THE UDC
is only at the beginning of its history, but even in Creature Commands
the franchise is playing fast and loose with the Justice League. While James Gunn is creating a new superhero franchise to rival the MCU, it's difficult to see a clear plan for characters like the Justice League. Gunn has made it clear that he wants to ensure each script and story is polished before moving forward with casting and hiring directors, but this could also seriously affect the timing of events going forward.
For example, despite announcing the new Superman film and the next Batman film at the same time, in January 2023, Superman is scheduled to hit theaters in July 2025, while Batman is still awaiting a script. Furthermore, Gunn said that Superman it wasn't made with any effort to set up future stories, and as noble as that is, when it comes to building a shared universe, it seems like at least some consideration needs to be given to the future. However, there are more things happening in the current DCU canon that are adding more insult to injury when it comes to the Justice League.
Peacemaker is DCU Canon, so the Justice League Cameo makes no sense
The Canon DCU is already a complicated mess
As a writer and creator of PeacemakerIt's unlikely that Gunn will throw away the hard work he put into making Season 1. So instead, he's doing season 2 and offered a statement that canon in the DCU is kind of fluid, and when things are mentioned or referenced, then they become canon. But with Peacemaker having a second season that picks up where the first left offand a brief special appearance in Creature Commands episode 4, when Circe reveals her vision, it seems that Peacemaker the first season is now officially canon.
But the first season ended with great cameos from four of the Justice League's main players. Aquaman, Wonder Woman, Superman, and Flash arrive shortly after Peacemaker and the team take care of business, which indicates that Peacemaker is very aware of these heroes. But will this moment be deleted, edited or simply ignored? Whatever the case, it's weird to just pretend like nothing happened.
Creature Commandos kills the Justice League
And defeated by a powerless princess from Pokolistan
Next, in Creature Commands episode 4, Circe has a vision of the future, with Princess Ilana becoming a major threat as she seeks to dominate the world. This human woman, who rules a small country without advanced technology, is supposedly capable of working with Gorilla Grodd, another supervillain, and taking down the entire Justice League. It doesn't make sense, unless the Justice League is incredibly weak.
The problem with killing off the Justice League so early, even in a vision that will almost certainly be replaced, is that it really undervalues ​​the heroes who are supposed to be the world's greatest. Yes, it helps establish the severity of the threat and raises the stakes for characters like the Creature Commandos, but without any forward thinking, this doesn't really add value to the Justice League. And if the DCU wants to make the shared universe idea work, it needs to treat its tentpole heroes better.
The Justice League needs better care in the DCU than insults
The Justice League is considered the best superheroes
THE The Justice League is made up of some of the most powerful individuals in any fictional story. They stand out as a group of divine beings among men, who protect, preserve and inspire the rest of the world. And the fanbase that exists for these characters is incredibly dedicated to the heroes in a way that creates big, emphatic responses to how they're treated in various forms of media. So if the DCU doesn't treat them well, fans won't be happy about it.
If the DCU doesn't start looking to the future, thinking about how these stories will impact each other, and how using the biggest and best heroes as one story in an animated series that follows several relatively unknown characters could actually harm the heroes, it could be in a world of problems. The DCEU hasn't had much luck with its version of heroes, bickering and struggling to find common ground after being brought together with little to no prior development, but the DCU has a chance to get things right. If they can learn from the mistake of using the Justice League as drama bait in Creature Commandsthey still have time to turn this around.
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