Image credit: John Johnson/HBO Max
Published Oct 24, 2026, 5:30 PM EDT
Felipe Rangel is a Movie and TV Journalist ScreenRant. He has been writing about movies and TV since 2021. Felipe joined ScreenRant in 2022, working across different teams, covering everything from breaking news to features to reviews and more.
Felipe is a writer who is an avid film and TV fan, with superhero movies and series being his biggest passion. He graduated from college in 2019, having studied Journalism. Before college, he spent a month studying at the Oxford English Centre. His superhero knowledge expands to the comics, with his undergraduate thesis being "Politics Reflected In American Comics."
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The new DC Universe is already shaping up to be something special, with multiple movies and TV shows released, and this is how they rank when put against one another thus far. The DCU Chapter One has yet to release some of the projects that were announced back when James Gunn and Peter Safran unveiled the shared universe's slate of releases.
That said, the DCU's movie and TV show slate is an ever-changing beast. While shows like Waller and movies like The Authority have been put on the back burner for the time being, the franchise has moved forward with projects that were not initially announced, such as 2026's Clayface movie and the upcoming Wonder Woman reboot movie. Batman, the Teen Titans, and more DC heroes are also on the horizon.
Thus far, Gunn's DCU has released three movies, all live-action, and three TV shows, including both live-action and animated releases. The following list ranks them based on how the projects' stories, characters, action, cinematography, and more elements panned out, also taking into account what critics and viewers thought about those DC releases. These are all six DCU movies and TV shows so far, ranked:
6 Supergirl
Starting the list is Supergirl, which has to rank last for a series of reasons. The most important is that the DC movie is an adaptation of Tom King's Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow comics, which is one of the best comic book stories centered on Kara ever. As such, when DC's Supergirl movie fell quite short of what the comics achieved, with muted visuals in comparison to the gorgeous Bilquis Evely art from the comics, confusing changes, and an ending that takes away the emotional punch of the original storyline, it ended up failing to impress.
House of the Dragon star Milly Alcock is still a phenomenal choice for this version of Supergirl, and while the movie around her does not excite, she is consistently electric throughout. Jason Momoa was also clearly having the time of his life as Lobo, leaving the DCEU's Aquaman behind to play the DC role he was born to give life to. However, with a low 52% critics' score on Rotten Tomatoes and just $126.5 million worldwide, becoming a box office bomb that grossed less than even the MCU's biggest financial bomb, The Marvels, which ended with $206.1 million, Supergirl ranks last.
5 Peacemaker Season 2
Right above Supergirl on the bottom half of the list is Peacemaker season 2. The live-action DC TV show boasts a near-perfect 94% critics' score on Rotten Tomatoes. There is a lot to love in the DC series' new batch of episodes, with a deeper dive into Chris Smith's psyche, his relationships, and more, all with a clever use of the multiverse. That said, as a whole, Peacemaker season 2 does not live up to season 1, and there is no denying that the season 2 finale was a letdown.
On IMDB, the Peacemaker season 2 finale sits at a 6.8 user score, serving as the lowest-rated episode in the entire DC series. While the show set up some exciting elements for the future of the DCU, like Rick Flag Sr. discovering Salvation and trapping Peacemaker there, as well as the creation of Checkmate, the show's new episodes left up many loose ends, there was not nearly enough action, and the presence of a firm main villain was missed. None of the DCU releases so far have been bad, and Peacemaker season 2 has both hilarious and emotional moments. It just missed season 1's highs.
4 Creature Commandos
Creature Commandos is the only animated DCU release so far, and the TV-MA series ends the list's bottom half. Creature Commandos season 1 comes with an excellent 93% critics' score on Rotten Tomatoes. The animated series serves as the DCU's Suicide Squad replacement, with Viola Davis reprising her role as Amanda Waller and a new team of monsters getting put together to embark on a dangerous mission. Creature Commandos is fast-paced, action-packed, hilarious, tragic, and does a phenomenal job of introducing colorful new characters to the DCU.
It is no surprise that Creature Commandos season 2 is on the way, as the show proved itself a major hit on HBO Max, and there are plenty of ways the team could go as its roster shifts, with King Shark among the new recruits for the next season. With all season 1 episodes written by James Gunn, they told a story with complex characters and plenty of twists, getting audiences invested, and setting up important characters for other releases, such as Clayface and Frank Grillo's Rick Flag Sr.
3 Clayface
Clayface is the third DCU movie and the latest release in the shared universe, with the Batman villain movie having arrived in theaters on Friday, October 23. Clayface is a DC movie that many felt did not need to exist when it was first announced, especially so early in the franchise's run. However, with a near-perfect 94% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes at the time of writing, Clayface has proved itself a massive hit with DC fans.
The movie follows the tragic backstory of Clayface, with movie star Matt Hagen getting disfigured by Gotham criminals and seeking an experimental treatment that ends up allowing him to change into other people, as well as shape his body in any way he chooses. Clayface is a bloody movie filled with deaths and a solid revenge story. There are moments viewers will want to close their eyes or look away due to how uncomfortable the body horror gets, and the mix of practical effects and VFX is pitch-perfect. Tom Rhys Harries is both charismatic and unnerving in the role, making Clayface the most intense DCU ride.
2 Lanterns
There is a good debate between Lanterns and the top choice on the list, but due to how the HBO sci-fi series' final episode could have given a better explanation to why Hal Jordan had to die, as well as included more action, the DC series ranks 2nd for now. Lanterns is an ambitious release, mixing a grounded detective story with a cosmic peacekeeping force. It is True Detective with superpowers, and the show works perfectly, with an intriguing mystery at its center, complex characters, explosive action, and DCU ramifications.
Lanterns hinges on the dynamic between Kyle Chandler's Hal Jordan, a charismatic veteran hero, and Aaron Pierre's John Stewart, his confident replacement. The duo share many funny and dramatic moments throughout season 1, with the finale giving that relationship a possible emotional send-off. Lanterns also changes the DCU in a major way, as John carves a pocket of the franchise for him, which directly impacts Nathan Fillion's Guy Gardner, who is a fun presence in a couple of episodes. Lanterns boasts a stellar 91% critics' score on Rotten Tomatoes.
1 Superman
Finally, the best DCU release so far is Gunn's Superman movie. David Corenswet's performance as Superman is as if the Man of Steel had just stepped right out of the comics and onto the big screen. Superman was the DCU's first movie, and while it always kept its focus on Corenswet's Man of Steel, with a supporting cast that included an accurate spitfire Lois Lane and a lovable Jimmy Olsen, Superman set up many characters for the future of the franchise. Chief among them are the Justice Gang members.
The DCU movie made heroes like Mister Terrific, Hawkgirl, Guy Gardner, and Metamorpho feel completely different, each with interesting personalities. Nicholas Hoult's Lex Luthor was a force to be reckoned with, and the DC movie made Lex a multi-layered character that, while a villain, feels misguided as the hero of his own story, which should bode well for 2027's Man of Tomorrow, the Superman sequel that co-stars Corenswet and Hoult as Superman and Lex Luthor. Superman is a hopeful, action-packed, vibrant, and emotional ride in the new DCU, leading all other movies and TV shows in the franchise so far.
Created by Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson
Character(s) Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, The Flash, Cyborg, Harley Quinn, The Joker, Shazam, Darkseid, Amanda Waller, Lex Luthor, Doomsday, Deadshot, Deathstroke, Black Canary, Black Adam
Movie(s) Man of Steel, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Suicide Squad, Wonder Woman, Justice League, Aquaman, Shazam!, Birds of Prey, Wonder Woman 1984, Zack Snyder's Justice League, The Suicide Squad, Black Adam, Shazam! The Fury of the Gods, The Flash, Blue Beetle, Superman, The Brave and the Bold
English (US) ·