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A caller Batman movie without Robert Pattinson (but featuring Bruce Wayne’s murderous son). A Superman movie connected the merchandise docket (mark your calendars for July 11, 2025). A Game of Thrones-style play acceptable connected Wonder Woman’s location land of Themyscira (Amazonian palace intrigue). And an animated bid already successful accumulation (Creature Commandos … wait, what?).
That’s conscionable portion of what volition beryllium coming to theaters and TV screens arsenic portion of DC Studios bosses James Gunn and Peter Safran’s caller slate.
The brace person been engaged successful the 3 months since taking over and combining the movie and tv slate of DC properties, including live-action and animation arsenic good arsenic gaming. They revamped the mode the movie and TV sides bash business, cutting ties with projects and creators. A writers country was formed to find an wide communicative that volition motorboat a unified DC Universe. Creators person been approached. And a program — astatine slightest portion of 1 for what is being billed arsenic Chapter 1: God and Monsters — was formulated, and a slate of projects enactment into development.
Now, aft ambitiously promising fans that they would person thing to amusement them by Feb. 1, Gunn and Safran person unveiled the archetypal portion of their slate. It’s a operation of big, well-known heroes on with lesser-known characters — who whitethorn conscionable go big, similar the once-obscure heroes of Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy films implicit astatine Marvel Studios. The duo shared their plans Monday with reporters successful a petite and tidy screening country connected the Warner Bros. batch successful Burbank.
“One of our strategies is to instrumentality our diamond characters — which is Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman — and we usage them to prop up different characters that radical don’t know,” explained Gunn.
Added Safran, “To physique those lesser known properties into the diamond properties of tomorrow.”
While plans whitethorn yet shift, cautioned the duo, present is the archetypal slate of projects for Chapter 1, successful the bid they’re planned to appear.
Creature Commandos: A seven-episode animated series, written by Gunn, that is already successful production. Originally a squad of classical monsters assembled to combat Nazis, this is simply a modern instrumentality connected the concept. The dependable actors person yet to beryllium cast, but the executives are looking to find radical who tin dependable the animated characters and besides represent the live-action versions erstwhile the antiheroes amusement up successful movies and series.
Waller: In a spinoff of Gunn’s ain HBO Max deed bid Peacemaker, Viola Davis volition instrumentality arsenic the ruthless and morally ambiguous caput of a authorities task force. It is being written by Christal Henry (Watchmen) and Jeremy Carver, the creator of the Doom Patrol TV series.
Superman: Legacy: The movie featuring the Man of Steel that Gunn is penning and whitethorn direct, though nary commitments connected that extremity person been made. While the 2 erstwhile titles are meant to beryllium “aperitifs,” successful Safran’s words, Superman is the existent kick-off for the duo’s DCU plans. “It’s not an root story,” Safran said. “It focuses connected Superman balancing his Kryptonian practice with his quality upbringing. He is the embodiment of truth, justness and the American way. He is kindness successful a satellite that thinks that kindness is old-fashioned.” A merchandise day of July 11, 2025, has been penciled in.
Lanterns: Greg Berlanti’s long-in-the-works Green Lanterns TV bid has been scrapped (and Gunn and Safran person parted ways with the longtime DC bid steward). In its spot volition beryllium a caller instrumentality connected the abstraction cops with powerfulness rings. “Our imaginativeness for this is precise overmuch successful the vein of True Detective,” Safran described. “It’s terrestrial-based.” It volition diagnostic salient Lantern heroes Hal Jordan and John Stewart and is 1 of the astir important shows they person successful development. “This plays a truly large relation successful starring into the main communicative we are telling crossed movie and TV.”
The Authority: A movie based connected a squad of superheroes with alternatively utmost methods of protecting the satellite that archetypal originated successful the precocious 1990s nether an influential imprint known arsenic Wildstorm, tally by creator and present caput of DC publishing Jim Lee. “One of the things of the DCU is that it’s not conscionable a communicative of heroes and villains,” said Gunn. “Not each movie and TV amusement is going to beryllium astir bully feline versus atrocious guy, elephantine things from the entity travel and bully feline wins. There are achromatic hats, achromatic hats and grey hats.” Added Safran: “They are kinda similar Jack Nicholson successful A Few Good Men. They cognize that you privation them connected the wall. Or astatine slightest they judge that.”
Paradise Lost: The duo picture this HBO Max bid arsenic a Game of Thrones-style play acceptable connected the all-female land that is Wonder Woman’s birthplace, Themyscira, filled with governmental intrigue and scheming betwixt powerfulness players. It takes spot earlier the events of the Wonder Woman films.
The Brave and the Bold: “This is the instauration of the DCU Batman,” said Gunn, “of Bruce Wayne, and besides introduces our favourite Robin, Damian Wayne, who is simply a small lad of a bitch.” The movie volition instrumentality inspiration from the now-classic Batman tally written by Grant Morrison that introduced Batman to a lad helium ne'er knew existed: a murderous tween raised by assassins. “It’s a precise unusual father-and-son story.”
And, importantly, it volition diagnostic a Batman not played by Robert Pattinson. However, determination is besides …
The Batman sequel: Pattinson volition proceed to represent the Dark Knight successful astatine slightest 1 much transgression saga movie directed by Matt Reeves. That movie, the executives revealed, volition beryllium released Oct. 3, 2025, and is being titled The Batman Part II.
“2025 is going to beryllium a precise large twelvemonth for DC,” crowed Safran. “Superman and Batman wrong the aforesaid year.”
Booster Gold: An HBO Max bid based connected a unique, lesser-known leader created successful 1986. Safran said of the series, “It’s astir a loser from the aboriginal who uses basal aboriginal exertion to travel backmost to contiguous and unreal to beryllium a superhero.” Gunn described it arsenic “imposter syndrome arsenic superhero.”
Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow: Taking its cues from the caller Tom King-written miniseries, this movie promises a antithetic instrumentality than what astir deliberation of erstwhile Superman’s relative comes to mind. “We volition spot the quality betwixt Superman, who was sent to Earth and raised by loving parents from the clip helium was an infant, versus Supergirl, raised connected a rock, a spot disconnected of Krypton, and who watched everyone astir her dice and beryllium killed successful unspeakable ways for the archetypal 14 years of her beingness and past travel to Earth. She is overmuch much hard-core and not the Supergirl we’re utilized to.”
Swamp Thing: A fearfulness movie that promises to adjacent retired the archetypal portion of the archetypal chapter.
***
Before audiences get to those films and series, however, determination is simply a substance of this year’s harvest of movies, starting with Shazam! Fury of the Gods, coming March 17, and continuing with The Flash (June 16), Blue Beetle (Aug. 18) and Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom (Dec. 25).
Gunn and Safran are precocious connected the quartet, made nether the erstwhile movie authorities and the aegis of DC Films, tally by erstwhile caput Walter Hamada. Gunn calls The Flash, directed by Andy Muschietti, “probably 1 of the top superhero movies ever made.”
He besides said the 4 leads of those films could perchance instrumentality to their roles successful DCU projects down the line. “There is thing that prohibits that from happening,” said Gunn.
Among those actors is Ezra Miller, the troubled prima of The Flash who has recovered themselves astatine the halfway of respective transgression investigations (they pleaded guilty to trespassing earlier this month) and who, successful August, announced they were seeking treatment for “complex intelligence wellness issues.”
Safran said the executives remained hopeful Miller is connected a way to betterment. “Ezra is wholly committed to their recovery. We are afloat supportive of that travel they are connected close now. When the clip is right, erstwhile they are acceptable to person that discussion, we volition each fig retired what’s the champion way forward. But close now, they are wholly focused connected their recovery. And successful our speech with them, successful the past mates of months, it feels similar they are making tremendous progress.”
The duo besides discussed their attack to casting writ large, whether it was returning oregon caller actors. The TV bid volition look to formed actors who volition besides play the parts connected the large screen. Just arsenic John Cena played the convulsive fig Peacemaker successful Gunn’s The Suicide Squad past successful the Peacemaker series, anyone formed arsenic Hal Jordan and John Stewart successful Lanterns, for example, volition past transverse implicit into the films.
“We don’t privation the bid to consciousness successful immoderate mode similar step-children oregon lesser-than,” said Gunn. “It’s conscionable different mode to archer a story.” (They similar being capable to walk 8 hours digging heavy into definite characters.)
And they took connected the touchy taxable of Henry Cavill, tipped to instrumentality arsenic Superman successful a cameo successful past year’s Black Adam but who, successful the end, volition not instrumentality arsenic Superman, overmuch to the chagrin of a vocal instrumentality base.
“We didn’t occurrence Henry. Henry was ne'er cast,” said Gunn. “For me, it’s about, Who bash I privation to formed arsenic Superman, and who bash the filmmakers we person privation to cast? And for me, for this story, it isn’t Henry.”
He added: “I similar Henry, I deliberation he’s a large guy. I deliberation he’s getting dicked astir by a batch of people, including the erstwhile authorities astatine this company. But this Superman is not Henry, for a fig of reasons.”
The executives besides tried to locomotion the enactment of if and however to woody with actors who measurement into controversy, with Shazam!’s Zachary Levi being the astir caller example. Over the weekend, Levi tweeted words against pharmaceutical elephantine Pfizer, known for its COVID-19 vaccine, which galore interpreted arsenic the histrion having anti-vaccine views.
“Actors, filmmakers that I enactment with are going to accidental things that I hold with, and things that I don’t hold with,” said Gunn, who successful 2018 was temporarily fired by Disney arsenic manager of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 due to old, violative tweets. “I can’t beryllium changing my plans each the clip due to the fact that an histrion says thing that I don’t hold with. At the aforesaid token, if idiosyncratic is doing thing that is morally reprehensible, that’s a antithetic story. And we person to instrumentality that into account.”
Though Gunn and Safran are moving successful 1 DC Universe, immoderate stories volition basal apart. Reeves’ Batman movies and Todd Phillips’ sequel to Joker volition autumn nether a banner titled DC Elseworlds, which will, conscionable arsenic successful the comics, autumn extracurricular the larger continuity of the DCU. The Black Superman project, being written by Ta-Nehisi Coates nether the erstwhile regime, remains successful progressive improvement and would besides autumn nether that category. Teen Titans Go!, the fashionable and long-running cartoon bid connected Cartoon Network besides falls nether that banner, the duo said.
“The barroom is going to beryllium precise precocious for projects to beryllium extracurricular the DCU, the Elseworlds projects,” explained Safran. “But each present and past determination volition beryllium thing that lives up to that.”
Gunn and Safran besides stressed the value of beardown screenplays, saying a absorption determination would forestall the dreaded feeling of “superhero fatigue” and besides springiness the projects a tonal and thematic quality from each other. Gunn called retired the degradation of screenwriters successful Hollywood and besides said that the duo wanted to beryllium respectful of the dependable of filmmakers they were moving with … up to a point.
“It’s not the Gunnverse, it’s not,” Gunn said. “It’s got to beryllium each these antithetic feels from each these antithetic stories. That’s what makes it truthful fun. The stories are wholly different, and each has the idiosyncratic look of the writers and the manager that are making those projects.”
But, helium added, “We’re not stupid. Not each filmmaker is going to beryllium happy. Because if idiosyncratic is doing thing that isn’t working, we’re going to beryllium honest.”
Gunn and Safran’s hirings were the culmination of implicit a half-year quest by Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav to find idiosyncratic to pb a surface part of DC. In his ain words, Zaslav was looking for a ”Kevin Feige,” the storied and palmy caput of rival Marvel Studios, who has led the Disney-owned institution to a seemingly endless drawstring of hits, each the portion telling a unified and interconnected story. Gunn became an A-list filmmaker nether Feige, who hired him to nonstop 2014’s Guardians of the Galaxy, but helium was speedy to enactment this is not a Marvel redux: “A batch of radical are reasoning this is Marvel 2.0. It’s not.”
“Zaslav had a imaginativeness successful caput of a stand-alone workplace that would person everything DC, centralized,” said Safran. “And that was the entreaty for us, coming successful and having entree to immoderate character, immoderate story, and to archer the stories we wanted to archer crossed each the mediums.”
As Gunn said, “The past of DC is beauteous messed up,” referring to the turmoil and dysconnectivity that has roiled and foiled Warner Bros. Pictures’ plans for the comic publication properties implicit the past twelve oregon truthful years. There was filmmaker Zack Snyder’s multimovie beingness that sputtered halfway through. There was an attempted people correction by Joss Whedon that possibly made things worse. There were the respective changes successful workplace enactment and ownership. And determination was the Arrowverse, the palmy if niche TV broadside of DC that aired for implicit a decennary connected The CW.
“No 1 was minding the mint,” says Gunn. “They were giving distant IP similar they were enactment favors astatine immoderate creator who smiled astatine them.”
For Gunn, being handed the keys to a comic publication beingness is similar thing retired of a puerility dream.
Growing up successful St. Louis, Gunn described himself arsenic “a lost, screwed-up kid” who didn’t consciousness similar helium belonged.
His begetter and parent were truthful acrophobic that they sent him to a psychiatrist, who advised them to instrumentality involvement successful his interests — which happened to beryllium reading, penning and drafting comic books. In 1 effort astatine connecting, Gunn’s begetter took him to Creation Comic Con, a large comic normal successful Chicago. It remains the champion play he’s ever had, a clip that solidified a magic and transportation to the mean and its colorful characters.
Gunn present wants to bring that magic and transportation to moviegoing and TV-watching audiences by revamping DC Studios successful a mode that hasn’t been done before.
“I person an incredibly heavy transportation to these characters, to these stories, and to wanting to make that benignant of magic not lone successful the kid that I was, but successful the transportation that I had with my father, with friends aboriginal on,” Gunn explained. “And wanting to make a unified satellite successful DC wherever we archer stories.”
In the end, some Gunn and Safran cognize not lone what’s astatine involvement but besides the tremendous accidental being presented them. For Safran, it’s the accidental to interaction and alteration the culture, beryllium it the institution civilization of however it approaches storytelling to the broader fashionable culture.
Gunn lit up successful giddiness astatine the axenic magic of it all.
“This is not lone a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, it’s a erstwhile opportunity. It’s me, now. No 1 has ever gotten to bash this before. And however could I accidental nary to that?”
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