What's the point of a franchise if you don't create some connective tissue. Seems like this was written with no long game in mind like the Marvel films.
Well, that's the biggest problem. WB/DC have taken exactly the wrong conclusion from the various criticisms they've received, and have announced that there pretty much
is no "DCCU". The films that come out after this will be their own things. Some things will connect, but there will be no effort made to make sure there's continuity between them. Not to mention the ones that are specifically and deliberately outside even
that loose universishness (like th enew standalone Joker film). It wasn't even until after the very mixed reception BvS got that WB finally even started listening to the input from DC and the guy overseeing all the cross-platform stuff, like the TV series and animated stuff, as well as the Rebirth event in the comics. His focus is more on creator-controlled content, and he feels universe-building interferes with letting the writers "do their own thang".
Yeah, that resulted in a very hands-off approach to Wonder Woman, which had minimal tie-in to the existing DCCU thus far. Justice League was too far along, and too reliant on the newly-established Batman and Superman we'd been seeing since 2013, but going forward? Well, these are now the same guys who brought Joss in to chance the tone of Justice League. This was even before Zach's daughter died. There's... so much dissention at higher levels. Time Warner is mad Warner Brothers keeps bringing Snyder back after the general reception of his DC movies hasn't been what they hoped for, and the director of DC Entertainment feels Snyder's filmmaking tone is wrong for the DC heroes. So it doesn't surprise me that a lack of consistent vision at the top has led to lack of coherent presentation of the end product. Affleck will still most likely be back as Batman in the standalone Flash movie, but he will probably not be back in the next Batman movie (director Matt Reeves wants to cast "fresh talent").
They've got Aquaman and Flash and Wonder Woman 2 and Shazam lined up to come out, along with Batman and the Joker. A Suicide Squad sequel is still in limbo. But Justice League 2 is off the table, and there're a whole lot of questions as to when and how Superman will show up next. But a continuation building on where things were left at the end of Justice League? Don't bet on it.
--Jonah