DCEU Final Battles Ranked
The last time I did my ranking of the DCEU final battles was after Zack Snyder’s Justice League. Since then we’ve gotten two DCEU movies with The Suicide Squad and Black Adam. So today I’m updating that ranking, let’s get started!
NOTE: This will contain SPOILERS for all of these finales, so if you haven’t seen the movies don’t read this blog post. You have been warned, this is your only warning.
11. Suicide Squad (2016): It’s been pretty well reported that David Ayer’s original verison for the movie was drastically changed, and the finale was one of them. And honestly, I don’t think the finale to this movie does a good job of paying off the rest of the movie, it’s a very rushed finale. Where the Suicide Squad shows up at Enchantress’ hide out takes her out pretty easily. El Diablo sacrifices himself which comes out of nowhere, it doesn’t at all feel set up. A bunch of army soldiers die and the movie doesn’t acknowledge it whatsoever. So when I think of the worst DCEU final battles, this one comes to mind.
11. Wonder Woman 1984: Now this is a movie that I do enjoy, I do think it’s a fun and good movie. But the finale wasn’t one of the strong points of the movie. Now it is fun to see Wonder Woman battling her more classic foe in Cheetah. And like all of the action in the rest of the movie, it’s shot rather well and looks professional with modern day visuals. But not all of the visuals work for me, the CGI for Cheetah just looks really cheap and lazy to me. And just in general, I don’t think Maxwell Lord’s plan fully comes together and has some lapses in the logic for the established rules of the DCEU.
10. Wonder Woman: Now even though this final battle is ranked higher above Wonder Woman 1984. Basically, I think both of the finales in the Wonder Woman franchise are kind of tied for me. Both of them just don’t really do it for me, and don’t leave the movie on the best note. With this one, it’s better looking there aren’t any equally bad shots in this one as there was in Wonder Woman 1984. But for how good the action was in the rest of the movie, I don’t know why they went for a more talky finale, I don’t think it helped the finale or the movie out at all. And when the action does happen, it’s not some of the more memorable action in the movie.
9. Justice League (2017): Now this is my least favorite of the DCEU movies, and when the movie is compared to Zack Snyder’s Justice League this movie looks like a big down grade. And I think that’s true, but I still think the finale kind of works. Zack Snyder did shoot a lot of the action for the movie so it is good action. And one of the things that I think Joss Whedon did right in this movie that Zack Snyder didn’t, is he made Henry Cavill’s Superman more of the truth, justice, and american way verison of the character. It’s a more classic version of the character, so I do appreciate that about it.
NOTE: As a quick side note, the top seven here are all finales that I really enjoy. So even the one at number is a pretty good finale that I do enjoy a good bit.
8. Aquaman: A big bombastic finale under the sea, where the seaweed is always greener. And this is easily one of the largest finales of the entire DCEU. Where you have Ocean Master’s army going up against Atlantis in this big battle under the sea. And it is awesome, you get sharks battling sharks. With that you even get a bunch of sea animals joining in on the action, that’s fun to see. What holds it back, is I think some of the action in other parts of the movie is better. So therefore, the action here isn’t as exciting or memorable. But still this is a very fun and very enjoyable finale.
7. Man of Steel: The first movie in the DCEU still has a very good finale inside of it. And when this came out it was the first time that we had seen Superman on the big screen in like seven years. And Zack Snyder has a great eye for both action and visuals, and when both are top notch you get a great Superman action scene. And you basically get Superman and General Zod just destroying half of Metropolis, and it is a very fun scene to watch. As for me I think the action scene just goes on for too long, like it feels like 5ish minutes could have been cut from the finale and it might have moved up into the top five.
6. Birds of Prey and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn: What I like about this finale is that it’s very street level and grounded. Other finales on this list are much larger in scope, scale, and size. And this finale is just the Birds of Prey fighting thugs in an amusement park, and you get a fun car chase in there as well. And since the movie was marketed as a Birds of Prey movie, it’s fun that in the finale the Birds of Prey actually come together and work together here. Similar to my issue with Aquaman, I feel that other action in the movie is much better and memorable.
5. The Suicide Squad (2021): A truely fun finale that delivered what a Suicide Squad finale should deliver. Where you get Harley Quinn, Bloodsport, Ratcatcher II, King Shark, and Polka-Dot Man fighting Starro and it’s just awesome. Everybody here gets a moment to shine where they are the star. Harley Quinn defeats Starro in a truly disgusting fashion that is super memorable. Again, this finale had all of the pieces to be higher on this list. But since Starro is just a boss fight, it doesn’t have the moment of satisfaction when he’s defeated. And I think a finale loses part of its charm whenever it does that.
4. Black Adam: And this is a movie delivers a big slam bang finale with lots of big bombastic action and stunning visuals. Where all of our heroes get some moment to shine. And the whole movie was about Black Adam learning to be a hero and work with others. So him coming full circle here is satisfying for Black Adam’s arc in the movie. Likewise, the rivarly between him and Hawkman stopping and them respecting one another more was fun to see. My only real issue here was that since the villain of the movie isn’t all that exciting or flashy, you don’t really care about him. You care about what Black Adam and The Justice Soceity are doing, and how they are growing and changing. But when it comes to the villain, he’s just there to be there.
3. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice: Now if you’ve seen any of my DCEU movie rankings, you know that I’m not the biggest fan of this movie. I think it has a lot to offer, but is ultimately a disappointing and flawed movie. But I think the third act is the best act of the movie for me. Where you get Batman and Superman finally teaming up to fight Doomsday. Once Wonder Woman joins in on the fun, everything just gets better. It’s one of the best “here comes the calvary” moments for me. The music that plays at that moment is pretty fantastic, and it’s so chill inducing. And once again, like previously mentioned Zack Snyder is great with action and visuals.
2. Shazam!: Once again, this finale isn’t one of the biggest finales but it fits the movie that it’s in. The whole movie is about Billy adapting to this foster family, and family is a big theme for the movie. So in the finale when the foster kids turn into superheroes and you get the Shazam! family it fits the rest of the movie really well. And in this finale you still get plenty of the humor that worked so well in the first two acts. Sometimes in comic book movie finales the humor takes a back seat in the finale, this is not the case with this one. So with the Shazam! family, I’m really excited to see where they take that with Shazam! Fury of the Gods in just a couple of months.
1. Zack Snyder’s Justice League (2021): Now as for me, I think this movie delivers a truly epic Justice League finale that fans have wanted. And since the rest of the movie gave our heroes these big and emotional character arcs, there is so much satisfaction as you move into the back half and all of the pay off happens, it’s so satisfying and you feel it. Everybody in here also gets a moment to shine and be the hero. The Flash and Cyborg being the two standouts for me. But seeing Superman’s calvary moment really does work for me. So this is a finale that has big emotions and big action, so it gets the big number 1 spot on this list.
There you have it, my ranking of the 12 DCEU finales. What is your favorite finale within the DCEU? Also, I’ve done a ton of rankings related to the DCEU if you want to check those out. Thanks for reading!
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