The DCEU (DC Prolonged Universe) is sort of a messy timeline to untangle, particularly when you think about that some motion pictures don’t match into the general canon.
Nevertheless, when you’re seeking to brush up in your DC information forward of the discharge of The Flash in June, then watching a few of the earlier movies will assist.
You might be happy to listen to that this checklist is nowhere close to as sprawling and complex because the MCU – we even have a information for watching the Marvel motion pictures so as.
Beneath, now we have guides for watching the DCEU in chronological order, launch date order and explanations of which movies don’t match into the DCEU.
Tips on how to watch the DCEU movies and TV reveals in chronological order
A number of the movies within the DCEU are very straightforward to put within the fictional timeline. For instance, Marvel Lady is ready throughout WWI, so it’s simply the oldest story.
Nevertheless, some are barely trickier to put, with solely small easter eggs just like the newspaper headline about Superman returning in Shazam! making a gift of after they roughly happen.
Right here is the simplified order – although now we have some additional notes beneath:
- Marvel Lady
- Marvel Lady 1984
- Man of Metal
- Batman v Superman: Daybreak of Justice
- Suicide Squad
- Justice League
- Aquaman
- Shazam!
- Birds of Prey
- The Suicide Squad
- Peacemaker season one
- Black Adam
- Shazam! Fury of the Gods
While Marvel Lady largely takes place throughout WWI, the opening and shutting scenes inside it are set after Batman v Superman. Equally, Marvel Lady 1984 options scenes of younger Diana, which might happen earlier than the primary movie.
Batman v Superman additionally includes a flashback to a personality’s previous, as does Peacemaker. Some movies return even additional, with each Justice League and Black Adam having scenes set hundreds of years up to now.
These niggles apart, that is the cleanest technique to watch the movies within the fictional timeline order.
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Tips on how to watch the DCEU movies in launch date order
For those who’d favor to expertise the DCEU as followers did – watching each movie and collection as and after they launched – then that is additionally an choice. Right here is the total checklist, together with the yr that every movie/collection got here out:
- Man of Metal (2013)
- Batman v Superman: Daybreak of Justice (2016)
- Suicide Squad (2016)
- Marvel Lady (2017)
- Justice League (2017)
- Aquaman (2018)
- Shazam! (2019)
- Birds of Prey (2020)
- Marvel Lady 1984 (2020)
- Zack Snyder’s Justice League (2021)
- The Suicide Squad (2021)
- Peacemaker, season one (2022)
- Black Adam (2022)
- Shazam: Fury of the Gods (2023)
Is Zack Snyder’s Justice League a part of the DCEU?
The Snyder Reduce of Justice League launched on HBO Max in 2021. Zack Snyder was the unique director on the 2017 model of Justice League, however stepped down resulting from a private tragedy and artistic variations with Warner Bros.
After a number of fan campaigns, a four-hour alternate model of Justice League was launched. While the reduce is basically thought-about to be higher than the unique, it’s technically not canon – and subsequently doesn’t have a spot in our watch lists.
Nonetheless, you may swap out the unique Justice League for the Snyder Reduce, do you have to favor.
Which DC movies aren’t a part of the DCEU?
For those who’re questioning about why Matt Reeves’s The Batman and Todd Phillips’s Joker don’t seem on this checklist, that’s as a result of they aren’t thought-about to be a part of the DCEU – they’re standalone initiatives.
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James Gunn and Peter Safran are at the moment within the means of reshaping the DCEU (and altering it to simply the DCU), and Gunn confirmed on Twitter that going ahead, these movies and future sequels/spin-offs from them will fall below the DC Elseworlds banner.
Equally, older DC and Batman movies (akin to those starring the likes of Michael Keaton and George Clooney) aren’t thought-about a part of the DCEU both.
That mentioned, Keaton is because of reprise his function as Batman from one other multiverse within the subsequent DCU movie, The Flash. If you wish to put together for that movie (which releases on 16 June 2023), then now we have a information on what to look at.
The place to stream all of the DCEU movies and collection
Within the US, most of those movies may be watched on HBO Max, which is ready to rebranded to Max later this month. Accounts price $9.99 per thirty days for an ad-supported subscription, or $14.99 for an ad-free one – enroll on the HBO Max web site.
UK viewers can watch the flicks above both on Sky Cinema, or by way of Now’s Cinema Membership, which prices £9.99 per thirty days.
If a movie isn’t in your native streaming service, then you may all the time hire or purchase them from the likes of Amazon and Google Play.
All of the upcoming DCU movies and TV collection
Wanting forward, there are quite a few initiatives introduced by Gunn and Safran – together with a number of function movies due for launch this yr. Listed here are the flicks and collection that it is best to have in your radar:
- The Flash – 16 June 2023
- Blue Beetle – 18 August 2023
- Aquaman and the Misplaced Kingdom – 20 December 2023
- Superman: Legacy – July 11, 2025
- Peacemaker season 2 – TBC
- Supergirl: Lady of Tomorrow – TBC
- Lanterns – TBC
- Creature Commandos – TBC
- Waller – TBC
- The Authority – TBC
- Paradise Misplaced – TBC
- The Courageous and the Daring – TBC
- Booster Gold – TBC
- Swamp Factor – TBC