DC Extended Universe Isn’t the Official Name of DC’s Movie Universe

In a tidbit of interesting studio insight, an online entertainment reporter has discovered that Warner Brothers’ superhero cinematic universe is not officially known as the DC Extended Universe over at production headquarters.

When referring to films like Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice, Suicide Squad, and Justice League, fans have been saying that these films belong to an intersecting group known as the DC Extended Universe for years. Based on the Marvel Cinematic Universe moniker that has been officially used by that production house, the term DC Extended Universe has been adopted by fans to refer to the films containing crossover of Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, and many more popular supeheroes. This term, however, appears to be just a fan term given an interesting piece of information uncovered by an online entertainment reporter.

In a piece about the influence of Wonder Woman on DC’s marketing strategy moving forward, Abraham Riesman, a staff writer and reporter for Vulture, learned from DC executives that the DCEU term was not coined internally and is not what the films are referred to in-house. In fact, there appears to be no specific term that the team at Warner Brothers uses to refer to the circle of films, as confirmed in a long Twitter thread:

Early on in my reporting, officials at WB/DC told me no one uses the term “DC Extended Universe” internally and that it’s not official— Abraham Riesman (@abrahamjoseph) September 29, 2017

So if this isn’t the official term we’re supposed to use for these films, then that begs the question of where the term came from in the first place. Riesman has the answer to that question as well, as after lots of digging, he discovered that the term originated in an article on EW in July of 2015, when Batman V Superman was getting ready for a big San Diego Comic-Con showcase. The article’s writer, Keith Staskiewicz, was tracked down by Riesman, and it appears that he may not have been entirely serious when starting the DCEU trend:

He said: “it was my own phrasing when I used it in the story. Just seemed like the kind of thing they’d call it!”— Abraham Riesman (@abrahamjoseph) September 29, 2017

Staskiewicz was using the term as kind of a sardonic reference to what the studio would call it, aping off of Marvel’s previous branding and assuming that some kind of name similar would’ve been coming soon. Such name would not officially come, however, and the article’s joke was taken with enough seriousness that the name took off throughout internet circles as the official term for DC superhero films. This kind of unofficial branding makes sense, as DC Extended Universe does indeed sound like an official name and has the kind of easy acronym to refer to in casual conversation.

It’ll be interesting to see if Warner Bros./DC ever does unveil an official moniker for their Justice League line of films – especially since they’re developing a separate label for standalone projects like the Joker origin movie. One would think they’d announce something soon so audiences don’t get confused when more films come out.