James Gunn and Peter Safran, the two men who have taken over all DC projects and become the new heads of DC entertainment, have just announced their slate of upcoming projects. And by slate, what I mean is everything they have planned for the next five or so years.
These guys will be acting as the Kevin Feige of DC films, making all creative decisions, and overseeing the talent and productions. It’s something that DC movies definitely needed. You see, it’s been a solid decade of the Snyderverse version of DC movies, starting with Man of Steel, ten years ago in 2013. But unlike Marvel movies, (the MCU,) which have been going strong since 2008, the new brass at DC is realizing that what they had didn’t work, and that they now need to start all over.
During this past decade with DC movies, we’ve gotten everything you could imagine from an Aquaman movie to a Harley Quinn movie to a Justice League movie. And yet, remarkably, what we didn’t get was Batman. Somehow they never made a Batman movie in this universe (starring the Snyderverse’s version of Batman, Ben Affleck.) Two Wonder Woman movies, but no Batman movie. When we finally did get a Batman movie again, it had no connections to the Snyderverse whatsoever, and didn’t even star the same actors. That, of course, would be the Robert Pattinson Batman, as opposed to Affleck’s version. Let that Batman situation be representative of how ridiculous and disjointed the DC movie universe got.
So now Gunn and Safron have come along to reboot the whole series. Kind of. You see, they can’t really do that because they’ve got a finished Flash movie and Aquaman movie ready to be released. Not to mention a Matt Reeves Batman sequel and a Joker sequel (that classic Batman villain also got his own movie series during the crazy ten year run,) both of which will be part of something called Else World. What this means is that they are not going to be connected to the DCU (the name that Gunn and Safron are using to refer to their new franchise, as opposed to the DCEU, what it was called before.) Those two movies will just exist as something else, maybe not even connected to each other.
It all sounds like kind of a mess. Here you have these guys trying to start over on everything, and yet you’ve got four lingering projects, in no way connected to anything they are trying to build (the word is that they will be using the Flash movie to reset the universe, which means having him run so fast that he goes back in time and makes significant changes that then change everything that will come afterwards, creating a new timeline.)
Either way, those four projects seem to be standing in the way of what Gunn and Safron are trying to build, whether they will admit it or not. And two of the movies haven’t even started production yet… the two Batman Else World projects. Much as the Joker and the Batman are both great films, Gunn and Safron should have told the filmmakers behind their sequels (Matt Reeves and Todd Phillips,) either get on board or get out. Find a way to tie your sequels into what we are trying to do (or at the very least, into each other,) or be gone.
But they didn’t. Instead those two “Batman,” projects are going to continue to exist in Else World, which means people will either have to know that they co-exist with the other films, yet have nothing to do with them, or else people will be very confused. And Gunn and Safron have their own slate of films and shows that they will be putting out at the same time. Here is a list of those…
SUPERMAN LEGACY:
This will be the big one to get things started. Just like the former Snyderverse, the DCU will begin with a Superman movie. This is not an origin story. Instead it’s about Superman living in todays time. In Safrons words, the movie will explore this question…”is there a place for Superman’s kindness in this new world?”
Gunn wrote the movie, and may even direct it. This is a gamble for Gunn, who doesn’t generally make movies about good people. But for it to be the very first film of the new series means there’s probably something he has up his sleeve, that’s making him pretty confident. There’s probably a lot more to it than we know. The movie should be interesting, at the very least.
THE AUTHORITY:
This is to be Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy. And let’s remember that Gunn himself is actually the man behind the Guardians trilogy. In fact, Gunn became a name with those movies, and was mostly just an indie director before that. But he’s the one who gave us Rocket Racoon and Groot and Gamora and Drax. He’s the one who basically gave us a modern Star Wars movie for the superhero genre. He also gave us a hell of a Suicide Squad movie. So Gunn is no stranger to stories about misfits with powers who don’t always act responsibly.
The Authority, like Guardians once was, is a team of heroes that most people have never heard of. And these guys use their powers to save the world no matter what the casualties or costs. Sounds a lot like the Boys, right? Truth be told, though, this movie does seem right up Gunn’s alley, much more so than the Superman movie does. So crazy as it sounds, it just might work.
THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD:
Now this one will be the new take on Batman. Only not really. It’s about the Batman “family.” That means it’s about a character named Damien Wayne who is Robin. He will be the actual protagonist. But here’s the catch… this Robin is Batman’s son. To say this one sounds like the strangest project of all is an understatement, (although the Themyscera island show is pretty close, and we’ll get to that one a little later.) Will this be telling a story in the future, and will this Batman be the futuristic version of Pattinson’s current Batman? I highly doubt it. But boy would that be cool. The truth is, this will most likely be the fourth Bruce Wayne in a decade (Affleck, Pattinson, the kid in the Joker movie, and now this one.) I sure hope at least some of those are tied together in a way that connects.
SUPERGIRL: WOMAN OF TOMORROW:
A Supergirl movie. Now that’s something different right there. Yes, there was the show, but doing it as a movie for the big screen definitely takes it up a notch. And unlike the Superman film, this one most likely will be an origin movie. My best guess is, they will use this movie to tell the origin of Superman too. Through flashbacks, maybe they show what happened to both Superman and Supergirl (they are cousins,) and how the two of them went separate ways, despite having a similar start. Gunn has mentioned using the Diamond characters (Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman,) to prop up the other characters, and this is probably how he’ll do it. Most likely there will be flashbacks to show Superman on Krypton (probably just at the beginning of the film,) and then we will follow Supergirl to her adventures on other planets while Superman goes down to earth.
SWAMP THING:
As someone who was never really familiar with the Swamp Thing shows or movies, I can’t say a whole lot about this. What I do know is that the project has caught the attention of both James Gunn and James Mangold (he hasn’t signed in yet, but is certainly interested.) Mangold is the great director behind Copland, Identity, Walk the Line, and Logan. He’s a great talent, and if he comes on board to direct this one, the movie will suddenly seem a whole lot better.
SHOWS
CREATURE COMMANDOS–
This will be an animated show about a team of monsters, who act as heroes. We’re talking about zombies, vampires, werewolves… the works. His both this and Swamp Thing connect to the DCU, I have no idea. But let’s start with them connecting to each other. That one should be a no brainer.
LANTERNS:
An HBO Max show. A True Detective-like show. Space Police investigating something on the earth. But here’s the thing… True Detective had a hard R rating. Without it, it would not have been True Detective. So I sure hope this show has that too (Gunns Suicide Squad movie and Peacemaker show had it, so this one probably will.)
PARADISE LOST: (an HBO Max show)
the Story of Themyscera.. Sounds like what they once said would be Kong: Skull Island.. a movie about the island before Kong. Then they realized they needed Kong. Telling the story if just the island wasn’t enough. I’m betting it will be similar with this one. Meaning yes, it will tell the story of the island before Wonder Woman, but maybe there will be flash forwards to the future to Wonder Woman, sprinkled in.
BOOSTER GOLD:
This will be a comedy of sorts, about a time traveling superhero who uses that ability to go back in time, invent things that were already invented in the future, and make lots of money. It sounds like it could be fun.
WALLER:
And this one will be the continuation of the Peacemaker story, only maybe without Peacemaker. Waller is the character who started and ran the Suicide Squad teams in both Suicide Squad movies. With Peacemaker, she turned her attention more towards one individual than a team.But there was still a team in that show… a team of humans helping out that individual. So most likely there will be a team in here, somewhere. Other than that, we’ll have to see. But after two Suicide Squad movies and one show, it’s been pretty good so far and I’m glad this story will keep going.