The DCEU is constantly in the news as countless rumors, speculations, scandals and behind the scenes issues continue to stunt its development. As of 2013, Warner Brothers has released five DC movies -- Man of Steel, Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, Suicide Squad, Wonder Woman and Justice League. Parallel to the movie universe, DC Comics has also built a television universe over at The CW network, which operates completely separately from the DCEU -- for better or for worse. As if the DCEU needed more competition, and from its flesh and blood no less, the fans keep on pitting the DCEU against the Arrowverse.

Comparisons between these two DC universes and the characters that occupy them often turn into heated arguments. Disappointed with how the DCEU handled some of their favorite characters -- such as Superman, the fans have turned their attention to the Arrowverse. It may not have the large scale or a big budget, but at the very least it knows how to accurately depict comic book characters and tell good stories. But, what is it that draws the fans away from the DCEU and towards the Arrowverse? Well, let's take a closer look at what the Arrowverse is doing that the DCEU isn't.

17 DOES SUPERMAN RIGHT

Superman

After tiptoeing around Superman for an entire season, Supergirl finally brought the Last Son of Krypton on board in season two. When Tyler Hoechlin was first cast in the role it caused some turmoil among fans. The skepticism did not dissipate till the moment we finally got to see Hoechlin in action. What we saw gave us much-needed hope and joy.

Unlike Snyder and Cavill’s take on the Man of Steel, Supergirl’s Clark Kent is cheerful, hopeful, smiling, inspiring, and overall an absolute delight.

Hoechlin’s portrayal perfectly captured the essence of Superman, drawing inspiration from Christopher Reeves without sacrificing freshness. The TV Superman is everything Henry Cavill’s Superman isn’t but should be. Watching Hoechlin's Supes team up with Melissa Benoist’s Supergirl is exhilarating. We hope the DCEU is watching and taking notes.

16 MORE TIME TELL STORIES AND DEVELOP CHARACTERS

More Time

Perhaps the biggest advantage movies have over television is the budget. Money does make a difference and, obviously, huge Hollywood movies have much more to spend than TV shows. But while important, money isn’t everything. And just like movies have the advantage when it comes to budget, television has its own perks -- it has more time.

A two-hour long movie, or even a three-hour long movie, can’t compare to 100 episodes of television. With more time, TV shows can flesh out the characters, create compelling villains and tell a gripping story all the while dealing with various subplots. It may be an unfair comparison, but the fact that the Arrowverse has more time allows for its characters to be far more nuanced. Something that the DCEU heroes lack. In the Arrowverse, even the supporting characters get to have their story told.

15 SUCCESSFULLY MAKES USE OF THE MULTIVERSE

Multiverse

The DCEU had a somewhat solid start with Man of Steel, but much of the subsequent movies failed to meet expectations. After lackluster performances of Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, Suicide Squad and especially the highly anticipated Justice League, the DCEU seems to be taking a new direction -- the Multiverse. Although, if you're expecting something similar to the Arrowverse you shouldn't get your hopes up.

The Arrowverse has made excellent use of the Multiverse by introducing characters from different Earths, travelling to those Earths even, and last but not least making a four-hour crossover spectacle in which all the heroes united to fight Nazis from Earth-X. With such a successful use of the Multiverse the Arrowverse managed to replicate the atmosphere of the comics.

14 COMPELLING VILLAINS

Villains

The problem with villains is not specific to DC movies. Even Marvel movies, which are mostly praised by the critics and audience alike, often suffer form having one-dimensional and boring villains. While the villains we see on Marvel and DC TV are far more fleshed out and interesting. The DCEU movies have been criticized for their uncompelling villains, while the Arrowverse villains are mostly met with praise.

Whereas the DCEU opts for CGI monstrosities with no depth, the Arrowverse gives us multifaceted characters like Deathstroke and Reverse-Flash.

Suicide Squad's Enchantress is one of the most generic, boring and forgettable DC movie villains. On the other hand, villains like Supergirl’s Reign or Arrow’s Prometheus are fully developed characters with multiple traits, their own stories, and clear motivations and goals. And because of that they feel more real and intimidating.

13 DOES MORE WITH SMALLER CHARACTERS

Minor Characters

Over the years, the Arrowverse has introduced an astounding number of comic book characters, both big and small. Arrow borrowed a lot of characters from Batman comics, The Flash introduced us to three generations of the Flash as well as tones of Flash rogues -- such as Mirror Master, the Trickster, Weather Wizard, and so on. Supergirl gave us awesome female characters like Miss Martian, Livewire, and Maggie Sawyer. While Legends of Tomorrow promoted the B team to main cast.

So far, the DCEU has failed to use these minor, or at least lesser known comic book characters, successfully. While this shortcoming can be excused on the grounds that the Arrowverse simply has more time to dedicate to smaller characters, it doesn’t change the fact that the fans love seeing the little guy get some spotlight too. And the Arrowverse can provide that.

12 ADAPTING COMIC BOOK STORYLINES

Flashpoint

The Arrowverse may be under a lot of restrictions from Warner Brothers but that sure doesn’t stop it from adapting iconic comic book storylines. Understandably, for obvious reasons neither one of the shows can follow the comics panel for panel, but that’s where the true beauty of these adaptations comes into play. The creativity the writers continue to demonstrate in their efforts to adapt stories like "Flashpoint" and "Crisis on Earth-X" is admirable.

The creative minds behind the Arrowverse care about bringing these awesome stories to the small screen and they don’t scare easily. They take risks adapting comic book storylines that the fans have grown to love, and more often than not that risk pays off. As was the case with "Crisis on Earth-X".

11 COMIC BOOK ACCURATE COSTUMES

The Flash

Superhero costumes in any live-action adaptation are always a point of contention among fans. Even more so, if said adaptation is produced on a TV budget. On the basis of prior experience with TV costumes, we were a bit skeptical about The CW's ability to accurately depict our beloved comic book characters.

As it turned out, we had nothing to worry about because the Arrowverse features some of the most comic book accurate costumes out there.

Sure, there are adjustments here and there, but characters like Flash, Green Arrow, Supergirl, Deathstroke, Reverse-Flash and so many more look as true to the comics as possible. On the other hand, the Flash in the DCEU wears something similar to armor -- inspired by the character design from the Injustice video game. And while comic book accuracy isn’t a must, it is often appreciated.

10 CHARACTER GROWTH

Character Growth

Any good story requires character growth. If the protagonist reaches the endpoint of their journey without developing as a person then the entire journey was utterly pointless. Character growth is far more easily and believably achieved in a longer television format than in what is basically an action movie.

Writers on TV series can take their time to develop characters properly with thought and finesse. Arrow's Oliver Queen used to be an irresponsible playboy whose life revolved around women and getting wasted. However, through his flashbacks we got to see how Lian Yu turned him into this new person. Even now, we continue to watch Oliver grow as a person -- refusing to kill people, becoming a father and a husband, and becoming an inspiring hero. The DCEU mostly skips this part, for the sake of cramming in as many characters and plotlines as possible in two hours of film.

9 PROPERLY PACED DEVELOPMENT

The Flash Arrow

Arguably, the biggest mistake Warner Brothers made with the DCEU is trying to catch up to Marvel. It’s unreasonable to expect the DCEU to catch up to a franchise that had a five-year head start and during that time released six movies. Still, the DCEU tried to play catch-up with the MCU and in doing so introduced way too many characters and plotlines all at once.

In contrast, the Arrowverse started with a single show and no one had any grand expectations that it would develop into what it is now. But the CW and Greg Berlanti took their time and slowly built their universe. Grant Gustin was first introduced on Arrow before getting his own show in order to test the water. The initial lineup of Legends of Tomorrow consisted mostly of already familiar characters because the moment wasn't right to introduce a whole bunch of new characters.

8 KNOWS HOW TO HAVE FUN

Fun

The one glaring difference absolutely everyone notices between the Arrowverse and the DCEU is their strikingly different tone. While Snyder’s grim universe has little to no time for jokes and lighthearted fun, the Arrowverse is much lighter and well balanced.

While there are disparities between each show, with Arrow being a bit more serious than the rest, all four shows contain a healthy dose of humor.

The Arrowverse is not ashamed of its own silliness, campiness and at times absurdity. On the other hand, the DCEU, for the most part, goes out of its way to escape from its very roots and establish itself as a dark, humorless, hopeless universe. But Snyder's bleak concoction doesn’t work in today's society, which lives for bathos, cynicism, and dry humor.

7 HAS MORE HEART

Has More heart

With the exception of Wonder Woman, the DCEU movies continuously fail to deliver the emotional heft that the comic books they’re based on managed to achieve. If you need an example of how mishandled the supposed emotional moments in the DCEU are, you needn’t look further than the dreaded "Martha" scene from Batman v. Superman -- a moment that will probably cause us to cringe for as long as we live.

On the other hand, the Arrowverse knows how to give us the feels -- so to speak. From Barry going back in time and watching the Reverse-Flash murder his mother in the first season of The Flash and Alex coming out in season two of Supergirl, to the fine details like the bonds between siblings and friends, the Arrowverse demonstrates time and again that it has heart.

6 PAYING HOMAGE

Paying Homage

Hollywood’s pumping out remakes and reboots like there’s no tomorrow, Netflix’s most successful original series is an homage to everything we hold dear about the 1980s, and an entire movie about pop culture and easter eggs topped Easter weekend box office.

As a society we have a serious case of nostalgia high.

The people behind the Arrowverse are aware of this and know how to use it. John Wesley Shipp, Lynda Carter, Dean Cain, and Teri Hatcher are just some of the actors who portrayed DC Comics characters in the shows from the '70s, '80s and '90s that made appearances in the Arrowverse. The shows themselves often reference that which came before. For instance, Supergirl’s line from the crossover "General, would you care to step outside?" is taken straight from Superman II. The Arrowverse doesn't shy away from paying homage and we're loving it.

5 THE CROSSOVERS

Crossovers

For the majority of the season the four Arrowverse shows operate as separate entities -- each dealing with its own main story as well as several subplots without too much interaction with the rest of the Arrowverse. However, when it’s time for the mid-season crossover, heroes from all four shows come together in a joint effort to fend off an alien invasion or fight Nazis from a different Earth. And when these crossovers happen they are immensely fun.

"Crisis on Earth-X" is some of the best work that’s come out of the Arrowverse. And the reason it worked out so well is because the writers made sure to give each hero a role – regardless of the fact that there were over 20 heroes in the crossover. The Arrowverse realizes the importance and potential of crossovers and knows how to do them right.

4 THE FOCUS IS ON THE CHARACTERS

Crisis on Earth-X, Part 1

So far, the DCEU has been all about teaming up. Rather than focusing on each individual hero and making sure they are properly introduced before the big team-up, the DCEU decided to skip introductions for Aquaman, Flash and Cyborg in favor of doing a Justice League movie beforehand. The problem with this approach is that the audience had a hard time connecting with these new characters and caring about their stories.

If the "Crisis on Earth-X" crossover was our introduction to Supergirl and Green Arrow, we wouldn’t care enough to get invested in the subplots related to these characters. Luckily, the Arrowverse has always been about the characters. Even in the crossover episodes, the stories from the four different shows had a major role. Sure, having over 20 heroes on-screen together is cool, but it doesn't matter if the audience doesn't care about them.

3 EXCELLENT USE OF TIME TRAVEL

Time Travel

The Arrowverse introduced time travel, as well as many other zanier concepts, in the first season of The Flash. By providing us with a newspaper article from the future that changed in response to alterations in the present and past, introducing Eobard Thawne and teasing the possibility of Barry saving his mom by traveling back in time, the show got us hooked on time travel.

Since time travel was a success, the creators decided to build an entirely new show focusing on all kinds of time travel shenanigan.

Now, Legends of Tomorrow may well be the best Arrowverse show -- or at the very least the most fun to watch. The DCEU, on the other hand, is only starting to entertain the idea of time travel. Although, it’s doubtful it will ever play such a major role as it does in the Arrowverse.

2 NEAR PERFECT CAST

The Cast

Casting is one of the essential tasks any live-action adaptation must get right in order to be successful. The DCEU has become notorious for questionable and downright controversial casting decisions. Gal Gadot proved to be the perfect choice for Wonder Woman -- despite all the skepticism and contention, but for every Gal Gadot there’s a Jesse Eisenberg. Eisenberg’s portrayal of Lex Luthor was almost universally panned and Cavill’s Superman -- although not terrible, isn't quite what the fans wanted to see.

The Arrowverse, however, has managed to cast its shows almost perfectly. Stephen Amell has become synonymous with his character, Grant Gustin set the standard for Barry Allen and Melissa Benoist’s upbeat and seemingly effortless portrayal of Supergirl brings us immense joy. With very few exceptions, the Arrowverse shows nailed the casting.

1 FAN SERVICE

Fan Service

The Arrowverse is just brimming with all kinds of easter eggs and references. In a nutshell, it’s full of fan service and we wouldn’t have it any other way. The teases and allusions, some more subtle than other, include the Hall of Justice, Hall of Doom, Green Lantern, Batman, Ted Kord, and so on and so forth. The use of these hints at other heroes, locations and stories from DC Comics universe makes the Arrowverse feel much larger than it really is.

The references aren’t there purely for fan service though, they help establish the fact that heroes exists elsewhere, outside the stories that we’re shown in these particular shows.

Easter eggs are essential to successful world building and the Arrowverse is not above lavishing us in all forms of fan service. Plus, you never know what might come of all these easter eggs at some point.