Superhero movies and shows have a reputation for being action-packed yet heavy on exposition. They often have to balance this out or their audience might walk out or drift away; the competition is fierce these days, and they usually have to capture the attention of their viewers as early as the opening.
Now, while the DCEUhas always struggled to take the spotlight away from the MCU, its opening sequences are bolder and more experimental. They're all about trying what works and what doesn't, whereas the other team is sticking to a winning formula. How has that approach fared for the DCEU? Let's find out by ranking their opening scenes.
11 Suicide Squad (2016)
The first Suicide Squad movie from 2016 was met with a lukewarm response. The opening scene reflects the film's entire disjointed state. Supposedly, it's a highlight about a nightmare team consisting of supervillains forced to work as "good guys" lest they die, but the intro doesn't exactly do a great job of setting this up.
It was mostly some scenes about an imprisoned Deadshot and Harley Quinn, who are arguably the film's strongest cast members and the saving grace. Everyone else was seemingly sidelined and the opening scene didn't even properly introduce the two main characters well.
10 Shazam! (2019)
Shazam! was hailed as one of the saviors of the DCEU since it was ultimately a fun film about superheroes where the filmmakers finally understood how to reel in their audience. That doesn't mean it had a stellar opening sequence. Shazam!'s intro was actually a villain origin story.
It shows the wizard Shazam abducting a kid for a moment to see if he's a worthy successor then punting him back to the human world. It just so happens that he was on a car ride and this caused an accident, which led to the kid becoming a villain. In hindsight, that action doesn't exactly paint the wizard Shazam in a good light. Overall, it was quite a weak intro for a superhero who can rival Superman in terms of power.
9 Wonder Woman 1984 (2020)
Wonder Woman 1984 starts off quite strong by narrating some flashbacks on a green screen paradise backdrop of Themyscira. It wasn't as expository or as action-packed as the first film's opening but it did the job well of setting up Diana's origins.
The only issue with it was that it was already done before and more creatively in the first film. A straight and direct action sequence of Wonder Woman would have sufficed better. That's actually what followed after, but one can't consider that as an intro anymore since it's past the title screen.
8 Aquaman (2018)
Every superhero's debut or first live-action movie always has to have an awesome and imaginative origin story. Aquaman played its cards safely in that regard as it explains well why and how a man who can breathe like a fish ended up on land. It was a heartfelt story about peculiar and forbidden love.
Aquaman's Atlantean mother was rescued by his human father and this blossomed into a romance with him as the fruit of their union. Sadly, they had to be separated so that Atlantis won't declare war on humans under the pretense of a missing queen. There's something for everyone in that kind of intro and it was nothing short of epic, though the narration was a bit much.
7 Wonder Woman (2017)
Wonder Woman, the first film, started with quite a bang as, despite the heavily narrated opening, it was rife with imagination and mythological storytelling. The first film starts off the runtime with how the Amazonians of Themyscira were created after showcasing their architecture.
It was also the first time Wonder Woman finally got a serious spotlight in live-action films. The best part about its intro is how much budget was put into introducing Amazonian culture from the buildings to the clothing and even the training sequences. Needless to say, that established the film well.
6 Man Of Steel (2013)
Everyone and their dog knows Superman's origins by now but for some reason, it's hard to get tired of reimagined introductions. Man of Steel fires off the film with an ongoing apocalypse for the planet Krypton with Russell Crowe playing Jor-El, Superman's real father. It's not just Jor-El hogging the opening scene but also a stellar performance from Michael Shannon as General Zod.
The CGI is done well, though it's highly noticeable. However, the actors played their part well and in just a few minutes, the filmmakers got the viewers to care about a random fictional planet. That's an underrated aspect of Superman's origin as viewers can better understand the Kryptonian's loneliness if they actually felt for Krypton's destruction.
5 Birds Of Prey (2020)
The beauty in adapting Harley Quinn into live-action in her own film is that there are little to no rules or formulas. So, Birds of Prey went all-out with the madness but despite going off the rails, it started the film with an origin story. This one's different, though, as it's all hand-drawn.
It's mostly an explanation of how Harley's life went by and how the Joker dumped her after using her. Then it's off to the live-action parts where a bawling and broken-hearted Harley portrays and sums up a messy breakup. It's relatable, funny, and sad all at the same time.
4 Peacemaker (2022)
From the clever and hilarious mind of director James Gunn came an outlier in the DCEU formula. Peacemaker is a series on HBO Max and it has all of James Gunn's signature wackiness and informality. What stood out in Peacemaker apart from John Cena's vascularity is that catchy and absurd intro music video.
Other superhero shows would have taken themselves too seriously but Peacemaker makes its characters party in humiliating dance moves and music that isn't from this millennium. The intro is downright bizarre but certainly refreshing after all the doom and gloom of other superhero franchises.
3 The Suicide Squad (2021)
Speaking of James Gunn's vision, The Suicide Squad reboot has proven to be more successful than the 2016's original. Again, it didn't take itself seriously because it's literally about a dysfunctional group of bad guys, some of which are too incompetent on their own.
The Suicide Squad's intro perfectly captures this aspect of the team. It's a macabre portrayal of a second Suicide Squad's failure and massacre as all the bad eggs in the basket get filtered out. Also, one can't deny just how great Gunn's choice in music is for this opening.
2 Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016)
Then again, James Gunn's approach wouldn't have worked with something as inherently grim and as angsty as Batman. That's why Zack Snyder was the more apt filmmaker for that. He flexed this penchant for dramatic sequences for superheroes as early as Batman v Superman in 2016.
The opening sequence for that was merely a retelling of how Bruce Wayne's parents died but it was by far the least campy and the most creative out of all the Batman origin stories. Turns out, it was Bruce Wayne's dream, though it was also a clever foreshadowing of how he's going to transcend his humanity to fight Superman as the bats levitated him.
1 Justice League (2017)
While Joss Whedon taking over Justice League from Zack Snyder's hands proved to be the 2017 movie's downfall, it still has its redeeming qualities. One of those is the opening sequence, which is basically a music video about Superman's death.
It's arguably the most Zack Snyder addition to the 2017 film except Snyder didn't even add it — Joss Whedon did. The Snyder cut's opening was notably calmer and less dramatic. However, Superman's death is a huge deal and Whedon's intro summed it up well with its musical opening for Justice League.