HBO Max Users Are About To Lose 7 DC Movies (Including 2 With 100% On Rotten Tomatoes)

Well, this is disappointing. It looks like HBO Max is pulling nearly a dozen movies from their roster, all from the DCU. And this isn’t the first time that HBO has pulled DC content for seemingly no reason either. It was only a few years ago that Warner Bros. shelved the Batgirl movie, receiving an intense backlash from fans who had been long awaiting the movie that was meant to stream on HBO Max.

As of October 31st, viewers will no longer be able to stream Batman and Superman: Battle of the Super Sons, The Death of Superman, Reign of the Supermen, Superman/Batman: Public Enemies, Superman: Man of Tomorrow, Superman: Red Son, and Superman: Unbound. While these aren’t the most popular or well-known titles, they’re still great films, with Superman: Unbound and Superman: Battle of the Super Sons both having a 100% score on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer. 

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Why Is HBO Max Removing So Many DC Films?

Any streaming platform removing content usually comes down to money, as well as potentially allowing other streaming sites to feature the content that’s been pulled in more lucrative exclusivity deals. That’s way less likely to be the case this time, though, as HBO has served as a sort of home base for all DC content in recent years, and Warner Bros owns all of the removed content. That doesn’t mean it doesn’t still carry some cost to house in the library, however, and we’ve seen exclusives being removed from Netflix in high profile instances before.

More intriguing is the context of the new DCU and James Gunn and Peter Safran’s future plans, including for animated projects. In a bid to help promote the new Superman film, Max put up a section for characters coming to the DCU, featuring names like Lobo, Supergirl, and Clayface—who will all be starring in their own live-action shows and films. However, since this section popped up, multiple episodes have been removed from certain shows like Titans Season 2, Episode 13, and Justice League Season 2, Episode 3. 

When speaking on the episode disappearances on X, Gunn said, “I don’t know what that is supposed to be or who put that up on the platform, but it’s meaningless.” Fans inevitably cried conspiracy and the idea that there could be potential spoilers, but that too seems unlikely for these Superman movies. It’s not like they could all contain spoilers, and all were based on comics anyway. Still, while it’s a lot less dramatic than what Warner Bros. pulled with Batgirl, it’s a shame that so much good content is being dropped off the service.

What are your thoughts on these particular Superman movies being shelved? Let us know in the comments. And head over to the ComicBook forum to see what other fans think!