As we come to the end of 2023, these are also the final days of the DC Extended Universe as we know it. Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom will be the final film in the DCEU before James Gunn and Peter Safran’s new DC Universe takes over in 2025 with the release of Superman: Legacy.
For now, it’s unclear how much the now shorter-titled DCU will retain from the DCEU, if anything, although a few actors, like John Cena and Viola Davis, are expected to remain in their roles. If that’s the case, it’s not exactly a clean break from what came before, of course. In the meantime, this list of Fandom’s 10 most searched for DCEU characters of 2023 has a few surprises. First, there are no characters from The Lost Kingdom or Blue Beetle, including the title characters, that ranked in the top ten, though since The Lost Kingdom isn’t arriving until December 22, there’s always the chance that those character pages may get more traffic at the end of this year and during the beginning of 2024.
Sasha Calle’s Supergirl is also absent despite being one of the most praised characters in The Flash. Instead, the core DC heroes retained spots in the top ten, along with a couple of other less obvious choices, though none of them could stop an unexpected character from claiming the number 1 slot out from under them.
10. SHAZAM
Considering that Billy Batson had a movie out earlier this year, coming in at number 10 seems kind of low, though Shazam! Fury of the Gods was also the unfortunate starting point for many of this year’s comic book movies that immediately fizzled out at the box office (remember, Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania did open well before rapidly falling). And despite the natural connection between the Shazam family and Black Adam, Dwayne Johnson’s antihero did not make a cameo to challenge Billy and his adoptive siblings for their power at the end of the film. Instead, Emilia Harcourt and John Economos recruit Shazam for the Justice Society in a scene that not even James Gunn can figure out how to make sense of.
For now, there are no indications that Shazam will be a part of the new DCU. But we wouldn’t bet against the character returning in someone else’s film down the road.
9. HARLEY QUINN
It’s been over two years since Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn appeared in the DCEU, but there’s clearly still a lot of excitement around The Suicide Squad’s most famous member. Outside of the DCEU, the Harley Quinn animated series on Max got picked up for another season. Meanwhile, Robbie had the best year of her career as the producer and star of the year’s biggest movie, Barbie.
Will Robbie come back to play Harley again for the new DCU? Gunn has previously raved about working with her during The Suicide Squad. And despite the icy box office reception to the Birds of Prey movie, Harley herself remains a fan favorite. If anyone comes back, it should be her.
8. BLACK ADAM
Dwayne Johnson was right all along. The hierarchy of the DC Universe did change, it just didn’t place him on top of the throne. Black Adam placed third in last year’s list of the most searched DCEU characters, but Teth-Adam fell to eighth place this year. While that is a steep drop, it’s still higher than Shazam’s ranking on this list.
In 2023, there were more reports about how Black Adam was changed at Johnson’s behest, including that post-credits appearance by Henry Cavill’s Superman. It’s also worth noting that Johnson reportedly nixed any potential appearances by Black Adam or the Justice Society in Shazam! Fury of the Gods. Regardless, Black Adam maintained a place in the top ten despite Johnson’s confirmation that he won’t be back for the DCU movies. If Black Adam does get a second chance at cinematic redemption, then it should be to fight Shazam. That’s the natural matchup we were denied a chance to see take place in the DCEU, and look how that turned out.
7. SUPERMAN
The Man of Steel slipped only a single spot this year, going from sixth to seventh on our list. Superman was mentioned by name in The Flash, and his image shown, while the events of that movie did call back to Man of Steel. However, Cavill’s actual cameo was cut from the film and he shared his offscreen goodbye to the role in 2022 just months after returning for a brief appearance in Black Adam.
David Corenswet is stepping into the role for Gunn’s Superman: Legacy, which will be the first film in the new DCU. Production should begin in 2024, and we suspect interest in seeing Corenswet in costume will be very high. It’s kind of a rite of passage for the Hollywood Supermen.
6. PEACEMAKER
Last year’s number 1 has fallen to #6, but don’t shed any tears for John Cena’s Peacemaker. He’s one of the few characters who is seemingly making the leap from the DCEU to the DCU without missing a step. Gunn has previously stated that Peacemaker Season 2 is still happening on Max down the line, though perhaps Cena will reprise his role in the upcoming Waller series first, which features Viola Davis returning as Amanda Waller.
In the meantime, Cena’s version of Peacemaker was revealed to be one of the guest characters in Mortal Kombat 1’s DLC. That’s a prime role that will allow players to pit Peacemaker against Invincible‘s Omni-Man and The Boys’ Homelander, as well as the MK characters themselves. That alone should indicate that Peacemaker won’t fade back into obscurity any time soon.
5. DARK FLASH
Dark Flash was the most intriguing character ahead of The Flash’s release because fans didn’t know what to make of him. As far as we knew, he could have been the equivalent of Eobard Thawne, the Reverse-Flash. That’s the man who murdered Barry Allen’s mother in the comics and in The Flash TV series on The CW.
The air of mystery of Dark Flash was enhanced by his exclusion from most of the film’s promotional materials. If McFarlane Toys hadn’t revealed the figure ahead of time, many fans may not have expected him at all. The eventual reveal of Dark Flash as another Barry variant didn’t quash his popularity on this list, though we’d be surprised if Dark Flash ranked this high ever again.
4. BATMAN
Ben Affleck made his farewell to the Dark Knight in The Flash’s first act, and thanks to Barry Allen’s actions, this version of Bruce Wayne/Batman may never be seen again. Offscreen, Affleck was quite open about his desire to move on from the role, but he filmed cameos for both The Flash and Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom. However, his cameo in The Lost Kingdom is not expected to have made the final cut.
There are a lot of questions surrounding the fate of Batman in the DCEU, since Barry Allen’s bungling changed the past and established Michael Keaton’s Batman, and later, George Clooney’s Caped Crusader, as the replacement for Affleck’s younger Bruce Wayne. In short, Bat-continuity’s a mess in the DCEU, and there’s no resolution in sight given we’re saying goodbye to this universe. The only Batman we know we’ll see again for sure is Robert Pattinson’s Dark Knight in The Batman sequel. We won’t know who the actual new Batman of the DCU will be until the cast is settled for The Brave and the Bold.
3. THE FLASH
The Flash, AKA Barry Allen, did not rank on last year’s list, so coming in at number 3 is a big step up. Though the troubled actor was making headlines for all the wrong reasons in the lead up to the film’s release, Ezra Miller’s Flash had double and even triple duty in the movie that shares the character’s name. And at one point, the older Barry was powerless while the slightly younger Barry was even more reckless as the Flash.
Ultimately, this incarnation of the Flash has to be remembered for irreparably breaking the DCEU as we knew it thanks to the changes he made in the past. Some of the original reasoning for that, like Affleck’s intended departure, was out of the hands of The Flash’s filmmakers and obviously a lot changed behind the scenes for DC’s cinematic future from the point The Flash was greenlit. Still, it’s now strange that the one and only Flash movie so far had Barry reset a reality that is now going to be wrapped up anyway in Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom. That leaves us with more questions than answers.
2. WONDER WOMAN
Moving up from #7 to #2, Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman got a lot of attention at the DCEU wiki. Although she wasn’t a major part of any new films, she did have two onscreen appearances thanks to single scenes in both Shazam! Fury of the Gods and The Flash that now may serve as her farewell to the character. Gadot’s back-to-back cameos in those movies as a go-to hero who can quickly lend a hand and save the day suggest that she would have retained a larger role in the DCEU under the studio’s previous regime, but we’ll see if she is given the opportunity to play the character again after this.
Of the two films, Wonder Woman played a more important role in Fury of the Gods when she restored Billy Batson to life and helped the power of the gods endure at the film’s conclusion. She also gently rebuked any notions that Billy had about romancing her. She also had one of the biggest laughs in The Flash when her golden lasso made Batman confess some embarrassing aspects of his personality. (Gadot was essentially the queen of the cameos this year, between the two DCEU films and her surprise return to the Fast & Furious franchise as Gisele in Fast X)
Meanwhile though, Wonder Woman is noticeably absent from any of the new DCU projects that have been announced so far by Gunn and Safran. The one thing that directly relates to Wonder Woman so far in the new era is Paradise Lost, a prequel series set on Themyscira long before the birth of Diana. That show may depict an Amazon civil war, possibly with Wonder Woman’s mother, Hippolyta, in a leading role. There just doesn’t seem to be any room for Wonder Woman herself at the moment.
1. ANTHEA
Yes, the most searched character at the DCEU wiki this year was… Anthea! Who, notably, also happens to be the only character on this list who doesn’t have a comic book counterpart.
Some of this result may be due to fans seeking more info not just on Anthea but also Rachel Zegler, who played the character in Shazam! Fury of the Gods, since she had quite a busy year, which included her leading role in the hit The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes. Additionally, Zegler will star opposite Gal Gadot in 2025’s live-action Snow White remake for Disney, which continues to generate a lot of discussion and debate. The combination of Zegler’s rising fame and the curiosity over just what exactly Anthea’s deal was, given she was such an unfamiliar character, likely all contributed to folks checking out the character’s page.
Anthea was created for Shazam! Fury of the Gods as one of the Daughters of Atlas. Alongside her sisters, Hespera (Helen Mirren) and Kalypso (Lucy Liu), Anthea came to Earth to reclaim the powers of their father from Billy Batson and his foster siblings. Anthea was innately more humane and compassionate than her sisters and while masquerading as a high school student she fell for Freddy Freeman (Jack Dylan Grazer) and sided against her family. After proving to be a valuable ally to the Shazam family during the final battle with Kalypso, Anthea ultimately decided to pursue a relationship with Freddy, which weirded out his foster parents (and some audience members) because the age gap between them was thousands of years.
Given the specific circumstances of Anthea’s introduction, and the unlikelihood of Shazam! 3 happening, we may have seen the last of her for now. Though anything is possible both for comic book characters and characters created for movies based on comic books…
