History WhatCouldHaveBeen / DCExtendedUniverse

* A Cyborg film was in development during the early years of the DCEU, but languished in DevelopmentHell afer the initial announcement. After several years of no updates, the movie was put on indefinite hold in 2021 due to Creator/RayFisher's dispute with DC Films president Walter Hamada over the latter's handling of the investigation on the ''Justice League'' reshoots, and said he would only return if either Hamada changes his mind and ultimately put the ''Justice League'' sequel in production with Snyder back at the helm or Hamada left DC Films. While Hamada did ultimately leave the company following WB’s merger with Discovery, the subsequent formation of Creator/DCStudios and the announcement of a ContinuityReboot for the franchise rendered the entire situation moot.

** A solo ''Comicbook/BlackCanary'' movie written and directed by ''Series/LovecraftCountry'''s Creator/MishaGreen, with Creator/JurneeSmollettBell reprising her role from ''Film/BirdsOfPrey''.

** A solo ''Comicbook/BlackCanary'' movie written and directed by ''Series/LovecraftCountry'''s Misha Green, with Creator/JurneeSmollettBell reprising her role from ''Film/BirdsOfPrey''.

** A solo ''Comicbook/BlackCanary'' movie written and directed by ''Series/LovecraftCountry'''s Misha Green, with Creator/JurneeSmollettBell reprising her role from ''Film/BirdsOfPrey''.'

** A solo ''Comicbook/BlackCanary'' movie written and directed by ''Creator/LovecraftCountry'''s Misha Green, with Creator/JurneeSmollettBell reprising her role from ''Film/BirdsOfPrey''.'

* A Cyborg film was in development during the early years of the DCEU, but languished in DevelopmentHell afer the initial announcement. After several years of no updates, the movie was put on indefinite hold in 2021 due to Creator/RayFisher's dispute with DC Films president Walter Hamada over the latter's handling of the investigation on the ''Justice League'' reshoots, and said he would only return if either Hamada changes his mind and ultimately put the ''Justice League'' sequel in production with Snyder back at the helm or Hamada leaves DC Films.

[[folder:''Justice League Dark'']]
* Originally planned to be a film titled ''Dark Universe'' with Creator/GuillermoDelToro set to write and direct when it was first announced back in 2014 before del Toro left a year later with Creator/DougLiman replacing him in 2016 until Liman left a year later before it was decided that it would be a TV series on Creator/HBOMax in 2020, only to end up scrapped.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:''Val-Zod'']]
* Creator/MichaelBJordan proposed a project as a film focusing on the Val-Zod incarnation of Superman, then it morphed into a TV series, then nothing moved further.
[[/folder]]

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* Creator/JamesGunn was offered a directing job on one of the films (without specifying which film it was), but turned it down after being thoroughly unimpressed with the script. He was later offered to direct a new ''Superman'' movie (though, according to Gunn, it was ''not'' specifically ''Man of Steel 2'') or a ''Suicide Squad'' sequel. Gunn chose the latter.
* In 2018, Creator/HenryCavill confirmed the long-standing fan speculation that if the ''Man of Steel'' sequel had been made, it would have focused strongly on Clark's guilt at killing Zod, and him vowing that it would ''never'' happen again as he would always strive to find a way to stop his enemies without killing them, no matter how impossible it seemed. Cavill says that the film would have likely featured a more optimistic tone, with Superman's characterization closer to the one most people associate with the character. Furthermore, Creator/ChristopherMcQuarrie confirmed that he and Cavill had pitched a ''Man of Steel'' sequel, as well as a connected ''Green Lantern'' movie, but that WB had passed on both proposals.

* Snyder pitched two comic book projects set in the "Snyderverse." One would have been a prequel mini-series detailing Comicbook/{{Robin}}'s murder at the hands of the Joker, while the other was an adaptation of his original plans for ''Justice League 2'' and ''3'' with Creator/JimLee on art duties.

** Zack Snyder's vision for the DCEU was largely different than what we have gotten so far - [[https://www.cbr.com/zack-snyder-dceu-movie-arc-epic-emotional/ his story]] would've had a 5-movie arc (said arc would've consisted of ''Man of Steel'', ''Batman v Superman'', ''Justice League'' and its sequel, and an unnamed 5th movie, possibly a ''third'' ''Justice League'' movie). However, due to him leaving Warner Bros, it's likely that said arc will become an AbortedArc. Among other plans he had for the DCEU:

* A Cyborg film was in development during the early years of the DCEU, but languished in DevelopmentHell afer the initial announcement. After several years of no updates, the movie was put on indefinite hold in 2021 due to Creator/RayFisher's dispute with DC Films president Walter Hamada over the latter's handling of the investigation on the ''Justice League'' reshoots, and said he would only return if either Hamada changes his mind and ultimately put the ''Justice League'' sequel in production with Snyder back at the helm or Hamada leaves DC Films.

!! Future Projects
* ''Trivia/AquamanAndTheLostKingdom''

* Creator/JossWhedon was originally attached to write and direct the movie before [[Film/BadBoysForLife Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah]] were hired, but dropped out following the release of ''{{Film/Justice League|2017}}'', citing difficulties in coming up with a suitable story.
* In August 2022 it was revealed that the film was canned by Creator/WarnerBrosDiscovery despite being in post-production. There were many rumored but unconfirmed reasons why, from reportedly negative screenings of the film to executives wanting to focus on theatrical releases, but one of those reasons resulted in WBD declaring it "irredeemable" and cancelled its release, not even sending it to Creator/HBOMax as originally planned. It was later revealed that David Zaslav, the current CEO of WBD, wanting to streamline certain aspects of HBO Max and the contingent of DC superhero movies, felt that not only was the movie costing way too much for a streaming film and it was far too late to adjust for theaters, its superhero lineup should be used to lead up to "event movies".

** [[Creator/AdilElArbiAndBilallFallah Bilall Fallah]] later revealed that he and Creator/{{Adil el Arbi|And Bilall Fallah}} had attempted to download the footage from the Warner Bros. servers to save a copy but by the time they tried their access had been revoked. It's unclear whether the film has been moved somewhere secure or if the studio has [[MissingEpisode permanently wiped the footage]]. Considering it cost $90 million to produce, it is one of the most expensive unreleased films ever made.

* It was originally planned to be a film titled ''Dark Universe'' with Creator/GuillermoDelToro set to write and direct when it was first announced back in 2014 before del Toro left a year later with Creator/DougLiman replacing him in 2016 until Liman left a year later before it was decided that it would be a TV series on Creator/HBOMax in 2020.

* Creator/MichaelBJordan originally conceived the project as a film focusing on the Val-Zod incarnation of Superman but due to the busy schedule, it became a TV series on Creator/HBOMax.

* A Cyborg film was in development during the early years of the DCEU before it was put on indefinite hold in 2021 due to Creator/RayFisher's dispute with DC Films president Walter Hamada over the latter's handling of the investigation on the ''Justice League'' reshoots and said he would only return if either Hamada changes his mind and ultimately put the ''Justice League'' sequel in production with Snyder back at the helm or Hamada leaves DC Films.

** Bilall Fallah later revealed that he and el Arbi had attempted to download the footage from the Warner Bros. servers to save a copy but by the time they tried their access had been revoked. It's unclear whether the film has been moved somewhere secure or if the studio has [[MissingEpisode permanently wiped the footage]]. Considering it cost $90 million to produce, it is one of the most expensive unreleased films ever made.

** Zack Snyder's vision for the DCEU was largely different than what we have gotten so far - [[https://www.cbr.com/zack-snyder-dceu-movie-arc-epic-emotional/ his story]] would've had a 5-movie arc (said arc would've consisted of ''Man of Steel'', ''Batman v Superman'', ''Justice League'' and it's sequel, and an unnamed 5th movie, possibly a ''third'' ''Justice League'' movie). However, due to him leaving Warner Bros, it's likely that said arc will become an AbortedArc. Among other plans he had for the DCEU:

*** [[https://screenrant.com/justice-league-2-zack-snyder-canceled-plot-details/ His vision]] for a ''Justice League 2'' would've featured ComicBook/{{Darkseid}}, who would've been teased at in the first ''Justice League'' movie (it happened in ''Film/ZackSnydersJusticeLeague''), and as a whole, would've likely taken inspiration from ''ComicBook/FinalCrisis'', since the history lesson scene in ''Justice League'' is hinted to contain the Anti-Life Equation. Although Darkseid is confirmed to exist due to Steppenwolf, one of his underlings, mentioning him, he ended up scrapped from the film. He was later reinstated in Snyder's version.

* ''Series/{{Krypton}}'' was originally planned to be a prequel to ''Film/ManOfSteel'', taking place 200 years before the film, thus it would've served as the first DCEU TV series but it was revised during production when Creator/GeoffJohns took over as chairman of DC Films and thus it became a completely standalone Creator/DCComics adaptation with no official connections to the DCEU.

* The ultimate "What Could Have Been", previously mentioned above, has got to be Creator/GeorgeMiller's ''Script/JusticeLeagueMortal''. This idea would've launched the DCEU long before either ''Man of Steel'' or ''Green Lantern'', for that matter. Hell, it would've launched the idea of a Super Hero Cinematic Universe before Iron Man would, being planned shortly after ''Film/SupermanReturns''. It would've had a line-up closer to the original one in the comics (Martian Manhunter and Green Lantern are present instead of Cyborg), would've been set in a universe separate from both ''Returns'' and the Nolan ''Batman'' movies, and would've featured Talia Al Ghul (predating her appearance in ''Film/TheDarkKnightRises'') and Maxwell Lord (who would show up in ''Film/WonderWoman1984'') as the main villains, and ended with the true formation of the team in the present day. The plot is ''very'' different from the DCEU we got (it was an adaptation of the ''OMAC Project'' storyline that led into ''Comicbook/InfiniteCrisis''), although it does have one common element with ''Batman v Superman'' - [[spoiler: a member of the League dies in the movie in a HeroicSacrifice - however, in ''Mortal'', it would've been Barry Allen, who sacrificed himself to defeat Maxwell Lord, and he would've been replaced by Wally West, who would've been established in this movie]]. What ultimately derailed the movie was the 2007-2008 Writer's Guild Strike, which had the film put on indefinite hiatus (since Warner Bros wanted to perfect the script, which was impossible during said strike), and by the time production on ''Green Lantern'' had begun, it's clear that they had abandoned the idea. The 2008-2009 Stock Market Crash also caused funds for the movie to dry up, leaving its production on standstill. According to Armie Hammer (who would've portrayed Bruce Wayne[=/=]Batman in that film), the film would've been rather dark, having a Batman closer to the Christian Bale one than the George Clooney, Val Kilmer, or Michael Keaton ones, and would've had a high body count. The script was leaked online, although it's been summarized [[https://batman.wikia.com/wiki/Justice_League:_Mortal here]].

* The ultimate "What Could Have Been", previously mentioned above, has got to be Creator/GeorgeMiller's ''Justice League: Mortal''. This idea would've launched the DCEU long before either ''Man of Steel'' or ''Green Lantern'', for that matter. Hell, it would've launched the idea of a Super Hero Cinematic Universe before Iron Man would, being planned shortly after ''Film/SupermanReturns''. It would've had a line-up closer to the original one in the comics (Martian Manhunter and Green Lantern are present instead of Cyborg), would've been set in a universe separate from both ''Returns'' and the Nolan ''Batman'' movies, and would've featured Talia Al Ghul (predating her appearance in ''Film/TheDarkKnightRises'') and Maxwell Lord (who would show up in ''Film/WonderWoman1984'') as the main villains, and ended with the true formation of the team in the present day. The plot is ''very'' different from the DCEU we got (it was an adaptation of the ''OMAC Project'' storyline that led into ''Comicbook/InfiniteCrisis''), although it does have one common element with ''Batman v Superman'' - [[spoiler: a member of the League dies in the movie in a HeroicSacrifice - however, in ''Mortal'', it would've been Barry Allen, who sacrificed himself to defeat Maxwell Lord, and he would've been replaced by Wally West, who would've been established in this movie]]. What ultimately derailed the movie was the 2007-2008 Writer's Guild Strike, which had the film put on indefinite hiatus (since Warner Bros wanted to perfect the script, which was impossible during said strike), and by the time production on ''Green Lantern'' had begun, it's clear that they had abandoned the idea. The 2008-2009 Stock Market Crash also caused funds for the movie to dry up, leaving its production on standstill. According to Armie Hammer (who would've portrayed Bruce Wayne[=/=]Batman in that film), the film would've been rather dark, having a Batman closer to the Christian Bale one than the George Clooney, Val Kilmer, or Michael Keaton ones, and would've had a high body count. The script was leaked online, although it's been summarized [[https://batman.wikia.com/wiki/Justice_League:_Mortal here]].

** Zack Snyder's vision for the DCEU was largely different than what we have gotten so far - [[https://www.cbr.com/zack-snyder-dceu-movie-arc-epic-emotional/ his story]] would've had a 5-movie arc (said arc would've consisted of ''Man of Steel'', ''Batman v Superman'', ''Justice League'' and it's sequel, and an unnamed 5th mo9vie, possibly a ''third'' ''Justice League'' movie). However, due to him leaving Warner Bros, it's likely that said arc will become an AbortedArc. Among other plans he had for the DCEU:

* Trivia/AquamanAndTheLostKingdom

** Zack Snyder's vision for the DCEU was largely different than what we have gotten so far - [[https://www.cbr.com/zack-snyder-dceu-movie-arc-epic-emotional/ his story]] would've had a 5-movie arc (said arc would've consisted of ''Man of Steel'', ''Batman v Superman'', ''Justice League'' and it's sequel, and an unnamed 5th movie, possibly a ''third'' ''Justice League'' movie). However, due to him leaving Warner Bros, it's likely that said arc will become an AbortedArc. Among other plans he had for the DCEU:

[[folder:''Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom'']]
* The film was originally titled ''Aquaman 2'' during preproduction and filming before it was changed to its current title in June 2021.
[[/folder]]

* ''Trivia/{{Blue Beetle|2023}}''

* ''Trivia/{{BlueBeetle|2023}}''