The DCEU's superheroes are a flawed bunch who wield scarily powerful abilities. With their often troubled backstories, it’s inevitable that the stories they are involved in should take a darker turn or two. It’s something Zack Snyder has emphasized in his DC movies, but he’s not the only one.
With many DC movies and TV shows in development, the overall tone of the DC universe may lighten over time, but from the moment the DCEU was launched with Man of Steel in 2013, it's been characterized by its serious and somber tone. While it’s true that the source comics provide a lot of the darkness in the stories already, there are many examples where the DCEU dialed it even darker than they needed to.
10 Billy’s Mom Adds A Dark Moment To Shazam!
In current comics, Shazam's story is taking a dark turn, but the movie generally maintains a family-friendly upbeat message overall. Still, it’s not without its bleaker moments. As a child, Thaddeus Sivana has a chance to get away from his abusive family, but it’s taken away. Later, he’s blamed for the car crash that injures his dad. Later in the story, though, the lowest point comes when Billy finds his mom and then realizes she did find him years ago, but actually made the choice to abandon him.
9 Man Of Steel’s Finale Was Unnecessarily Destructive
Man of Steel covers a lot of ground as Superman’s origin story, and while the first two acts were packed with exposition and action, even many fans felt that the last part of the movie was way too destructive. The story culminates in a titanic clash between Superman and Zod. Zod is using the World Engine, which uses a beam to initiate a terraforming process. It and the one-on-one battle between Zod and Superman virtually destroys both Metropolis and Smallville, and probably kills thousands of people in the process.
8 That Jar Of Peach Tea in BvS Was Sadistic And Disgusting
Jesse Eisenberg’s version of Lex Luthor in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice was criticized by many fans and critics, but he did provide a standout moment of sadistic destruction to the story. To begin with, there’s the fact that he presumably used his urine to fill a jar for Senator Finch, who’s previously made a remark about peach tea. Then, there’s the look on Finch’s face as she realizes what he’s done – and that she’s surely about to die. It’s a nasty twist to the scene.
7 The Town Of Veld Is Annihilated In Wonder Woman
In the first Wonder Woman movie, Diana and her friends free the town of Veld in Belgium and its inhabitants from the German occupation. There’s a celebration – but a very brief one. When Diana leaves to attend the elegant event at the castle, the German troops fire a gas bomb that completely destroys the town and kills everyone in it.
When Wonder Woman comes back, she walks through the clouds of gas to see the charred remains of the people she’d just saved. It’s a bleak moment in the story.
6 Batman’s Gone From Do Gooder To Violent Vigilante Thug
Dawn of Justice certainly put a distinctive stamp on the DCEU, and it’s embodied in the character of Batman as he’s portrayed in the movie. He hunts several criminals down and beats them violently in a rundown neighborhood. When he rescues several Asian women from a sex trafficker named Cesar Santos, it’s not enough to subdue him, even violently. Batman leaves him with a Bat-brand seared into his chest. When did Bruce Wayne come up with the portable instant Bat-brander?
5 Black Manta's Origin Story Is Traumatic In Aquaman
In the comics, Black Manta has had a couple of different origin stories. He was either kidnapped as a child and forced to work for abusive sailors at sea, or was an autistic orphan who grew up in Arkham Asylum. In the movie, though, director James Wan came up with an especially cruel twist. Son David (soon to be Black Manta 2), has to leave dad behind to die in an explosion after Aquaman abandons the two to their watery fate.
4 Bruce Wayne’s Nightmares In Dawn Of Justice
Batman v Superman was a key movie in setting up the DCEU to follow, and part of all the ominous tone in the movie involves hinting at what will come next. That's the basis for Bruce Wayne's nightmare dream scene when he falls asleep at his desk.
He gets a vision of the future with more than a few hints of Darkseid. The way the scene unfolds is a trippy sequence of images, from the sepia-toned scenes of battle against bugs to Martha Wayne’s tomb bleeding and demonic creatures popping out of the family tomb.
3 Jimmy Olsen Gets Shot In Batman V Superman
Jimmy Olsen began his DC life as an office boy, graduated to cub reporter and photographer, became an investigative reporter, and even acquired superpowers himself in the comics, where he’s had a decades-long history. Zack Snyder's version of the DCEU gave him about five minutes of screen time. His secret identity as a CIA operative does have a precedent in the comics, but the way he's summarily shot in the head by terrorists while on assignment with Lois Lane in Dawn of Justice is not.
2 The Death Of Jonathan Kent In Man Of Steel
Jonathan Kent was played by Kevin Costner as a good man who wanted his son to be safe, even if that meant suppressing his natural gifts and superpowers. Making him die because of that belief in the story was a pretty cruel twist for poor Clark Kent. When a tornado strikes Smallville, Clark could easily save Jonathan, but he also knows that Jonathan was steadfast in his belief that the world couldn’t handle the real Superman. That means Clark has to watch him die.
1 Harley Goes For A Knee-Crunching Blow
Early in Birds of Prey, Harley is partying at a night club owned by Roman Sionis. Roman’s driver insults her while she’s dancing on a pole, and Harley never takes that lightly. It’s still shocking, though, when she jumps on his legs, breaking his knees. Yikes! It’s a good way for director Cathy Yan to remind audiences that, even though we sympathize with Harley, she’s still bad to the bone. The fact that it happens suddenly and out of the blue adds to the shock value.