(Updated 02/06/2024)
The DC movie universe is going through huge changes. While some of the new plans are painful for fans — Henry Cavill will no longer play Superman, for example — the slate unveiled by DC heads James Gunn and Peter Safran is ambitious and exciting.
Filmmaker James Gunn, who directed SUICIDE SQUAD and the streaming series "Peacemaker" for DC, has been hired to oversee the creative direction of DC's movie future. He's working with Peter Safran, who heads the business side of DC Studios. The two have unveiled five upcoming movies and five related streaming series —including new Superman and Batman movies
Gunn and Safran have designed an interconnected universe in which characters will be consistent from their movie to TV and video game appearances, played by the same actors across all forms of content. They promise "a cohesive story across film, TV, animation, and gaming," which is a promising idea! And Gunn insists that they will only give movies a release date when the script is solid and locked — so some of the new movies do not yet have release dates.
That said, a few movies, such as the upcoming JOKER and THE BATMAN sequels, will be branded as "Elseworlds" stories to make clear to audiences that they are not part of the primary continuity. (Elseworlds is a brand long used by DC to denote stories that spin away from the core DC storyline.)
DC has several movies finished or nearing completion, and others on the way to production. Some actors from the previous incarnation of DC movies may remain, but it's looking more and more like Gal Gadot's Wonder Woman won't be in the lineup. Check out Gunn's video announcement, then read about the upcoming DC superhero movies, the filmmakers bringing them to the big screen, and the new heroes and villains we’ll meet in the DC Comics movies of 2023 and beyond.
Joker: Folie à Deux
This will be the first official Elseworlds movie. Writer/director Todd Phillips and star Joaquin Phoenix reunite for a second JOKER movie. Lady Gaga plays Harley Quinn, likely with a few character tweaks that fit this particular vision of the Joker. And the production will be a musical of some kind, which sounds wild at first — until you realize that it might be the perfect way to visualize the next stage of Arthur Fleck's life. Read more about JOKER: FOLIE À DEUX here. [October 4, 2024]
Superman: Legacy
The first new DC movie to come from the Gunn/Safran regime is a new version of Superman with David Corenswet playing Clark Kent and Superman, and Rachel Brosnahan playing Lois Lane. This new version sounds like a very pure, classic version of the character. Gunn is writing and will direct. "It’s not an origin story," Safran says. "It focuses on Superman balancing his Kryptonian heritage with his human upbringing. Superman represents truth, justice and the American way. He is kindness in a world that thinks of kindness as old fashioned." [July 11, 2025]
The Batman - Part II
Another Elseworlds movie — we're getting a follow-up to THE BATMAN while the core DC universe will also get its own new Batman. It's too early to have any real details, but writer/director Matt Reeves, co-writer Mattson Tomlin, and star Robert Pattinson are all working together again for THE BATMAN - PART II. Since Barry Keoghan briefly appeared as the Joker in the first movie (and had a longer scene that was released as deleted footage) we expect that he'll appear as well. Beyond that, we'll have to wait for more info. We don't even have a release date yet, but 2024 seems like the earliest possible year. [October 3, 2025]
The Authority
James Gunn recently tweeted about DC's deep roster of characters, especially when taking into account imprints like Wildstorm. So it's not a total surprise to see The Authority — which became a DC team when the company bought the publishing imprint Wildstorm — in the new roster. "The Authority’s a very different kind of superhero story," Gunn says. "They are basically good-intentioned, but they think that the world is completely broken and the only way to fix it is to take things into their own hands, whether that means killing people, destroying heads of state, changing governments—basically, whatever they want to do to make the world better. We’ll see how that journey goes for them." [Release Date TBA]
The Brave & The Bold
"This is the introduction of the DCU’s Batman," Gunn explains. "It is not Robert Pattinson. It is not Ben Affleck. This is the story of Damian Wayne, who is Batman’s actual son that he didn’t know existed for the first eight to ten years of his life. He was raised as a little murderer and assassin. He’s my favorite Robin. It’s based on the Grant Morrison comic run ["Batman & Son"], which is one of my favorite Batman runs. We’re putting it all together right now." [Release Date TBA]
Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow
Sometimes Supergirl is depicted as, well, a lot like Superman. That won't be the case here, as Milly Alcock ("House of the Dragon") takes the title role. Gunn describes this as "a big, science-fiction epic." It's based on the comic book series "Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow" by Tom King and Bilquis Evely. (King is one of the writers who has contributed to the overall structure of DC's new slate.) "In our story, we have Superman who was sent to Earth and raised by incredibly loving parents. Kara was on Krypton. She was on a piece of Krypton that drifted away from the planet and she lived there for the first fourteen years of her life in a horrible situation where she watched everyone around her die. So, she’s a much harsher and more f*cked up Supergirl than you’ve been used to thus far." Playwright and actress Ana Nogueira is set to script. [Release Date TBA]
Swamp Thing
One of the most exciting aspects of this new slate is Swamp Thing. Gunn calls this "a very dark horror story" which will tell the origins of Swamp Thing — which hopefully means an adaptation of Alan Moore's celebrated storyline from the 1980s. Gunn has strong roots in horror. And at a small press presentation announcing this slate on January 30, he said "You need to tell stories that don’t just pretend to be different genres, but actually are different genres.” So when he promises a dark horror story, we believe that might actually be what we see! [Release Date TBA]
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All images courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures.