Release OrderRecommended
0 / 18 watchedTheatrical order, the DCEU run first and the rebooted DC Universe after it. This is how the studio paced the reveals and the only list you need for a first watch.
DC Extended Universe
- 1 Man of Steel
- 2 Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice The Ultimate Edition on home video runs 30 minutes longer than the theatrical cut.
- 3 Suicide Squad
- 4 Wonder Woman Set during World War I, decades before every other DCEU film.
- 5 Justice League Theatrical cut. Zack Snyder's Justice League (2021) is the alternate version.
- 6 Aquaman
- 7 Shazam!
- 8 Birds of Prey Released as Birds of Prey and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn.
- 9 Wonder Woman 1984 A prequel set in 1984.
- 10 Zack Snyder's Justice League Four-hour director's cut. An alternate telling of Justice League, not an addition to it.
- 11 The Suicide Squad James Gunn's soft reboot of the 2016 film. Same Harley, new team.
- 12 Black Adam
- 13 Shazam! Fury of the Gods
- 14 The Flash
- 15 Blue Beetle
- 16 Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom The fifteenth and final DCEU film.
DC Universe
- 17 Superman David Corenswet replaces Henry Cavill. The animated Creature Commandos opened the continuity in December 2024; this is the first film.
- 18 Supergirl Milly Alcock as Kara, introduced first in Superman. Released June 26, 2026.
Chronological Order
0 / 17 watchedStory order. Only the DCEU half actually reorders, because Wonder Woman and its 1984 sequel run decades before Man of Steel. The DCU films are a new continuity with nothing to sort out, so they just follow.
DC Extended Universe
- 1 Wonder Woman Set in 1918.
- 2 Wonder Woman 1984 Set in 1984.
- 3 Man of Steel The modern timeline starts here.
- 4 Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice
- 5 Suicide Squad
- 6 Justice League Or Zack Snyder's Justice League (2021) in its place. Pick one, not both.
- 7 Aquaman
- 8 Shazam!
- 9 Birds of Prey
- 10 The Suicide Squad
- 11 Black Adam
- 12 Shazam! Fury of the Gods
- 13 The Flash
- 14 Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom
- 15 Blue Beetle Last here only because it came out last. The film never pins down where it sits.
DC Universe
- 16 Superman A fresh continuity, not a continuation of anything above.
- 17 Supergirl
About DC
The DC Extended Universe ran fifteen films from Man of Steel in 2013 to Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom in 2023, built around Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman and two very different cuts of Justice League. Warner Bros. stopped there. James Gunn and Peter Safran, running DC Studios since late 2022, replaced it with a hard reboot.
That reboot is the DC Universe. It opened with the animated Creature Commandos in December 2024, then Superman in July 2025 and Supergirl in June 2026, with the HBO series Lanterns starting in August 2026. A few actors carry over, John Cena's Peacemaker and Viola Davis as Amanda Waller, but the story starts fresh, so the two eras simply sit back to back here in release order with no shared timeline to untangle.
Good to know
Zack Snyder's Justice League, the four-hour 2021 cut, is the better Justice League. Swap it in for the 2017 theatrical cut and skip the other, they tell the same story twice. Wonder Woman and its 1984 sequel are the only real prequels, which is why story order differs.
The Batman (2022) and both Joker films live in separate continuities. Next up are Clayface on October 23, 2026 and Man of Tomorrow on July 9, 2027.
