Midway through their third month as newly appointed co-chairs of DC, James Gunn and Peter Safran finally revealed their plans for an interconnected universe for the comic book giant that largely spans film and television in a strategy unlike Warner Bros. since when.
Titled Chapter One, “Gods and Monsters,” part of what will unfold between 2025-2027 includes five films including Gunn-penned. Superman’s legacyNew Batman and Robin title. Brave and daringAnd a swamp thing Feature fiction and films centered around Supergirl and DC’s rogue team of the Inner Universe Authority. On the TV side, there is an animated series, Commando is a creature Written by Gunn, W peace maker Sub live event series Waller With Viola Davis, A.J lanterns a series, gold booster And Paradise Lost.
Outside waller, which contains some of the returning cast from peace maker There are no talents or directors associated with these projects.
Safran and Jan envisioned their grand design with an assembled writers’ room that absorbed the core ideas of the latter, that group including Christina Hodgson, Jeremy Slater, Drew Goddard, Crystal Henry, and Tom King.
Scroll below to read the details for each project.
In general, the plan for the game is two movies a year, and two HBO Max series in an eight- to ten-year plan.
It may seem like it’s all deep, deep universe stuff that takes away from the essence of Batman and Superman from it all, but there’s a way to the madness of Jinn and Safran.
“One of our strategies is to take our diamond characters — Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman — and use them to help support other characters that people don’t know about. Like what happened with Guardians of the Galaxy) Somehow. Like taking difference like Authority, which I know is a great idea for a completely different superhero movie. Because it is really related to Superman. Gunn says he’s about to use those well-known properties to help access lesser-known ones.
“We will promise that everything from our first project onwards will be uniform,” said Gunn.
“But we were very lucky with the next four projects,” the director added on the slate previously curated by former DC head Walter Hamada.
these Shazam! Wrath of the Gods (March 17), Sparkle (June 16) The last one that Gunn says “resets everything”.
“I will say it here flash It may be one of the greatest superhero movies ever made.”
Then erase any doubt about Gal Gadot’s future Wonder WomanJason Momoa Aquamanand Zachary Levi ShazamSafran asserted, “Those four movies are great. There’s no reason why any of the characters or the actors who play those characters shouldn’t be part of the DCU. There’s nothing to stop that from happening.”
Added producer Aquaman And suicide squad.
Ditto for the creators of these recent projects. Gan and Safran love to team up flash Director Andy Muschietti. James Wan is currently focusing on finishing Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom.
Then there blue beetle On August 18 “This kind of world has its own world and fits right into our DCU” follows Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom On Christmas Day that leads to the universe Jan and Safran drew.
As everyone here knows, DC’s history is probably very muddled. There’s Arrow. There’s like the DC EU that split then became Joss Whedon. Justice League At one point, she’s Aya Snyder at another. there was superman and lois, There is Pete Reeves. “There are all these different things,” Gann said at the top of the session.
“Even we, we went in and we did suicide squad And it became so peace maker And suddenly Mite Bat was a real young man who had never been groomed.” Guardians of the Galaxy Director and Marvel Studios vet.
“Nobody cared about the mint,” Gunn slammed, “they were giving away intellectual property like they’d prefer a party to whichever creator they smiled at.”
How about a sequel to Todd Phillips Joker: Folly a docs And Reeves died Batman sequel f HBO Max penguin a series? As previously reported, Safran confirmed that such deviations from his and his plan “will be clearly labeled DC-Elseworlds, just as the comics do.” Also still in the works? JJ Abrams’ Ta-Nehisi Coates’ Black Superman Project. Draft pending.
“The caliber is going to be very high for projects outside of the DCU,” Safran confirmed.
For a wink at the history of previous DC films, read David Ayer suicide squad and Snyder/Whedon justice League, The productions were known for remakes, and Gunn promised, “People have become beholden to dates, to book appointments, to make movies no matter what. At the end of the day, I’m a writer at heart, and we’re not going to make movies until the script is done. And if that means our plan should To change a little bit – it’s going to happen, we know it’s going to happen… We’re not going to make movies and put hundreds of millions of dollars into a movie where the script is only two-three out of the way and we have to finish it while we’re making the movie. I’ve seen that happen over and over again, and she A mess. I think this is the main reason for the deterioration in the quality of films today compared to what it was 30 years ago.” Jan mentioned how suicide squad He didn’t do any reshoots, etc Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 He spent a day taking pictures” and that was because scripts were prepared before shooting. I don’t want to get into this massive spending of hundreds of millions of dollars on reshoots.”
Gunn and Safran’s TV and film projects in Gods and Monsters Part 1 include:
Creature Commandos – Animated TV series. “Animation will lead to live-action and back to animation,” said Gunn. It’s a way to tell big, massive stories without spending $50 million an episode. Gunn wrote this, it’s over. Creature Commandos are made up of super-military including a human commander, a werewolf, a vampire, Frankenstein’s monster and a gorgon. Weasel, Gunn noted from for him suicide squad will be in the show. This group of misfits was introduced at Strange war tales #93 (November 1980), created by JM DeMatteis and Pat Broderick.
SUICIDE SQUAD, Viola Davis, 2016. ph: Clay Enos / © Warner Bros. / Courtesy Everett Collection
Waller HBO Max live-action series, part of peace maker. “We use the same cast, and it’s a continuation peace maker. I’m working on Superman, So we can’t do peace maker Season 2. We’re working on it Waller Between,” Gunn told the room. Crystal Henry (guards) writes the show with Jeremy Carver (creator Doom Patrol). Although none of the features are rated R, the TV series can tend to be more adult.
Superman’s legacy “This is really the beginning of the DCU,” says Safran. The project has already been announced by the duo with Gunn writing. No director has commented, but Safran was teasing Jan yesterday that he’d really like to take over. Release date is July 11, 2025. “It’s not an origins story, it focuses on Superman balancing his Kryptonian heritage and his human upbringing. He’s the embodiment of truth and justice and the American way, he’s kindness in a world where kindness is old-fashioned.”
lanterns HBO Max live series. “Our vision is this real detectiveSays Safran, “It’s ground-based, and it has two of our favorite Green Lanterns – Hal Jordan and John Stewart… It plays a really big role in the main story that we’re telling through film and TV. This is a very important show for us.” Safran specified that this version is different from the one Greg Berlanti was working on. The latter is a space opera.
Authority Property. “There are great characters in Wildstorm that have been popular for a long time and we’re incorporating them into the DCU,” says Gunn. He loves the property because it’s a mix of heroes who take matters into their own hands despite what governments advise. A basic story is being written. The Authority was created after the destruction of StormWatch, a planetary defense force against aliens. A former member of that group, Jenny Sparks, established the Authority with her StormWatch teammates Black Swift and Jack Hawksmoor. The team includes The Engineer (Angela Spica), Jeroen Thornedijk (The Newest Doctor), Apollo, and Midnighter.
Paradise Lost HBO Max live series. “it will be Games of ThronesAn interesting story about Themyscira, home of the Amazons and the birthplace of Wonder Woman. This drama is about the political intrigue behind an all-women society. How is that possible?” says Safran. “What are the beautiful truths and the ugly truths behind all of this and what are the schemes among all the powerful players in that society?” Adds Gan. The series will take place before the birth of Diana (aka Wonder Woman).
Brave and daring Property. This would be Gunn and Safran’s version of the DCU Batman outside of what Matt Reeves has already established. The film will feature Batman and his son, Damian Wayne, as Robin, “who’s the little son of a bitch,” John said. “The killer, the killer that Batman faces, who is Batman’s actual son who doesn’t know he’s been around for the last 8-10 years of his life… It’s a father-son story that’s weird about the two of them and is based on the Grant Morrison run of Batman.”
Gunn said that Reeves Batman 2 The script is still in the works and once it comes to fruition “it’s something we have to balance with this movie.” The duo revealed that Reeves Batman II It will be October 3, 2025. While Robert Pattinson is Reeves’ Dark Knight, Jean and Safran will be looking for a new actor to play Batman for him. Brave and daring. While they did bring up Ben Affleck’s name again as a director in the DCU, they didn’t name him for a project.
gold booster The HBO Max TV series is about a loser from the future, who uses future technology to get back in the day, and pretends to be a superhero. John describes the “superhero imposter syndrome”.
Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow Adapted from Tom King’s comic book series from the year 2022. “In our series we see the difference between Superman who was sent to Earth and raised by loving parents since he was an infant, versus Supergirl who grew up on a rock, chip off Krypton, and watched everyone around her die and be killed In horrible ways for the first 14 years of her life, and then she comes to Earth as a little girl. She’s more hard-headed, she’s not the Supergirl we’re used to seeing.”
SWAMP THING, Dick Duroc, 1982 © Embassy Pictures/courtesy Everett Collection
swamp thing You will achieve the advantage in the dark origins of the creature. Tonally, it differs from Superman, Batman, and Robin. The belief here from the duo is that the darker character will interact with the main DC characters. he was there swamp thing A 1982 movie starring Adrienne Barbeau, which was also made in 1989. Then there was the 2019 CW series.
Some of the rules the duo will abide by in creating their universe:
Anyone cast on the DC TV side as a character will respectively play that character on the movie side.
No actor will play two parts. Hence, Momoa is Aquaman going forward, not Lobo.
What does Warner Discovery CEO David Zaslav think of this plan? Will he go cheap on DC?
Not so in Safran. “Their investment in content creation is huge. There’s no question we have the resources,” says DC’s co-president.
“We’re going to put these scripts together, get our directors, and then discuss with Zaslav the appropriate spending on each one. I have no doubt they will commit the appropriate funds on each one,” he confirmed. Sorcery franchise product.
Adds Safran: “The stakes are huge, it’s been a brand in shambles and it’s an opportunity to build an exceptional indie studio with the best IP and the best stories in the world.”