Is Ezra Miller nonetheless the Flash? What is the take care of Superman, Marvel Girl and Batman? Every part you have to find out about James Gunn’s epic DC reboot.
That is the way you change the Snyderverse…. with a complete bunch of gods and monsters. Incoming DC Studios co-heads James Gunn and Peter Safran have unveiled their formidable plan to remake the DC Prolonged Universe as we have recognized it since 2013’s Man of Metal. And all of it begins with a 10-project slate encompassing each characteristic movies and tv exhibits that the duo are calling “Gods and Monsters.”
“We’re coming right into a world the place superheroes exist and have existed for a while in a single kind or one other,” Gunn told DC.com. “We’re telling an enormous, enormous central story that’s like Marvel, besides that I feel we’re much more deliberate out than Marvel from the start as a result of we’ve gotten a bunch of writers collectively to work the story out fully.”
“What we’re beginning with is the primary a part of the primary chapter of our universe,” added Safran. “That first chapter’s known as ‘Gods and Monsters.’ Lots of the following tasks are already being labored on, however we’re remaining versatile and we’re going to regulate as a result of we’re by no means going to place a undertaking into manufacturing earlier than the script is correct. It is a basic timeline, however there can be flexibility inside it.”
However the duo additionally confirmed that not each DC undertaking can be a part of the “Gods and Monsters” storyline. Enter DC Elseworlds, an already-existing DC Comics label that is a house for alternate takes on basic heroes. Underneath the brand new DC regime, films like Todd Phillips’s currently-shooting Joker sequel, Matt Reeves’s burgeoning Bat-verse and fashionable cartoons like Teen Titans Go! will reside on below the Elseworlds banner. “We’re going to be specializing in one universe from that multiverse,” Safran defined. “If one thing isn’t DCU… we’re going to make it very clear that these are DC Elseworlds, simply the identical method that they do it within the comedian books.”
In a separate press event for journalists, Safran acknowledged the steep hill they must climb to remodel DC again into considered one of Warner Bros. Discovery’s crown jewels. “The stakes are monumental,” he admitted. “It was a model in chaos and it’s a chance to construct a unprecedented standalone studio with the perfect IP and the perfect tales on the earth.”
The “Gods and Monsters” period will start with the currently-in-the works animated collection, Creature Commandos, and hit the massive display screen on July 11, 2025 when the Gunn-penned Superman: Legacy soars into film theaters. This is every thing you have to find out about this subsequent section of the DCEU.
What’s up with Superman?
The Snyderverse launched 10 years in the past on the muscular again of Henry Cavill, who donned Superman’s red-and-blue tights in 2013’s Man of Metal. Two years from now, the Final Son of Krypton will soar once more in Superman: Legacy, which Gunn and Safran promise is not a typical universe-launching origin story. “It focuses on Superman balancing his Kryptonian heritage along with his human upbringing,” Safran tells DC.com, including that he hopes that Gunn can even determine to direct the movie.
And Kal-El’s not the one Kryptonian sure for the massive display screen. The duo are additionally growing Supergirl: Girl of Tomorrow, the primary characteristic movie starring the Man of Metal’s cousin since Helen Slater’s cult 1984 adventure. Tailored from a comics storyline that originated with author Tom King and artist Bilquis Evely, the film will characteristic a “harsher” Supergirl than audiences have seen earlier than attributable to her dramatically totally different residing preparations after Krypton exploded. “She was on a bit of Krypton that drifted away from the planet and she or he lived there for the primary 14 years of her life,” Gunn explains. “[She was] in a horrible state of affairs the place she watched everybody round her die.”
Now the search begins for the performers that may proceed the legacies of each Superman and Supergirl. To date, fan-casting options for Clark Kent/Kal-El have ranged from Austin Butler to Jacob Elordi, however there’s one one that is undoubtedly not getting the gig: Cavill. Final October, the actor announced he was returning to the role after making a cameo in Black Adam, however that occurred below DC’s earlier regime. Speaking with journalists, Gunn sought to set the report straight about Cavill’s on-again, off-again return.
“We did not fireplace Henry; Henry was by no means forged,” the director stated. “He was in a cameo and that was the top of his story. I like Henry. He’s a terrific man. I feel he’s gotten dicked round by lots of people together with former regimes of this firm. However this Superman [in Legacy] isn’t Henry for quite a lot of causes.”
Talking of ex-Supermen, Gunn also confirmed that Tyler Hoechlin — who performs the Man of Metal on Superman & Lois on The CW — will not be sporting the S-shield for an excessive amount of longer. “It’s a present all people likes, so it’s going to maintain going for a bit bit,” Gunn stated, suggesting that it’d run for “one or two extra seasons.”
Whilst Superman: Legacy strikes full steam forward in the direction of its July 2025 launch, one other Superman undertaking is ready within the wings. Gunn and Safran famous that J.J. Abrams’s long-gestating “Black Superman” project stays in growth with Ta-Nehisi Coates nonetheless writing the script. If and when that film will get the greenlight, that Man of Metal will be a part of Joaquin Phoenix’s Clown Prince of Crime and Robert Pattinson’s emo-Batman within the Elseworlds bucket.
The place’s the Bat, man?
Guess that sit-down went well. Matt Reeves beforehand informed Yahoo Leisure that he could be assembly with Gunn and Safran to debate how his Bat-verse — which up to now encompasses a sequel to this yr’s Pattinson-led blockbuster and a spin-off HBO Max collection starring Colin Farrell’s Penguin — may complement their mainline DC-verse. The results of that assembly is that Reeves will proceed to develop his model of Gotham Metropolis below the DC Elseworlds banner.
“The Batman is its personal factor,” Gunn told DC.com, including that the sequel can be in theaters on Oct. 3, 2025 — 4 months after Superman: Legacy. “Matt’s exhausting at work on it. He got here in and pitched us some wonderful stuff, so our plan is for that to proceed.” Added Safran: “The Batman’s not a stepchild. It’s all below DC. We’re totally invested within the success of The Batman identical to we’re every thing else.”
However “Gods and Monsters” will characteristic its personal Darkish Knight in The Courageous and the Daring, a team-up film that pairs Batman along with his boy surprise, Robin. However this Robin will not be Dick Grayson — the one model of the character to look on the massive display screen up to now. (Chris O’Donnell beforehand performed the position in 1995’s Batman Ceaselessly and 1997’s Batman & Robin.) As a substitute, Gunn and Safran are constructing the film round Damian Wayne, Batman’s canonical comedian ebook son, created by Grant Morrison. And extra members of the prolonged Bat-family — whose ranks embody Batgirl, the Spoiler and Azrael — may seem as effectively.
Speaking at the DC press event, Gunn described The Courageous and the Daring as a “very unusual father-and-son story,” and proudly referred to Damian as “a bit son of a bitch,” attributable to his upbringing as an murderer. Regardless of being a real-life dad, Ben Affleck will not proceed Batman duties within the character’s new incarnation, though he is nonetheless anticipated to make in-character cameos in The Flash and Aquaman and the Misplaced Kingdom. And Gunn and Safran are eagerly hoping to ebook him as a director on considered one of their “Gods and Monsters” options — perhaps even The Courageous and the Daring. Batman directing Batman? Wait’ll we get a load of that.
Enter the Velocity Power
Saving The Flash was a superheroic effort in and of itself. After years in growth hell, Ezra Miller’s Scarlet Speedster — who the non-binary actor first portrayed in 2016’s Batman v. Superman: Daybreak of Justice — was lastly on observe for a solo characteristic movie. But Miller’s much-reported off-screen troubles tripped up the Andy Muschietti-directed film, to the purpose the place some puzzled whether or not Warner Bros. must scrap the movie along with the never-released Batgirl starring Leslie Grace. (Safran described that film as “not releasable” and credited Warner Bros. Discovery head David Zaslav with the choice to drag it out of circulation. “It could have damage DC.”)
However Gunn and Safran aren’t simply forging forward with plans to launch The Flash — they’re additionally talking of it in glowing phrases. “I’ll say right here that The Flash might be one of many biggest superhero films ever made,” Gunn remarked at the DC press event, including that it performs an instrumental position in main into the “Gods and Monsters” storyline in the way in which it “resets every thing.”
As for Miller’s particular private struggles and authorized points, Safran emphasised that DC Studios is “supportive” of the actor, whereas stopping in need of saying they’d proceed within the position after The Flash‘s launch. “Ezra is totally dedicated to their restoration,” Safran stated. “When the time is correct, after they really feel like they’re able to have the dialogue, we’ll all determine what the perfect path ahead is. However proper now, they’re fully centered on their restoration. And in our conversations with them over the past couple of months, it looks like they’re making monumental progress.”
Gunn also addressed the recent controversy over Zachary Levi, star of 2019’s Shazam! and the upcoming Shazam: Fury of the Gods. Over the weekend, the actor took to social media to submit what some have interpreted as an anti-vaccination sentiments. “Actors and filmmakers that I work with are going to say issues that I agree with and issues that I do not agree with,” Gunn remarked. “And that is going to occur. I haven’t got a listing of issues that someone ought to say due to what I feel. And you realize, I can not be altering my plans on a regular basis as a result of an actor says one thing that I do not agree with.”
Who’s left from the League?
With Ray Fisher, Ben Affleck and Henry Cavill formally out, and Ezra Miller in a holding sample, the Snyderverse Justice League is actually kaput. However Gunn and Safran notably declined to say that Gal Gadot and Jason Momoa could be handing of their League key playing cards as Marvel Girl and Aquaman respectively. Actually, Momoa continues to be headlining Aquaman and the Misplaced Kingdom, due in theaters on Dec. 25, and Safran told DC.com that there may be another journey in retailer for the Atlantean king. “Jason at all times thought Aquaman was a trilogy in his personal thoughts.” (As for the rumors that Momoa would transition into enjoying intergalactic bounty hunter Lobo, the duo’s plan is to keep away from having one actor play two characters in the identical universe.)
Talking of trilogies, Gadot and writer-director Patty Jenkins had been anticipating to shut our their Marvel Girl collection with a 3rd and closing characteristic. However these plans collapsed when Jenkins’s Wonder Woman 3 treatment was reportedly turned down by DC’s interim leaders, and she or he exited the undertaking. Gunn and Safran did not announce a brand new Marvel Girl film as a part of their slate, however they did reveal plans for an HBO Max prequel collection known as Paradise Island, set on the character’s birthplace of Themyscira.
Talking with DC.com, Safran and Gunn in contrast the present to Recreation of Thrones, the HBO franchise that efficiently launched its personal prequel collection final yr with Home of the Dragon. “[It] entails all the darkness, drama and political intrigue behind this society of solely girls,” Safran famous. Added Gunn: “It’s an origin story of how this society of ladies took place. What does it imply? What are their politics like? What are their guidelines? Who’s in cost? What are the video games that they play with one another to get to the highest? I feel it’s actually thrilling.”
Because the occasions of Paradise Island happen earlier than Marvel Girl’s beginning, Gadot would not star within the collection, though she may theoretically nonetheless seem in a gift day framing machine or some other type of flash-forward. Neither Safran nor Gunn definitively said that her time as an energetic Justice League member was up, in distinction to Cavill and Affleck.
One other League-adjacent character remaining gainfully employed is Amanda Waller, the federal government official whose position as the top of the Suicide Squad brings her into occasional contact (and battle) with Superman, Batman and the remainder of DC’s heroes. Viola Davis has performed the position since 2016’s Suicide Squad, and lately appeared in Gunn’s TV collection, Peacemaker, a spin-off of his personal 2020 film in regards to the expendable workforce of villains tasked with pulling off suicide missions. Along with returning for extra Peacemaker, Davis can even headline Waller, an HBO Max present set between the primary and second seasons of the John Cena collection.
“That is additionally going to have a few of the Peacemaker workforce in it as regulars on the present,” Gunn informed DC.com. “We have now two nice creatives engaged on it: Christal Henry, who was a author on Watchmen, and Jeremy Carver who created Doom Patrol. They’ve this extremely marvelous story labored out that I feel is basically unbelievable.”
What different gods and monsters are we assembly?
A lot for all of the DC characters you realize and love. The ultimate 5 entries within the “Gods and Monsters” storyline will characteristic characters unfamiliar to a large swath of audiences. Good factor Gunn has some expertise in that division, having beforehand taken an obscure Marvel Comics title — Guardians of the Galaxy — and turned it into one of the beloved collection within the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
On the TV facet, the undertaking with probably the most recognizable title is Lanterns, an HBO Max collection that may carry the Inexperienced Lantern Corps again to reside motion for the primary time since Ryan Reynolds’s infamous 2011 flop starring the emerald ring-wearing “area cop.” Pitched by Safran as a True Detective-like thriller collection, the present will characteristic the 2 best-known Lanterns, Hal Jordan and John Stewart. “We discover this historic horror on Earth, and these guys are mainly supercops on ‘Precinct Earth,'” Gunn teased to DC.com.
Becoming a member of Lanterns on HBO Max would be the Creature Commandos collection, which is actually an animated model of Suicide Squad full with Rick Flag, Sr., the daddy of the character that Joel Kinnaman performed in each reside motion Squad films. After which there’s Booster Gold, a fan favourite comedian character making the soar to reside motion. “[He’s] a loser from the long run who makes use of his fundamental future know-how to come back again to right this moment to faux to be a superhero,” defined Safran.
In the meantime Superman, Batman and Supergirl can be joined on the massive display screen by the members of The Authority, a “morally-gray” superhero workforce that originated within the pages of WildStorm comics. “They’re mainly good-intentioned, however they assume that the world is totally damaged,” Gunn stated. “The one strategy to repair it’s to take issues into their very own fingers, whether or not meaning killing individuals, destroying heads of state, altering governments — mainly, no matter they need to do to make the world higher. We’ll see how that journey goes for them.”
Final, however not least, Gunn will get again to his roots in Troma horror movies with a brand new Swamp Factor characteristic, based mostly on the Len Wein-created monster that Alan Moore took to new heights in a basic ’80s comedian ebook run. Safran guarantees that the movie will discover the “darkish origins” of the character, who beforehand appeared in two enjoyably tacky ’80s films and a short-lived James Wan-produced TV collection.