The wait is over and finally the partial list has been revealed and there is plenty to unpack here! DC Studios Co-Chairmen and CEOs James Gunn and Peter Safran announced today plans for their first 10 film and television projects under the new DC banner which will range across film, television, and animation. Gunn and Safran are designing and implementing a long-term interconnected story for the iconic franchise and characters, and today announced the beginning of “Chapter 1” focused on “Gods and Monsters” with five new films and five television series for HBO Max already in development.
The Partial New DC Slate
Courtesy of Warner Bros Discovery/DC Studios
Fans can stay rest assured that the DC franchise is in safe hands going by all these projects that have been announced so far. Let’s dive right in shall we. Gun said “As we craft the plan for DC Studios, we are thrilled to share with fans the first 10 stories they can expect from the unified DC Universe featuring some of our most well-known characters as well as the next generation of marquee characters” said Safran. “Chapter 1 tells cohesive stories that highlight love, compassion, and the innate goodness of the human spirit, all designed to minimize audience confusion and maximize audience engagement across platforms.”
Here is James Gunn announcing some of the projects via his twitter account below:
Here are just a few of our plans. Up, up, and away! #DCStudios #DCU @DCComics pic.twitter.com/8XNDNLUEPq
— James Gunn (@JamesGunn) January 31, 2023
The upcoming slate of projects includes the following:
Superman: Legacy: The movie featuring the Man of Steel that Gunn is writing and may direct, although no commitments on that end have been made. While the two previous titles are meant to be “aperatifs,” in Safran’s words, Superman is the true kick off for the duo’s DCU plans. “It’s not an origin story,” Safran said. “It focuses on Superman balancing his Kryptonian heritage with his human upbringing. He is the embodiment of truth justice and the American way. He is kindness in a world that thinks that kindness as old-fashioned.” A release date of July 11, 2025 has been penciled in.
Gunn added: “Superman: Legacy is the true foundation of our creative vision for the DC Universe. Not only is Superman an iconic part of DC lore, he is also a favorite character for comic book readers, viewers of earlier movies, and fans around the world. I can’t wait to introduce our version of Superman who audiences will be able to follow and get to know across films, movies, animation and gaming.”
The Brave and the Bold: “This is the introduction of the DCU Batman,” said Gunn. “Of Bruce Wayne and also introduces our favorite Robin, Damian Wayne, who is a little son of a bitch.” The movie will take inspiration from the now-classic Batman run written by Grant Morrison that introduced Batman to a son he never knew existed: a murderous tween raised by assassins. “It’s a very strange father-and-son story.”
Lanterns: Greg Berlanti’s long-in-the-works Green Lanterns TV series has been scrapped and the duo have parted ways with the longtime DC series steward. In its place will be a new take on the space cops with power rings. “Our vision for this is very much in the vein of True Detective,” Safran described. “It’s terrestrial-based.” It will feature prominent Lantern heroes Hal Jordan and John Stewart and is one of the most important shows they have in development. “This plays a really big role in leading into the main story we are telling across film and TV.”
Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow: Taking its cues from the recent Tom King-written mini-series, this movie project promises to have a different take than what most think of when the idea of Superman’s cousin comes to mind. “We will see the difference between Superman, who was sent to Earth and raised by loving parents from the time he was an infant, versus Supergirl, raised on a rock, a chip off of Krypton, and who watched everyone around her die and be killed in terrible ways for the first 14 years of her life and then come to Earth. She is much more hardcore and not the Supergirl we’re used to.”
Booster Gold: an HBO Max series based on a unique and lower-tiered hero created in 1986. Safran said of the series, “It’s about a loser from the future who uses basic future technology to come back to today and pretend to be a superhero.” Gunn described it as “imposter syndrome as superhero.”
Waller: A spin-off of Gunn’s own HBO Max hit series, Peacemaker, Viola Davis will return as the ruthless and morally ambiguous head of a government task force. It is being written by Christal Henry (Watchmen) and Jeremy Carver, the creator of the Doom Patrol TV series.
Creature Commandos: An animated seven episode series, written by Gunn, that is already in production. Originally a team of classic monsters assembled to fight Nazis, this is a modern take on the concept. The voice actors have yet to be cast but the executives are looking to find people who can voice the animated characters and also portray the live-action versions when the anti-heroes to show up in movies and shows.
The Authority: a movie based on a team of superheroes with rather extreme methods of protecting the planet that first originated in the late 1990s under an influential imprint known as Wildstorm, run by artist and now head of DC publishing, Jim Lee. “One of the things of the DCU is that it’s not just a story of heroes and villains,” said Gunn. “Not every film and TV show is going to be about good guy vs. bad guy, giant things from the sky comes and good guy wins. There are white hats, black hats and grey hats.” Added Safran: “They are kinda like Jack Nicholson in A Few Good Men. They know that you want them on the wall. Or at least they believe that.”
Paradise Lost: The duo describe this HBO Max series as a Game of Thrones-style drama set on the all-female island that is Wonder Woman’s birthplace, Themyscira, filled with political intrigue and scheming between power players. It takes place before the events of the Wonder Woman films.
The Batman-Part II will be separate from DCU
Credit Warner Bros Discovery/DC Studios
Everyone can finally breathe a sigh of relief because The Batman sequel starring Robert Pattinson has also been officially given a release date and title. Including in the DC slate it was announced today that The Batman sequel will officially be titled The Batman- Part II and will be released on October 3, 2025. Many think this is too long of a wait, but rest assured it’s needed. Matt Reeves is still in the beginning stages of writing the script so we all need to just have a bit more patience. Reeves’ Batman films and Todd Phillips’s sequel to the Joker will both be falling under a banner titled DC Elseworlds. Which will mean that Pattinson will not be the DCU Batman and a younger Batman will be cast for The Brave and the Bold.
A lot of fans were left in a state of confusion when it was said that James Gunn and Peter Safran were starting everything from scratch and going younger but Gunn said at the press conference which was held yesterday at DC Studios ” Yes Matt is working on the The Batman-Part II, which he thinks of as a Batman crime saga that also included the Penquin TV series. The Batman is its own thing. Matt’s hard at work on it. He came in and pitched us some amazing stuff the other day, so our plan is for that to continue”.
Safran has said this ” Also, The Batman’s not a stepchild, it’s all under DC. We are fully invested in the success of The Batman just like we are everything else.
We can always expect the unexpected with these two and can’t wait to see in the coming months what other projects they have up their sleeves. Stay tuned and keep up to date here because we will be announcing them as they come in.
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