A lot can change in five years. Relationships can falter, circumstances can shift and agreements that were once set in stone can crumble. Looking at the film industry, there's no better proof of this than the original plan for the DC Extended Universe.

With Zack Snyder at its head, the DCEU was poised to become a challenger to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. But now, even just six years since the release of Man of Steel (the franchise's kickoff point), everything is different. Snyder has left the DCEU, his grand plan for the universe seemingly abandoned in favor of a more diverse and surprising slate of films. How did this happen? And what would the Zack Snyder version of the DC Universe look like today?

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Man With A Plan

In 2014, Warner Bros. CEO Kevin Tsujihara revealed a massive, planned schedule of films based on the DC Universe. Set to be released over six years and directed by Snyder (despite the controversy surrounding the climax of Man of Steel, released the previous year,) Warner Bros. doubled down on this vision for the DCEU. The schedule included the previously announced Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice and confirmed the then-rumored Suicide Squad.

2017 was set for the release of Wonder Woman and the first Justice League film, which was the first in a proposed trilogy. 2018 was slated to feature the release of the Jason Momoa-led Aquaman, as well as the Flash film, starring Ezra Miller. Shazam! was scheduled to hit the big screen in 2019, as was the second entry in the Justice League series. Cyborg, starring Ray Fisher, would have premiered in 2020 alongside a new Green Lantern film, all building to the climactic final entry in the Justice League trilogy.

It was an ambitious plan, but that was the whole idea behind recruiting someone like Snyder to herald it. The films would have been interconnected, telling a single, grand story about life and death, gods and humans and the ultimate battle between the Justice League and Darkseid. Everything in the cinematic universe would have been building towards that.

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Things Change

Unfortunately for Snyder, the real world got in the way. Man of Steel may have been controversial, but it had nothing on the release of Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice. The film was a critical bomb, and is still argued about to this day. Family issues, most notably the sudden loss of his daughter, led Snyder to leave Justice League midway through production. Warner Bros. brought in Joss Whedon as interim director to finish off the project, a decision which left Justice League (initially envisioned as a two-part film) with very contradictory tones and ideas throughout. At this point, the DCEU shifted gears.

Justice League 2 was scrapped. Whedon was set to tackle a Batgirl film as part of the expanding universe, but ultimately left the project (and the DCEU as a whole) following Justice League. After Suicide Squad was also released to lackluster reviews, other directors began leaving the DCEU.

NEXT PAGE: As Directors Flee, the DCEU Starts to Take On a New Shape

Most notably, Phil Lord and Chris Miller, hot off the success of The LEGO Movie, left Flash to helm SoloA Star Wars Story (which in turn had its own share of problems.) Rick Famuyiwa (Dope) was set to replace them, but also dropped out of the project. John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein, the writers behind Spider-Man: Homecoming, are currently set to direct the film, which has been pushed back to 2021 at the earliest. Cyborg is still officially on the docket for 2020, but it still doesn't have a director attached.

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Complicating matters even further for the Snyder universe was the surprising crossover success of two other entries in the universe: Wonder Woman and AquamanWonder Woman proved to be a cultural sensation, helping turn Gal Gadot into a full-blown star and the film into a critical hit. Aquaman was met with more mixed reviews, but has proven to be a global success. The film even managed to earn more than the Academy Award-winning Dark Knight, becoming one of the most successful DC films ever released. The DCEU finally had some unabashed wins under its belt, and Warner Bros. was willing to shift their plans to accommodate those successes.

Where We Are Now

Sequels to Wonder Woman and Aquaman, which weren't part of the original plan, were quickly put into development. The proposed sequel to Suicide Squad has morphed into two separate films, the James Gunn-directed follow-up and the Harley Quinn-centric Birds of Prey. More offbeat fare like the Todd Phillips-directed Joker have also been brought onto the docket. Only Shazam! has remained the same from the original plans for 2019.

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Meanwhile, Snyder is no longer at Warner Bros. Ben Affleck has stepped down from the Batman role, leaving the Matt Reeves (War for the Planet of the Apes) to construct his own specific take on the character. Henry Cavill has seemingly left the part of Superman, and speculation suggests that Warner Bros. is more invested in turning Supergirl into a movie star insteadFlash almost became Flashpoint, and even that seems to have been scrapped in lieu of something different. Green Lantern Corps still hasn't attached a director.

Throughout all of this, Snyder has been extremely open about what he wishes the franchise could have been. He even revealed a design over social media that seems to be the overarching map of his vision for the DCEU. If the Snyder DCEU had survived, we'd have a completely different (and arguably less exciting) DC Universe. One where everything is part of a single overall story, where interesting but standalone stories wouldn't have room to exist.

In the world Snyder envisioned, we'd be seeing Flash alongside Shazam, and more of Henry Cavill as Superman. Wonder Woman and Aquaman wouldn't be headlining their own franchises, and would be more tied to the Justice League. The film slate wouldn't be as diverse as it has become. Films as experimental as Birds of Prey or The Joker probably wouldn't exist at all.

While it's sad that Snyder never got to see his version of the DCEU become a reality, it may be a blessing in disguise. Instead, we have the diverse and strange slate of DC films that could finally help DC stand out from the MCU.