DC Studios co-presidents James Gunn and Peter Safran have unveiled their 8-10-year plan for the DC Universe, and it’s pretty ambitious! These guys have a lot of movies and shows in the hopper, and some of them sound pretty interesting.
Of course, we’re losing some things, too. Gunn and Safran have confirmed that Henry Cavill will not be returning to play Superman, and we wouldn’t count on seeing the Rock back as Black Adam, either. They also canceled a planned third Wonder Woman movie with Gal Gadot.
Will their stale of new projects make up for it? Let’s go through each and find out. We’re gonna rank these based on how interesting they look to us, with the most interesting at the top and the least at the bottom. Do you agree? Sound off!
1. Lanterns
According to James Gunn, Lanterns is “a big premiere HBO television show” about a pair of Green Lanterns — John Stewart and Hal Jordan — who “discovery a terrifying mystery that ties into our larger story of the DCU.”
There are few things that stand out about this one to me. First of all, it sounds like it’s on HBO proper, which gives me some confidence that it will have a good deal of polish; HBO can usually be depended upon to turn out a good series. Second, compared to some of the other superheroes in the DC canon — namely Batman and Superman — Green Lantern hasn’t been as overexposed, at least not in live-action. It’ll be fun to get to know some characters who aren’t quite as iconic, even though both Hal Jordan and John Stewart have their followers.
And I’m intrigued by the premise. A superhero show about space cops with powers who spend most of their time detecting on Earth? And Gunn compared it to the moody, atmospheric HBO drama True Detective? Okay, with the right people in charge, it sounds like that could be interesting.
2. The Brave and the Bold
Okay, I know I just said that Batman was overexposed, and he is; right now, Matt Reeves is working on a sequel to The Batman, where the Caped Crusader will once again be played by Robert Pattinson. Meanwhile, Joaquin Phoenix is starring in the Batman spinoff series Joker, Diedrich Bader voices Bruce Wayne on the HBO Max series Harley Quinn, and there are still animated movies about him coming out. Guy is everywhere, and has been for years.
That said…there’s a reason he’s so overexposed; Batman is the coolest superhero in history, and there seems to be no end of ways to approach his story. The new movie The Brave and the Bold will be about Bruce Wayne and his son Damian, who in the comics becomes the newest Robin. He’s a bit of a hellion: difficult, brash and deadly.
While Robin has long appeared in comics and in animated shows, we’ve seen very little of him in live-action, not since 1997’s disastrous Batman & Robin. So it’ll be cool to see the Batman-and-Robin dynamic in action on the big screen once more.
3. Superman Legacy
Superman can’t catch a break at the movies. Henry Cavill played him in one solo movie that was more or less well-received, a sequel that people hated (Batman v. Superman) and a team-up film that was such a dud it sent the DC Universe into a tailspin so bad that James Gunn and Peter Safran had to be brought in to fix it.
Rather than continue with the Cavill version, Gunn is writing a new story about a younger Superman, to be played by an actor we don’t know yet. Gunn says that Superman Legacy is “the true beginning of the DCU.” Gunn is writing this one himself; considering how important the character is to the DC brand, I think he’ll give it the attention it needs to be good.
Superman Legacy is also the only new DC movie with a release date: it’ll be out on July 11, 2025. That also speaks to the confidence Gunn and company have in the project.
4. The Authority
I’ll admit I’ve never heard of The Authority before. Gunn describes them as “a group of superheroes who think the world is broken and they wanna fix it by any means necessary.” Their number includes Jenny Sparks, who can turn into electricity; The Engineer, a scientist who replaced her blood with with a nanotech fluid; The Doctor, a drug addict and Shaman, and others.
This seems like the kind of rag-tag group of misfits that Gunn specializes in (see also the Guardians of the Galaxy and the Suicide Squad). He describes the movie as a “passion project,” and I have hope that his passion will shine through. Plus, the notion of a group of heroes determined to fix the world at any cost is intriguing. At what point do the ends justify the means? I’m sure we’ll find out.
5. Booster Gold
In his announcement video, Gunn talked about wanting to make superhero shows and movies in different genres. A Booster Gold show on HBO Max could help with that.
Booster Gold is a little-known DC superhero who hails from the distant future. He was a bit of a loser there, so he used technology to travel back to our time and become a superhero in the hopes of being loved.
This series will probably be on the lighter side. Of course, there have already been DC series with their fare share of humor, including James Gunn’s very own Peacemaker show. We’ll have to see just how distinct a show like Booster Gold can be.
And speaking of Peacemaker…
6. Waller
This show will feature Viola Davis as DC operative Amanda Waller, a role she’s played ever since the first Suicide Squad movie in 2016. In this year series, “Viola Davis is gonna team up with members of Team Peacemaker,” according to Gunn. “It is a fantastic story that’s out of this world and I can’t wait for people to see it.”
Davis is good in the role of Waller and the Peacemaker team is fun. The reason this show is so far down the list is because it makes it sound as though the Waller show is going to replace the second season of Peacemaker, which has been put “on hold.” That’s a shame, although at least Gunn found a way to continue a project he started under the old DC regime. Amanda Waller will be one of the few holdover characters from the earlier version of the DCU.
7. Swamp Thing
This one has potential. Swamp Thing will be an origin story for the title character, a plant/human elemental creature who often features in stories with an environmental bent. According to Gunn, this movie will be a “very dark horror story” that is “totally outside of the rest of the DCU.” At the same time, it will “still feed into the rest of the stories” being told in the DCU universe. I don’t know how that works out.
I think a lot of fans are a little burnt out on origin stories, but maybe this can be a good one.
8. Paradise Lost
Paradise Lost is a TV show set on Themyscira, aka Paradise Island, the home of Wonder Woman. “It’s almost like Game of Thrones with Westeros but with all the inhabitants of Paradise Island,” Gunn said.
What gives me pause about this one is that while it’s set on Wonder Woman’s home, there’s no mention of Wonder Woman herself, which feels a little like having a peanut butter-and-jelly sandwich without the peanut butter or the jelly; pick whichever one you like more and that’s the on you don’t get. Also, Game of Thrones comparisons seem a little old hat at this point.
9. Creature Commandos
Creature Commandos is an animated show about a little-known group of military-themed DC superheroes originally active during World War II. It might be good; I just don’t know enough about it to get excited, although it may be the first new DCU project we see.
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