The DC Comics Cinematic Universe has had a hard hand dealt to it so far.

Most people forget that 2011’s Green Lantern was supposed to start the post-Dark Knight era of movies, but that film’s immediate brutal failure lead to a false start.

Man of Steel performed better - both with critics and fans, but Superman purists were skeptical of the darker, more brutal and brooding version of Kal-El brought to the screen by Watchmen’s Zack Snyder.

Never the less, this new DC Comics cinematic universe persisted, dealing with the ever growing shadow of what Marvel Studios started, and trying to give the original superheroes their due.

Last year brought us both Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Suicide Squad, films with vocal fans, high (but “not high enough" box office), and critical distain. But then, this Summer, hope arrived in the form of Wonder Woman, a joyous revelation for the franchise, finally gaining the populous and critical win the movie needed.

I realize, I’ve yet to say one word about Justice League so far, but that’s because it is extremely hard to view the film in a bubble of its own. Whether you’re looking at it as an Avengers-esq culmination of the films so far, or just the next phase following Wonder Woman, it doesn’t really live by itself.

Unfortunately, that extends into the movie itself, a Frankenstein-esq patchwork of a movie started by Zack Snyder, and finished by The Avengers’ own Joss Whedon.

Justice League starts in the wake of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Superman (Henry Cavill) is dead, Batman (Ben Affleck) is filled with the want to do something greater, and Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) is out of the shadows. At the same time, horned baddie Steppenwolf (CiarÁ¡n Hinds) has returned to Earth along with a bunch of, uh, evil bug men? called Parademons (which you may remember from a dream sequence in Batman v Superman) to hunt down Motherboxes, giant glowy boxes which do, uh, things.

Yeah, it’s kind of slapdash, and really just an excuse for Batman to bring together heroes, including the socially awkward Flash (Ezra Miller), half-man half-supercomputer Cyborg (Ray Fisher), and Aquaman (Jason Momoa), reinterpreted here as an underwater rock-god, complete with love of drinking whiskey from the bottle and being covered head to toe in tribal tattoos.

The film which follows is an absolutely jarring watch. Snyder’s capital S serious superhero union film is juxtaposed with re-shot sequences filled with goofy humor and awkward character moments, which could not more clearly be from the pen of Whedon. I didn’t want to spend the movie wondering who did what, but the juxtaposition is so strong, so jarring, that I couldn’t help but notice. In fact, I’m pretty sure that even the color grading is different between the two shoots, making it easier for the average moviegoer to determine which director did what.

I really wanted to enjoy this movie - I enjoyed Wonder Woman after all, and while I never reviewed it here, I respected Batman v Superman for so clearly continuing Snyder’s vision of the DC Comics Universe, no matter how much I may personally agree or disagree with it. Instead, I was just baffled by the final movie, even with a fun start and decent action throughout. There’s an entire sequence in the second act that is so weird, and so off putting, I wasn’t sure how anyone OK’d it, especially in a film this over-scrutinized.

There are moments which could grow well from the failures here: Ezra Miller’s Flash is fantastic, full-stop, Gal Gadot remains a star, and I really want to see the full movie of Jason Momoa’s Aquaman. I feel really bad for Ray Fisher - it’s clear his version of Cyborg is meant to be in a darker, more tortured film, and is left somewhat hollow from the change in tone. As for Ben Affleck’s Batman? I like him in the role, but it’s becoming clear that he has quickly fallen out of love with the pressures and responsibilities of being this version of Batman. I don’t blame him for it, but he is almost a non-entity within Justice League, which breaks my heart to see.

Justice League is a movie of infinite potential, squandered. Moments work, moments fail, and somehow, we as an audience are left completely numb to the official big screen union of some of the greatest comic book characters of all time. How did this fail so hard? Is there really a better cut, either pure Snyder or pure Whedon, which could be the Blade Runner: Directors Cut of its time? Either way, this will be a movie viewed, discussed, taken apart, and put back together again for years to come…and I don’t know that anyone will ever truly be happy with it.

DC Comics needed another win. Justice League was not it. I’m so sorry to say that.

Justice League is in theaters now. You can get tickets via Fandango, or pre-order today on iTunes.