I think it’s true that Marvel took a major hit after Endgame…
…I just don’t think the DCEU was ever all that great to begin with or that one really has anything to do with the other. Marvel stumbled badly after an extensive period of dominance DC couldn’t even begin to hope to achieve. It wasn’t just a Snyder thing; there is clearly a lot of blame to go around. But it just never got off the ground in a way to seriously rival what Marvel was doing.
This is also how I view the situation.
Marvel started pretty strong and changed the game with Avengers: Assemble; there were dips, duds, plateaus and surprise hits like Guardians along the way but they produced enough major high points to maintain the appearance of a sort of ‘consistent quality.’
Post Endgame, it’s fallen off a cliff. There are almost no beloved characters to root for atm (unless you’re Zurdo) and very little excitement or cultural significance compared to the Infinity Saga.
Spider-Man isn’t the same sort of in-house production due to Sony owning the rights so Disney’s new ‘creatives’ don’t have carte blanche to dissect and character assassinate him yet. The D+ shows have basically all ranged from trash to intolerable and insulting. They need to fundamentally change their approach at this point.
DC on the other hand, I believe, is viewed predominantly through the lens of its potential to be great as opposed to the quality of what we actually got. It’s all what ifs and shoulda beens.
‘If audiences weren’t so stupid and didn’t need to be spoon fed subtext, they’d understand what Snyder was doing in MoS’
‘Caville could have been perfect with the right script and tone- if only MoS 2 could be made,’
‘Afleck was under-utilised- Studio interference ruined BVS then Whedon over corrected his grittiness with lame humour and ruined the character! We just needed the Afleck solo movie!’
‘If only Justice League hadn’t been rushed and personal tragedy hadn’t taken Snyder off the project,’
‘If Snyder could just complete his JL trilogy, it would be the most epic, philosophically deep and world changing saga of all time!’
‘If only studios understood that directing and writing are two completely separate skillsets, they might not have given Patty Jenkins full control of Wonder Woman 2 and that wouldn’t have ultimately signalled the demise of all things Snyder related.’
I don’t really see anyone making excuses for Aquaman; you’re always gonna get exactly what we got with Momoa- and who actually cares about Aquaman?..
Ultimately, the DCEU failed at every attempt to launch with Wonder Woman being the one glimmer of hope, but that success seriously inflated some egos behind the scenes, which in turn lead to the most monumental fall from grace.
Marvel is comparatively bland and formulaic compared to the potential of the DCEU but WB was far too incompetent and disorganised to tap into that potential. So now we get Gunn.