The upcoming release of "Shazam!" will mark the end of a questionable era for the DC Extended Universe, as it marks the final movie from the original DCEU slate. Warner Bros. announced in October 2014, the schedule included titles such as "Wonder Woman," "Aquaman," "Suicide Squad," as well as tiles that ended up being canceled such as "The Flash," and "Justice League 2," and "Cyborg."

The executives at Warner Bros. believed they had a shot at toppling Marvel's sucess with their own extended universe. The DCEU has hit quite a few stumbling blocks in the four and a half years since the original slate was announced.

"Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice," was heavily criticized by critics, while "Justice League," earned the record for the highest grossing box office fail ever, with $657 million globally. It failed to offset the costs of production and marketing.

'Shazam' looks to be a popular project

"Shazam!" stars Asher Angel as a bullied foster kid who is gifted powers that turns him into an adult superhero (Zachary Levi) when he shouts the word "Shazam!." The trailers depict the upcoming superhero film a comedy, as well as focusing on the kids perspective on superheroes. "Shazam!" has managed to survive the turmoil that has shaken up the DC Extended Universe and the multiple changes to the original lineup of films.

It has even kept the originally scheduled release date.

Only "Batman V Superman," "Suicide Squad," "Wonder Woman," "Justice League," and "Aquaman," were all mostly successful at the box office. Warner Bros. has already scheduled sequels for "Aquaman" and "Wonder Woman." "Suicide Squad," brought mixed results, and is now getting a reboot from James Gunn.

Zack Snyder departure led to the abandoning of DCEU

The lackluster response to "Batman V Superman" and Zack Snyder's departure from Warner Bros. and the DCEU, has caused the studio to focus on individual stories instead of a cohesive extended universe. Warner Bros. has already announced a new slate of Movies including a Joker film starring Joaquin Phoenix, and the "Birds of Prey," which will focus on the popular Harley Quinn character from "Suicide Squad."

It appears now that the other slate of movies including "Green Lantern," "Justice League 2," and "Cyborg," appear to have been abandoned for the time being. "The Flash," has been rewritten and directors have come and gone, so many times. Time will tell how Warner Bros. ends up concluding it's original DCEU.
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