The Justice League, whose failure was attributed to Zack Snyder's departure during production.
After much campaigning, Warner Bros. finally released Zack Snyder's original cut of the movie in 2021, simply titled Zack Snyder's Justice League. The highly-anticipated 4-hour director's cut included a number of aspects that outline Snyder's original vision not just for the movie itself but for the future of the DCEU, and it received a far better critical appraisal than the theatrical cut. Snyder's darker, grittier vision for the DCEU is one that promised an exploration of Justice League's teased Knightmare storyline, a dark future in which Superman turns evil (heavily inspired by the "Injustice" storyline of the comics).
As Zack Snyder's Justice League is not considered DCEU canon, the franchise is free to go in a very different direction than Snyder had originally planned. This is actually a much better option - Snyder's Knightmare was intriguing, but there's actually a very good narrative reason that the storyline can't go ahead. What's more, pursuing the dark future that Snyder had planned would only feed into some of the biggest criticisms of the DCEU, and therefore being able to organically move on from the Knightmare is one of the franchise's biggest blessings.
Snyder's Knightmare Is Done – Now The DCEU Needs To Move On
As there have been calls to restore the Snyderverse, the idea of exploring Snyder's planned story is undoubtedly interesting to Warner Bros., but it would actually be far better not to. The first tease of the Knightmare future came in Batman v Superman, and since then, Ben Affleck's Batman has worked tirelessly to prevent it from occurring. As Affleck is soon set to leave the DCEU, perhaps the best way to see his character off would be to have him die averting the Knightmare once and for all, fulfilling his goal and preventing Snyder's dark future in one single narrative stroke.
However, it's entirely possible that the Knightmare has already been averted. Steppenwolf's defeat in Justice League could plausibly have averted Snyder's planned future, and therefore, there's no need for the DCEU to venture toward the Snyderverse. To do so would be to continue along the same path that led to the DCEU's divisive nature: though there is a vocal contingent pushing for Snyder's ideas to influence the DCEU's future, there are many who consider his movies too dark and gritty. Moving away from Snyder's Knightmare idea would allow the DCEU to better find a middle ground on which it can do its characters justice.
Though Zack Snyder shaped the earliest part of the DCEU, his lack of involvement presents an opportunity for the franchise. Ultimately, Snyder's DCEU movies are flawed, particularly as so much story was crammed into just a handful of movies. However, the franchise's current story is now at a perfect crossroads, which serves as a chance for the DCEU to move on from Snyder's Knightmare. Distancing the franchise from the plans of Snyder - who's no longer involved with the DCEU - might just prove its best chance to fix its divisive nature.
