DCEU Final Battles Ranked

DCEU Final Battles Ranked

Last week Zack Snyder’s Justice League dropped on HBO Max, and after watching that movie. I wanted to do some DCEU rankings...that I haven’t done before. So, today we are talking about the final battles. 

10. Justice League (2017): Prior to the release of Zack Snyder’s Justice League, I thought this segence was a fun Justice League action scene. It was nice to see a more traditional version of Superman in this movie, and some of the jokes did make me laugh. BUT, after watching the other (and much better) version of this movie, everything about this movie didn’t work for me. Everything in this final battle is done better in the other movie. Even then, the first ⅔ of this movie were dark in its colors, here everything looks like an MCU movie...and that is not a good thing. The change in colors is distracting at best, there are some weird moments in this sequence. Superman helps Cyborg pull the Mother Boxes apart, and they laugh saying they would rather die than experience that pain as a punch line to a joke a few moments earlier. So put the pieces together, this finale doesn’t work for me at all. 

9. Suicide Squad: I think with a few changes, this final battle actually could have been a nice little sequence. But, this sequence is under 10 minutes long and a whole lot is going on. You have Killer Croc trying to stop a bomb, Diablo fighting with Enchantress' brother, and the rest of the team trying to defeat Enchantress herself. The sequence is too short and there is way too much going on. I know this finale couldn’t have been a big special because Enchantress is far powerful than Deadshot and Harley Quinn, so you have Deadshot trying to shot Enchantress but it has to be timed just right. An interesting way to use Deadshot, but it just falls flat. Beyond that, this is a SPOILER  for the movie. But even the death of Diablo doesn’t have the weight as it should, he says “you guys have been my new family”, but 5 minutes ago is when they started a friendship. It just doesn’t make any sense. So another disappointing bit of a dud of a final battle. 

8. Wonder Woman 1984: In general, I think that Wonder Woman 1984 is a good movie, I think it’s fun, has great action, and uses it’s characters nicely. But, I think the final battle of the movie is one of the weaker aspects of the movie. Getting to see Wonder Woman in that golden eagle suit is cool, and it’s a cool looking suit. The action scene between Wonder Woman and Cheetah is a fun sequence, not the best but it’s good enough. Where I think this finale loses it, is with the Maxwell Lord stuff. The big thing that he does is give a news broadcast telling people to wish for whatever they want, and it will come true. Then you have a big light shining down on Maxwell Lord, and it just feels weird. Then you have Diana trying to talk Maxwell out of it, and the entire final battle just feels generic at best. So, I think if the final battle of this movie was better, than I think this movie as a whole could have been a better movie. But as is, disappointing. 

7. Wonder Woman: This is a tricky one for me because I enjoy a number of things about it, but a few things hold it back. The stuff with Steve Trevor is some of the more emotional moments of the entire DCEU, and one of the best scenes in the movie. The visuals I think look very good, and much better than Wonder Woman 1984. You have shots of Diana fighting Ares, and fire all around them. It all looks really cool. But, I think the actual action with Diana and Ares isn’t as good as it should be. It should be this big epic final battle between Wonder Woman and Ares, this movie was building toward a big epic showdown. And it gave us Ares talking about how if they join together, then life could be better. That’s an interesting idea, but make it more interesting. Also, some of the action maybe isn’t the best in this sequence. But as a whole, it’s fine but one of the weaker parts of the Wonder Woman movie. 

6. Aquaman: As a point of reference, there is a big jump from number 7 to number 6. 7-10 ranged from fine to ok. 6-1 are good to great. So even though this one is at number 6, I like this sequence. This sequence has this big epic feel about it, where you have Ocean Master’s henchman battle it out with sea creatures summoned by Aquaman. That is just a lot of fun to see, and it’s big, epic, and it’s long. With Suicide Squad, the sequence was over in 10 minutes, here it’s 5-10 minutes longer. But I think where it really shines is with Aquaman’s battle with Ocean Master. Ocean Master is trying to destroy Earth for all of the bad things it has done, but Aquaman is trying to stop Ocean Master from doing so. Seeing two brothers fight, has this emotional weight to it. Now, some of the CGI isn’t the best, some shots are a bit FISHY (no pun intended). And the kiss in the middle of it all, is a bit awkward and feels out of place. This is a fun and action packed sequence, and a nice way to close out this movie. 

5. Man of Steel: This might be the greatest Superman action sequence ever put to screen. Where you have 21st century technology mixed with Superman, and Zack Snyder’s action and it makes this sequence really cool. The rivalry between Superman and Zod comes to a close here, and you feel the choices that Zod is making and has this sense of danger about it. Of course, Hans Zimmer’s fantastic score fills out the gaps in this finale. So mix the action, visuals, and score that had potential to be even higher on the list. But I think the sequence itself is a bit too long. It lasts for nearly 45 minutes, and I don’t know if it needed 25 minutes of Superman and Zod destroying the city, and maybe cutting it back by 5-10 minutes. And the death of the military man has never made an impact on me. I watch it, and don’t feel anything. So in general, this is like a B or B+ sequence, but could have been an A or A- sequence if some small things were fixed. 

4. Birds of Prey and the Fantabulous Emancipation of one Harley Quinn: This is one of my favorite movies inside of the DCEU, and I think the final battle is very good. What I think the whole movie did well with its action is the fact that it is practical. There is no CGI involved with the action, and you can see Margot Robbie (Harley Quinn) getting in on action herself. And it's a fun sequence just getting to see these characters defeat Black Mask’s henchman. When it’s focused on Harley Quinn, you can see Black Canary defeating criminals. So whenever it’s focused on somebody, you can see somebody in the background fighting. Then it moves over and Harley Quinn is chasing Black Mask, where he’s in a car and she is on rollerskates. And it's a fun little sequence and a nice addition to the movie as a whole. But, I think the car chase sequence has some laps in the logic. Where it seems like all of the other action sequences were grounded and felt like something that could happen. And when a sequence at the end isn’t quite that, it holds it back a bit. 

3. Shazam!: This is an interesting sequence because I think this is the most emotional and has the best payoff in any of the DCEU movies. You see Billy’s character arc coming to an end, where he’s a street smart kid at the beginning of the movie, but is willing to sacrifice himself to protect his new family. And the way his arc comes to an end in this movie, is really powerful. It’s just fun getting to see the Shazam! family work together to defeat Dr. Sivana and his monsters. And the humor is great, sometimes in comic book movies the humor takes a back burner, that is not the case here. Every couple of minutes it is really really funny. I think they set a plot point where it’s revealed that the monsters controlling Dr. Sivana, that doesn’t go anywhere. And I think it’s a big missed opportunity. So put the pieces together it has emotional moments, great action, and humor that made me laugh so this is a very solid final battle to a great movie.

2. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice: I’m not the biggest fan of this movie, but I think the final battle is great. I think this is a great sequence, and I counted the warehouse fight and the Doomsday fight as the final battle. Because it moves from action scene to action scene very quickly. And the warehouse fight with Batman is the best Batman action scene ever put to the screen, and you see Batman just tearing this guys to pieces and to quote the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles “it’s awesome”. Then we move into the Doomsday fight where Wonder Woman shows up and that moment is just chill inducing. And that music from Hans Zimmer just brings it all together. It’s fun to see Batman dodge Doomsday’s laser beams. So many things about this final battle is great, and I think it just all comes together. I think the death in this movie doesn’t fit with the rest of the movie, it’s like they wanted consequences for this movie and killing off this character wasn’t set up in the movie, so it falls flat. Besides that, this is a great sequence. 

1. Zack Snyder’s Justice League: This sequence is 100x times better than the 2017 Justice League movie. And it did everything better, every action scene or even shot is better. Getting to see Superman join in on the action, in the Black Suit is really cool. But I think what they did with Cyborg and The Flash is a lot better than what they did in the 2017 movie. In the other movie, Cyborg was just there to tear about the Mother Boxes, but here his character arc is closed out and some powerful moments are given. With The Flash they give him a much better goal to accomplish besides just saving people. Maybe the best Flash scene ever is when Barry is using his time travel thing and it’s just epic and what I want from the Flash character. And even then, most of the action that we saw in this movie we saw in the 2017 movie. But everything just feels more epic and better. So easily I think the final battle in Zack Snyder’s Justice League is my favorite final battle in the DCEU, and is pretty hard to beat. 

That is my ranking of the 10 DCEU final battles. What is your favorite final battle in the DCEU? Also, I’ve done a bunch of DCEU rankings and reviewed each of the movies leading up to Wonder Woman 1984. So, you can go check those out. Thanks for reading!