(This article contains spoilers for “The Suicide Squad” from director James Gunn)
While the Marvel Cinematic Universe may be the model for franchise moviemaking, Warner Bros and DC Films have never truly tried to replicate it in full. Sure, we’ve got a shared universe over here with the DC Extended Universe movie franchise. But even at its busiest time back in 2016 and 2017 you really just had Zack Snyder’s main series alongside some spinoffs that had no bearing on the overall plot. And now, as of “The Suicide Squad,” we really just have several distinct franchises that occasionally reference the fact that superhero stuff is going on elsewhere.