YMMV / DC Showcase – Constantine: The House of Mystery

• Epileptic Trees:
  • Some have theorized that the ending leads to John becoming Pariah in an animated Crisis on Infinite Earths adaptation, which was a project rumored to be in the works for years before it was finally confirmed to be happening as a movie trilogy. In Part 1, John as Pariah was confirmed to be true as well.
  • Some have also theorized that John getting written out or "benched" here and in the live-action Legends of Tomorrow around the same time is connected to a rumored new Constantine/Hellblazer-based adaptation for HBO Max, wiping the slate clean so to speak, with additional rumors of a Race Lift to make him black British being strongly considered. But the ongoing internal corporate drama at Warner Brothers has since likely sent these projects deeper into limbo, if there's any truth to said rumors.
• Funny Moments:
  • Constantine, trying desperately to escape the House of Mystery, at one point uses water in a toilet bowl to perform one of his rituals. Right before doing so, he snarks, "This'd better be worth it."
  • When a demon Constantine sold his soul to attempts to claim it, another bursts in on the scene and says his soul belongs to them. The first demon interrogates Constantine, saying "You sold your soul twice?!", to which Constantine replies, "'Course not," before continuing with, "I sold it three times" when a third demon enters.
• Informed Wrongness: The Spectre informs Constantine at the end that the universe itself is not happy about him goading the Flash to cause another Flashpoint, as it disturbs the cosmos. The thing is, though, this second Flashpoint was to undo the sheer hellish devastation Darkseid inflicted. Even besides the wrecked worlds he already left behind, Darkseid would have then proceeded to subjugate the rest of the cosmos, making the universe seem like an Ungrateful Bastard. The Spectre even has the gall to call Constantine selfish, even though the whole reason he convinced the Flash to go back in time was that all heroes were either dead or mutilated and Earth was irreparably fucked even after victory. Not to mention that the universe seemed to have no complaints about the Flash creating and then undoing the original Flashpoint.
• Narm: Constantine getting stuck in a "Groundhog Day" Loop of being endlessly killed by demons taking the form of his friends is terrifying to think about, but the presentation is increasingly over-the-top to the point it ends up being unintentionally funny after a while. Constantine actually acknowledges this in his monologue, saying "It got to the point where the comical deaths were a nice change of pace."
• They Changed It, Now It Sucks!: Some have criticized the art style in comparison to the art style used in the main DCAMU films.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: Some had been hoping that this short would confirm that the Tomorrowverse, the Shared Universe which replaced the DCAMU, is the new timeline after Apokolips War. Given that this short doesn't add anything to the ending of the DCAMU, some have also pointed out that with its different art style it could've been unrelated to the DCAMU since all it does is give Constantine a needless Downer Ending. Ultimately, it was more of a setup for his role in Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths, which finally does establish a connection.
• Too Bleak, Stopped Caring: Much like Apokolips War, a big criticism of the short is that seeing Constantine be killed repeatedly and the Downer Ending makes it difficult for viewers to really care about the short and its connection to the DCAMU. The Reveal that this is just one more example of Constantine's colossal self-loathing ruining things again does not help.
• Unexpected Character: How many fans thought the Spectre would show up?