DC Extended Universe

The DC Extended Universe (often shortened to DCEU) was a fictional shared franchise continuity that began in 2013 with Man of Steel. The series was largely developed by DC Studios, formerly DC Films, since 2016, with fifteen overall films being released. The franchise concluded on December 22, 2023, with the release of Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom.
Following the restructuring of DC Studios and the appointment of James Gunn and Peter Safran in 2022, the franchise will effectively relaunch as a new cinematic universe officially named the DC Universe in 2025.
==Background/Development==
Though officially labelled the DC Extended Universe, a number of the fanbase had taken to calling portions of the franchise the "Snyderverse", mainly revolving around the trilogy of films directed by Zack Snyder - Man of Steel, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Justice League - along with other installments that feature characters from those films. DC Chief Creative Officer Jim Lee later reported in July 2022 there are no plans for Snyder to return for any future projects, effectively ending the so-called "Snyderverse".
The later months of 2022 were a turbulent period for the DC Extended Universe, structural re-arrangement following the spin-off of WarnerMedia by AT&T and its subsequent merger with Discovery Inc. as Warner Bros. Discovery in April 2022. Following the later cancelation of the HBO Max-exclusive DCEU film Batgirl, WB Discovery CEO David Zaslav then stated in August that the newly-merged company has devised a ten-year plan regarding upcoming DCEU films, similar to Marvel Studios' strategy with the Marvel Cinematic Universe under their main producer Kevin Feige. 
In November, following Dwayne Johnson's statement in the previous month that he will serve in an advisory role for the franchise, the former DC Films became DC Studios with James Gunn and Peter Safran announced as its co-CEOs/co-Chairmen, with the two overseeing all future DC projects including film, television, and animation. While working on the studio's 10-year plan, Gunn acknowledged Johnson's previous statements that all creatives involved are determined to listen to the fans, after which the CEO asked fans via his social media page which DC characters they would like to see a part of the franchise in the future.
The same month, James Gunn announced that the new DC movie slate prepared by him and Safran had been finalized, and the few movies from the slate were to be announced in January. He also announced that a new Superman movie was in development, which would focus on a younger version of the hero, and therefore would not be played by Henry Cavill; Cavill confirmed that he would no longer play the character. Johnson confirmed that his character Black Adam would not be part of the first phase of the plans, but may return in future. In January 2023, Variety reported that Gunn and Safran's plan would lay out the first three years of the DC Films, and that it would be a "broad but not blanket reset" for the film franchises.
Gunn and Safran revealed their plans for the newly-titled DC Universe later that January and stated that the first chapter would be titled Chapter One: Gods and Monsters. They also assembled a writer's room featuring Drew Goddard, Jeremy Slater, Christina Hodson, Christal Henry, and Tom King. Projects that are not a part of the shared universe will be branded as "DC Elseworlds". Gunn and Safran also stated that they had offered to let Ezra Miller, Gal Gadot, Jason Momoa and Zachary Levi continue playing the same characters they did in DCEU films.
==​Films==
# 	Title 	Release Date 	Worldwide Gross	RT 	MC
1 	Man of Steel 	June 14, 2013 	$668.0 million 	56%	55%
2 	Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice	March 25, 2016 	$873.2 million 	28%	44%
3 	Suicide Squad 	August 5, 2016 	$745.6 million 	26%	40%
4 	Wonder Woman 	June 2, 2017 	$821.6 million 	93%	76%
5 	Justice League 	November 17, 2017	$657.8 million 	40%	46%
6 	Aquaman 	December 21, 2018	$1.038 billion 	65%	55%
7 	Shazam! 	April 5, 2019 	$364.5 million 	90%	70%
8 	Birds of Prey 	February 7, 2020 	$201.9 million 	78%	60%
9 	Wonder Woman 1984 	December 25, 2020	$166.5 million 	59%	60%
10	The Suicide Squad 	August 5, 2021 	$167.4 million 	90%	72%
11	Black Adam 	October 21, 2022 	$393 million 	38%	41%
12	Shazam! Fury of the Gods 	March 17, 2023 	$133.4 million 	49%	47%
13	The Flash 	June 16, 2023 	$268.5 million 	64%	56%
14	Blue Beetle 	August 18, 2023 	$129.3 million 	78%	61%
15	Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom 	December 20, 2023	TBA 	37%	45%
ManofSteelFinalPoster.jpg|link=Man of Steel|Man of Steel (2013)
Batman v Superman poster.jpg|link=Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice|Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016)
Suicide Squad (film) Poster.png|link=Suicide Squad|Suicide Squad (2016)
Wonder Woman (2017 film).jpg|link=Wonder Woman|Wonder Woman (2017)
Justice League film poster.jpg|link=Justice League|Justice League (2017)
Aquaman-poster.jpg|link=Aquaman|Aquaman (2018)
ShazamTheatrical.jpg|link=Shazam!|Shazam! (2019)
File:BirdsOfPrey2020TeaserPoster.jpg|link=Birds of Prey (2020)|Birds of Prey (2020)
WonderWoman2.jpg|link=Wonder Woman 1984|Wonder Woman 1984 (2020)
ZackSnyderJusticeLeague.png|Zack Snyder's Justice League (2021)
TheSuicideSquadFinal.jpeg|link=The Suicide Squad|The Suicide Squad (2021)
Black Adam main theatrical poster.jpeg|link=Black Adam|Black Adam (2022)
Shazam Fury of the Gods main poster.jpeg|link=Shazam! Fury of the Gods|Shazam! Fury of the Gods (2023)
The Flash poster 2.jpeg|link=The Flash|The Flash (2023)
Blue Beetle theatrical poster.jpeg|link=Blue Beetle|Blue Beetle (2023)
Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom official poster.jpeg|link=Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom|Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom (2023)
 	DC Extended Universe
Films 	Man of Steel (2013), Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016), Suicide Squad (2016), Wonder Woman (2017), Justice League (2017), Aquaman (2018), Shazam! (2019), Birds of Prey (2020), Wonder Woman 1984 (2020), Zack Snyder's Justice League (2021), The Suicide Squad (2021), Black Adam (2022), Shazam! Fury of the Gods (2023), The Flash (2023), Blue Beetle (2023), Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom (2023)
Cancelled and Reworked Films	Batgirl, Ben Affleck's The Batman, Batman Beyond, Black Adam 2, Crisis on Infinite Earths, Cyborg, Deathstroke, Green Lantern, Harley Quinn vs. the Joker, untitled Joker film, Krypton, Man of Steel 2, New Gods, untitled Black Manta film, Supergirl, The Wonder Twins, Wonder Woman 3
===Timeline===
;Movies' chronology
Film 	Year of story	Year of release
Saga 	Saga 	Saga
Wonder Woman 	1918 	2017
Wonder Woman 1984 	1984 	2020
Man of Steel 	2013 	2013
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice	2015 	2016
Suicide Squad 	2016 	2016
Justice League 	2017 	2017
Aquaman 	2018 	2018
Shazam! 	2018 	2019
Birds of Prey 	2020 	2020
The Suicide Squad 	2020 	2021
Black Adam 	2021 	2022
Shazam! Fury of the Gods 	2021 	2023
The Flash 	2022 	2023
Blue Beetle 	2023 	2023
Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom 	2023 	2023
Category:Film series
Category:Warner Bros. franchises
Category:Franchises