Three months into the job and James Gunn and Peter Safran have unveiled their slate of projects for the future of DC Studios.
The stakes are massive for us and for Warner Bros. Discovery.
Peter Safran
Similar to Marvel Studios uses of phases to break up the MCU, the new DCU will be released in chapters. These chapters will consist of a mixture of live action and animated films and television series with the aim to uses the same actors across all projects.
The first chapter is…
Chapter 1: God and Monsters
One of our strategies is to take our diamond characters, which is Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, and we use them to prop up other characters that people don’t know.
James Gunn
Gunn announced the ten projects that will make up this first chapter but stressed that plans may change. Here they are in the order that they set to be released.
Creature Commandos
This is a seven part animated show that Gunn has already written. Based of DC’s classic Nazi fighting monster team, the show will be connected to Gunn’s ‘The Suicide Squad’ as it features Weasel, one of the oy survivors from that film. Other recognisable DC characters from the artwork released include Frankenstein, his Bride, G.I. Robot, and version of Rick Flagg.
Waller
Essentially a bridge between ‘Peacemaker’ season 1 and the delayed season 2, Viola Davis once again taking on the role of Amanda Waller. The series will be written by Chrystal Henry (‘Watchmen’) and Jeremy Carver (‘Doom Patrol’).
Superman: Legacy
The true restart of the DC Universe, the new Superman film is being written by Gunn and has a release date of 11th July, 2025.
Lanterns
A Green Lanterns series featuring Hal Jordan and John Stewart.
Our vision for this is very much in the vein of ‘True Detective’. It’s terrestrial-based. This plays a really big role in leading into the main story we are telling across film and TV.
Peter Safran
The Authority
This is the real wild card in the pack. ‘The Authority’, created by Warren Ellis and Bryan Hitch, moved to DC Comics when they acquired Wildstorm. The team is essentially a darker analogue of the Justice League. This will be the team film in this first wave.
Paradise Lost
This is Gunn and Safran’s ‘Game Of Thrones’. A fantasy drama series telling the history of Themyscira, the birthplace of Wonder Woman.
The Brave And The Bold
This is the introduction of the DCU Batman, of Bruce Wayne, and also introduces our favorite Robin, Damian Wayne, who is a little son of a bitch.
James Gunn
This film, which is separate from the Robert Pattinson film, will be based on Grant Morrison ‘Batman’ run where they introduced Batman’s son with Talia al Ghul. Gunn promises that this will be the start of the Bat-family in the DCU.
Booster Gold
Based on the Dan Jurgens created hero from the 80s, this will be a HBO Max 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. It’s imposter syndrome as superhero.
James Gunn
Supergirl: Woman Of Tomorrow
This film is the most ‘ripped from the pages of the comics’ story that they will be telling as it’s based on the Tom King written series from last year.
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 hard-core and not the Supergirl we’re used to.
James Gunn
Swamp Thing
This is film that closes out the first part of the first chapter of the DCU and will lean into both Gunn and Safran’s horror sensibilities.
Before this all there are still four remaining DCEU films to be released. ‘Shazam! Fury of the Gods’, coming 17th March, and continuing with ‘The Flash’ on 16th June which resets the universe. Then ‘Blue Beetle’ debuts on 18th August and ‘Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom’ on 25th December.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
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