Okay, well… I’ve tried to be positive about this, buuuut… DC Universe has ceased offering annual memberships. This can really only mean one thing– DC Universe won’t be around for another year.
The writing has been on the wall for a while. DC Universe’s original series are steadily being “shared” with other outlets with ‘Stargirl’ also airing on The CW, soon to be joined by ‘Swamp Thing’, while ‘Doom Patrol’ is also available on HBO Max, with ‘Harley Quinn’ joining it in a couple of weeks. Word arrived weeks ago that ‘Stargirl’ was moving entirely to The CW and would no longer be offered on DC Universe. The CW, DC Universe, and HBO Max are all owned by parent company WarnerMedia, and many have speculated that with the launch of the bigger, more expansive streaming platform, HBO Max, that DC Universe’s days were numbered. They were right.
DC Universe, which costs $7.99 a month, was said to be shifting its focus to digital comics and news. But then it went and canceled ‘DC Daily’, its comic book news show that aired Monday through Friday.
On June 30, DC Universe subscribers were offered the chance to add HBO Max for $4.99 per month, a whopping discount from that service’s normal $14.99/month rate. While that might have seemed like a nice gesture at the time, it now seems that this offer was meant to get DC Universe subscribers used to HBO Max because that would soon be WarnerMedia’s only streaming service.
It is possible that DC Universe will carry on offering digital comics, but that price is a little hefty, and it doesn’t offer newer comics until a year after they were published.
Even though it was touted as a one-stop hub for all media based on DC Comics, it has always been incredibly lacking. The Burton/Schumacher ‘Batman’ and Christopher Reeve ‘Superman’ movies have drifted on and off the service, along with Nolan’s ‘Batman Begins’. DCU has NEVER offered ‘The Dark Knight’ or ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ or any of the current DC movies, ‘Man of Steel’, ‘Batman V Superman’, etc. It also doesn’t offer any of The CW’s Arrowverse shows or even ‘Smallville’.
On the other hand, HBO Max offers all of the modern DC movies and will even release the much-requested “Snyder Cut” of ‘Justice League’, as well as ‘Batwoman’. The other Arrowverse shows are under contract to Netflix for the time being.
DC Universe still has two exclusive shows, the live-action ‘Titans’ and the animated ‘Young Justice’ and both shows have new seasons in the pipeline. It’s very possible that these will be the last exclusive releases from DCU.
This change was made very quietly, with no official statement being issued. Then again, it’s hard to tout one’s failings.
Are you a DC Universe subscriber? How do you feel about this?
Source: Comicbook.com
