the DCU can include fun stories that don’t make sense in connection with the rest of the universe.

1

The DCU Is Focused On Quality Over Quanтιтy

The DCEU started with Man of Steel in 2013. Then, in 2016 and 2017, four more movies came out, including two Justice League stories. While these films fared relatively well financially, this ultimately felt rushed – in part due to the circumstances around Justice League itself, which changed creative leads – and led to the ultimate downfall of the DCEU.

The DCU, on the other hand, was announced back in 2022, with a general outline for what would come in Chapter One: Gods and Monsters. It’s clear that while many plans exist for the future, DC Universe overseer James Gunn is being careful in his approach.

Rather than rush into releasing a half-dozen projects all at once, Gunn has been clear that scripts need to be finished before any project is greenlit, meaning the story is already strong and ready to go by the time projects begin to be developed further.

This makes for an overall better environment for these stories to be told, and a clearer vision for the future of the DCU. The quality control takes precedence over the need to get stories out on a ᴅᴇᴀᴅline. And already, that is putting the DCU into a stronger position than the DCEU, with less clutter and confusion.

Ultimately, there is still a lot that the DCU needs to figure out as it progresses, but with the foundations in place, it appears to be on the right track. And thanks to the highs and lows endured by previous DC projects, the DCU is able to navigate errors in judgment without stumbling over the same hurdles.