At this point in time, the DC Extended Universe consists of five films; although, at the bare minimum, DC Comics plans to double that number by the end of the decade. With the exception of 2017's Wonder Woman, Batman and friends have struggled to impress critics. Man of Steel and Gal Gadot's solo film are the only two entries to garner an aggregate score of more than 50% on Rotten Tomatoes. Luckily for the Caped Crusader and his band of disillusioned heroes, audiences continue to show faith in the franchise, even if Justice League's box office gross lost a bit of its mojo.
Putting aside our own personal feelings on the films, the DCU has been rather messy. Right out of the gate, Warner Bros. Pictures and DC Comics have been playing catch-up to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, leading to many obvious plot holes and continuity errors. That is not to say that fun cannot be had while watching Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, but shutting off your brain is highly recommended!
On the other hand, who does not love to over-analyze their sources of entertainment? Why else would we be here? In the case of the DCU, Batman could fly a bat-rocket through the plot holes!
Here are 25 things about DCU movies that make absolutely no sense!
25 DC's Clark Kent Conundrum
At the end of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Kal-El sacrifices himself to save the planet. This could have been a touching moment but ends up falling flat due to its rushed delivery. Fearing that somebody might actually believe that Superman is gone forever, Zack Synder's film copped out at the very last second.
Superman, stop playing with gravity!
Justice League revives Superman and, by extension, Clark Kent. With regards to the former, many humans consider Superman to be a god, so this just provides further proof to back up their claim. In Clark Kent's case, how is he suppose to explain why he is suddenly back among the living? Also, it would not require an investigative reporter to notice that Clark Kent's return coincides with Superman's comeback.
24 It Is Always In The First Place You Look...
Amanda Waller is slightly arrogant. Scratch that, her ego is big enough to swallow Tony Stark or any of John McClane's many antagonists. When one of Waller's employees decides to eradicate mankind, the government official confiscates the Enchantress' heart, which she needs to regain full power and revive her brother, and naturally destroys it.
Better safe than sorry...Wait...
Oh, right, that would have made TOO much sense! Rather than play it smart, Waller hides Enchantress' senzu bean in a lightly guarded room. By the way, did we mention that the Enchantress could teleport? No? Well, the Enchantress can teleport. In a shocking plot twist that would fail to surprise Homer Simpson, the supervillain shimmies into Waller's locked room and activates her power up.
23 Diana's (Confusing) Reason For Abandoning Mankind
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice established that Diana turned her back on humanity because she did not believe that we could stand together. Frankly, she probably has a point, but Wonder Woman states that this decision was made a hundred years prior to the events of Zack Synder's blockbuster.
World War I.
This coincides with Wonder Woman's conclusion and the hero learning that mankind is beyond saving. Wait a minute, that is not what happens! Wonder Woman ends with a group of humans working together to stop a threat that could ruin the entire world and Diana realizing that Ares played a significant role in escalating this conflict. Her solo film's final act even has Wonder Woman delivering a speech about mankind's potential for good! Yet, she still gives up?
22 The Flash's Space Suit Might Be The Most Unrealistic Part Of The Universe
At the beginning of Justice League, Barry Allen is not really working as a full-time superhero. While he does occasionally engage in some acts of heroism, Barry is hesitant to fully commit to the role and has yet to don a costume. Luckily, the college student has been working on one; so, when Bruce comes knocking, Barry is ready to go at a moment's notice. The Flash's suit is pretty sweet, but how did a broke student afford NASA-level material? The metal used in Barry's attire is similar to that of space shuttles. Unlike Batman, Barry does not have a family fortune at his disposal; yet, he managed to put this thing together. Even if the 25-year-old found someone willing to sell the material, it would cost a pretty penny.
21 A (Not So) Top Secret Government Operation
Amanda Waller convinced the US government that she can control her unpredictable group of supervillains and, if the need may arise, take them out. As an operation that is STRICTLY on a need to know basis, the last thing the government would want is for their mission to become public knowledge. At the very least, Waller would need to implement enough safety measures to ensure they maintain plausible deniability.
Maybe, hold off on the government helicopters?
Waller is about as subtle as a bat to the face! No, that is giving her too much credit. Harley Quinn is a trained psychiatrist and a master manipulator, while Waller reacts to every situation by threatening to push a button. What plausible deniability? Waller's squad visit multiple military bases and travel in official government helicopters! In this day and age, photos of this "top secret" team would be circulating the internet by the end of their first day.
20 Well, Ares IS The Original God Of War...
DC and Marvel's lore is built on real-world mythologies. Wonder Woman's backstory harbors back to Ancient Greece, with Ares serving as Diana's Joker. In 2017's film adaptation, DC established that the God of War took out every deity besides Zeus. It is presented as a slide-show and implies that Ares bested them during a single battle. Putting aside whether the gods are immortal or not, the notion that Ares could defeat a combined force of Poseidon, Hera, Hades, and Apollo is absurd! DC's version differs from the source material, but that should have its limits. In Greek mythology, Ares was far from the most powerful god; if he can single-handedly defeat Olympus, Wonder Woman should not stand any chance of winning.
19 Amanda Waller Is A Glass Half-Empty Type Of Person
As Batman tried to form the Justice League, Bruce Wayne helped Amanda Waller set up a contingency plan. Even if Wayne wanted ARGUS' Director to only focus on incarcerated criminals, Waller did not seem interested in asking other metahumans to join Task Force X.
At the time, Cyborg and The Flash were free agents.
Due to her high-ranking status in the government, Waller should have more than enough resources at her disposal to learn about the existence of metahumans. Yet, she narrows her candidate list to villains. To be fair, she has the necessary tools to negotiate and strong arm the likes of Harley Quinn and Boomerang. In some cases, it takes a villain to defeat a villain.
18 How Did Cyborg Start Cyborging?
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice felt like an exercise in excess. DC threw everything at the wall and prayed for something to stick. To give credit where credit is due, the extended cut is a vast improvement over the theatrical version, but it would need to be ten hours long to cover all of the plot holes. For their next big budget mission, DC learned from their earlier mistakes and took a more straightforward approach with Justice League. Rather than trying to shoe-in multiple cameos and an insane Lex Luthor, they let the heroes do what they do best. Sadly, Batman v Superman's stink cannot be easily rinsed off, as Zack Synder's epic included a cameo by a transformed Cyborg. The hero's power derives from a Mother Box, the same box which lay dormant until Superman's date with Doomsday. Batman might be the greatest detective of all time but he is not Doctor Who.
17 Time Sure Flies When You Are In Paradise
Themyscira, or commonly known as Paradise Island, is based on Greek mythology. There actually was a city with the same name that housed Amazons and Wonder Woman's lore is directly tied to the Greek Gods. Diana was born right after the War of the Gods, and Themyscira has been around for more than 2,000 years.
Honestly, we could have used some help during all that time.
It is safe to assume that Amazons are immortal, but what have they been doing for all those years? Despite living for so long, Diana is rather naive and innocent about the way of man, with the other Amazons sheltering the princess from any outside information. Going one further, how do they age? They do grow up normally and then just stop aging? It just seems like Amazonians are masters of twiddling their thumbs and wasting time.
16 The Mother Boxes Situation Could Have Been Handled Better...
In the DCU, Mother Boxes are no laughing matter. The Justice League exists because of these ancient but powerful artifacts; as, Wonder Woman and Batman only invite Cyborg, Aquaman, and Barry into their club due to the boxes being at risk. While their story goes back much further, Justice League includes an awesome flashback showing Steppenwolf fighting for control of the Mother Boxes against a combined army of Atlanteans, Amazonians, humans, and a Green Lantern.
One big dysfunctional family.
Thankfully, the army proves victorious and Steppenwolf is temporarily banished. In order to avoid a sequel, the Mother Boxes are divided among the separate races and hidden somewhere on Earth. Even supposing that Steppenwolf is the worst of their worries, why limit the scavenger hunt to a single planet? With a Green Lantern on the team, they could have easily extended the search parameters to include the entire galaxy!
15 Lex Luthor's Plan Seems Counterproductive
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice needed an excuse for the headlining fight to occur. It would take more than a spilled beverage for Bruce and Clark to trade blows. DC found their answer in Jesse Eisenberg's Lex Luthor, who is driven by a burning hatred for Superman. The intelligent manchild fears Kal-El's extraordinary power, so he plots to turn the public against their savior. When that fails, Luthor creates Doomsday, an uncontrollable monster who is even more powerful than Superman. In the comics, Darkseid was communicating with Luthor, so the scientist created Doomsday as a present for the tyrannical ruler. In exchange, Lex hoped that Darkseid would leave Earth alone. Obviously, his plan did not quite work out, but there was some logic behind his madness. Batman v Superman's Lex is just an idiot.
14 An Exercise In Pointlessness?
As implied by their team name, Amanda Waller considers her unit to be expendable. They are not expected to survive every mission, but that is one reason why the government agrees to Waller's idea. Even if none of the higher ups care about the squad's members, they are still taking a huge risk, one that could lead to dire political consequences. Faced with an impending rejection, Waller and Bruce Wayne say that their squad should be able to handle a Superman-level threat.
Otherwise known as Doomsday.
At best, Diablo and Enchantress might temporarily distract the Kryptonian, but the rest would be about as useful as Hawkeye. Harley Quinn and Killer Croc are barely capable of wrinkling Batman's cape; yet, they are expected to stand a chance against Superman?
13 Diana Plays The Long Game (For No Apparent Reason)
With only a handful of hours on the clock, Justice League had to squeeze in an insane amount of content. DC needed to properly introduce Barry, Victor Stone, and Aquaman to an audience that might not be familiar with the comics. Furthermore, the film set up Steppenwolf's backstory and revived Superman, while also foreshadowing Darkseid's imminent arrival. With so much to get through, the characters often served the needs of the plot rather than themselves. Prior to the formation of the Justice League, Cyborg tails Batman and Wonder Woman to a forest but decides against a confrontation. Later on, Diana reveals that she knew that he was following them. If that was the case, why did the Amazonian let him go? They were searching for metahumans and there was no way to predict if he would re-appear. Diana jeopardized the Justice League by refusing to approach Cyborg.
12 Supersoldiers Are Not What They Used To Be
On paper, Man of Steel launched DC's cinematic universe. Technically, that is the case, but one should not underestimate the importance of Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight trilogy. Even if the beloved director has stepped away from the central chair, Nolan produced and assisted in creating the story for Man of Steel.
The Dark Beard Rises.
In Superman's recent solo trip, the Kryptonian is pitted against Michael Shannon's General Zod, who is deemed their planet's greatest warrior. Krypton partakes in selective breeding, so if someone is born to be a scientist, that is their only calling. The same can be said for Zod and his talent for hitting stuff with his bare hands. Despite the power of genetics, Zod loses against Russel Crowe's Jor-El and, later, falls to Superman. For someone born to fight, Zod's track record is far from impressive.
11 The Flash's Lucky Escape (Not All "Fear" Is Equal)
Parademons are bug-like sentient creatures born from the Mother Boxes. They are under Darkseid's thump, but they generally work for his generals, which includes Steppenwolf. Justice League sees the heroes coming together to defeat a PlayStation 2 boss and his cartoonish minions, with the latter having the ability to feed on fear. Regardless of the person's identity, Parademons are attracted to whoever is the closest to fainting, something that Steppenwolf learns the hard way. Barry Allen's speedster is arguably the best thing in the film, but the hero is ALWAYS scared. There is not a single moment where he feels completely in control of his emotions, yet the Parademons are unable to pick up his scent. As the fastest man on the planet, the Flash does not need any additional plot armor!
10 Fair-Weather Villains
2016's blockbuster centers on Amanda Waller creating a rag-tag group of vigilantes by selecting an array of minor DC villains and Harley Quinn. Despite the majority of the team consisting of insane but normal humans, they were capable of taking down the Enchantress and her god-like brother. If nothing else, DC's reverse Justice League showed they were not particularly willing to go out of their way to "save the world." Still, they work for the US government and, depending on the situation, would be summoned to help in battle.
It is not like they have anything better to do...
With the Parademons running amok, you would think Waller would snap her fingers to form a team of disposable heroes for hire. Yet, the squad is nowhere to be seen during Justice League. It must have been visiting day at Arkham.
9 Oh, Right, The Mother Box! How Could We Forget?
The Mother Boxes are living computers. In other words, they are DC's equivalent to Skynet. They are only really dangerous when manipulated by the wrong people, but the boxes urged Steppenwolf to find and use them. Even if they can be classified as machines, the Mother Boxes are sentient beings. Understandably, the DCU has avoided overexplaining the science behind them, but their importance has been made abundantly clear. Atlantians and Amazonians have spent centuries protecting their respective boxes from Steppenwolf and the Justice League is fully aware of their importance.
Not that they care!
After the Justice League uses a Mother Box to jumpstart Superman's heart, it is sent flying into the distance. In spite of knowing that Steppenwolf was searching for it, Batman and his absent-minded companions completely ignore it! While Clark's homecoming took precedent, one of them could have gone for the box. Wonder Woman and Aquaman should have really known better.
8 English Really Is The Universal Language
When it comes to technology and scientific knowledge, Kryptonians tower over humans. Over the course of Man of Steel, Jol-El and Zod are shown writing or reading a strange language, one that we have to assume acts as the planet's native tongue. Yet, they always speak English, even when there are no Earthlings in close vicinity. Ignoring the correct but boring reason why the filmmakers made this creative choice, it makes no sense for Kryptonians to converse in a foreign language. As they have mastered space travel, it is fully possible they picked up multiple languages from an array of planets to facilitate intergalactic diplomacy, but why push English to the forefront? Kryptonians are a proud race, so it seems unlikely that they would disregard their own dialect for one of Earth's many tongues.
7 Justice League Could Learn A Thing Or Two From Tony Stark
Tony Stark is far from the most level-headed superhero in the business. The scientist's ego deserves its own planet and Tony is often his own worst enemy.
Handing out his personal information to EVERYONE...
At the end of Iron Man, Stark jumps ahead of the curve and outs himself as the eponymous character. Suddenly, the whole world knew his secret identity, but it allowed Tony to exact a bit of control over the situation. If nothing else, this piece of information could not be used against him. Batman and Superman value their private lives, yet the heroes regularly use their real names in public! While nobody seems smart enough to figure out that Superman is just Clark Kent without glasses, some discretion should still be practiced.
6 The Daily Planet's Attempt At Journalism
In those rare moments when he is not saving Lois Lane, Clark works as a journalist. Putting aside whether Superman is qualified for the job, the Daily Planet seems to be run by idiots. In Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Perry White shuts down Clark's plea to investigate Gotham's bat and randomly assigns the sports column to him. As Superman follows nobody's rules but his own, Clark ignores his boss and follows through with the Gotham story. Honestly, where to even begin? Like most jobs, journalists tend to specialize in one field, especially when referring to a huge company like the Daily Planet. A newspaper would have multiple employees who exclusively cover sports, and there would be serious repercussions if a journalist refuses to work on their assigned story! Superman is a decent superhero, but Clark Kent is a terrible journalist.