DC Studios and Warners are gearing up to give DC fans a second version of their interconnected cinematic universe as the newly formed DC Studios hopes to bring a large swath of heroes and villains to the big and small screens. One of those priority characters besides Superman, Batman, and the Green Lantern Corps. is also Supergirl (Clark Kent’s Kryptonian cousin) with casting underway.
Today, the big Supdate hails from The Hollywood Reporter and they state that only two actresses are currently vying for the part with Aussie Milly Alcock (“House of The Dragon”) and Meg Donnelly. Adding that the two have already done screen tests for the part in Atlanta that had James Gunn and Peter Safran in attendance. It’s hard not to see the potential with Alock in the role after the newcomer held her own in HBO’s “Game of Thrones” spinoff/prequel and despite that global awareness, she hasn’t signed herself up to any other big franchises.
UPDATE: THR has now confirmed that Milly Alcock has landed the Supergirl role.Although, in the new reporting they’re unsure if “Superman: Legacy” will indeed be that first outing ahead of her solo film “Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow.” Perhaps, that hasn’t been entirely determined or the studio isn’t exactly ready to spoil something in their upcoming Superman flick. It should be pointed out the outlet mentioned “Legacy” as the character’s first appearancein the original reportand that “Woman of Tomorrow” could begin shooting as early as this fall. That production target may signal a director is being eyed or may be announced shortly.
The outlet is also confirming previous rumblings that Supergirl would be making her first big screen introduction in James Gunn’s “Superman: Legacy” before moving on to her own solo film. A project that has been confirmed to be inspired by the recent comic run of “Superman: Woman of Tomorrow” and will likely be the film’s title as well with Ana Nogueira assigned to tackle a script.
Supergirl would eventually have her own solo pic in 1984 and decades later land her own CW series that aired from 2015 to 2021. More recently actress Sasha Calle played a new cinematic incarnation of the DC heroine in “The Flash” only to have the entire cinematic universe reset, even before audiences got a chance to see her performance. We still don’t know the size or scope of her appearance in “Superman: Legacy” or if it’s simply going to be a cameo/button scene situation.
Director James Gunn‘s “Superman: Legacy” has a lot riding on its broad shoulders as the film will not only usher in the brand new version of the Man of Steel for the DCU but will be the first big entry into the newly formed studios’ cinematic universe that will be fleshed-out in the first phase over the next couple of years. With that in mind, another big superhero is about to join that new universe and one that many had suspected could be introduced in “Superman” Legacy” as Gunn attempts to cram as much world-building into his upcoming superhero pic as humanly possible.
It sounds like Clark’s cousin from Krypton is indeed appearing in the DCU film before getting her own feature film, “Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow.” DC Studios is reportedly now looking at actresses to play Kara Zor-El. Those candidates up for the new Supergirl role according to Deadline include actresses Milly Alcock (“House of The Dragon”), Emilia Jones (“CODA”), and Meg Donnelly. The outlet also alludes to screen tests for the studio are likely going to happen within the next month or so, suggesting they don’t have a frontrunner. The assumption is that whoever is selected will be introduced in “Legacy,” given the proximity to the production in Atlanta, before moving on to “Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow” as that project has yet to secure or announce a director. However, how large of a cameo/role Supergirl could have is up for debate until Gunn chimes in on the report.
A great group of young actresses who could all make a large impact playing Supergirl, the part had been more recently played by Sasha Calle in “The Flash.” But as this news has been announced, it would mean that Calle will no longer be playing the part as DC Studios attempts to reset and recast a majority of these DC Comics roles. This likely means we’re going to learn a lot more about what their plans are concerning the solo film that has been in development for nearly a year now at DC Studios. Screenwriters Oren Uziel and Ana Nogueira are said to be currently writing the solo film’s script.
“Superman: Legacy” is still on track to hit its July 11, 2025, release date with a fantastic cast that consists of David Corenswet (as Clark Kent/Superman), Rachel Brosnahan (Lois Lane), Nicholas Hoult (Lex Luther), Skyler Gisondo, Sara Sampaio, Anthony Carrigan (Metamorpho), Isabel Merced (Hawkgirl), and Nathan Fillion (Guy Gardner/Green Lantern).
In 2023, studios across the board had a good amount of their blockbusters tank or have underwhelming results at the global box office. At this point, the phrase “franchise fatigue” is maybe the more accurate term we should start using here over “superhero fatigue.” Mainly, because it’s not just comic book movies that are struggling to make an impact at the box office, earn as much as the last installment, or turn a profit. In this piece, we’re going to spotlight many of these box office hiccups from last year.
Disney saw a massive ding to their 2023 slate with “Indiana Jones & The Dial of Destiny,” with a $300 million budget and the fifth installment of the “Indiana Jones” franchise, which didn’t click with audiences in the way that Lucasfilm/Disney had hoped earning a less than stellar $383.9 million. Speaking of Lucasfilm, a studio built on the juggernaut “Star Wars” franchise hasn’t shot a feature film since 2019 with “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.” Their pause on the feature division comes after “Solo: A Star Wars Story” had a weak box office take that scared Lucasfilm from pursuing other spinoff films and pivoted to focusing on their streaming series division at Disney+ instead. There have been endless promises of new films by Lucasfilm from filmmakers such as Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, Taika Waititi, Dave Filoni, James Mangold, Shawn Levy, and a mystery trilogy from Rian Johnson. However, we’ll believe all these “Star Wars” movies are happening when the trailers drop considering how many films were turned into series or never happened at all like “Star Wars: Rogue Squadron” that had a release date of December 22,2023 and then the Patty Jenkins-directed pic just vanished.
It’s not just Disney and Warner Bros. undergoing a stress test other studios saw some of their popular franchises taking dings in 2023. Paramount’s “Transformers: Rise of The Beasts” had a somewhat difficult time attracting audiences to the point that it made even less than 2018’s “Bumblebee” with $438.9 million and $166.5 million less than “Transformers: The Last Knight.” Another big stumble for Paramount was “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One” and one nobody really saw coming after “Mission: Impossible – Fallout” earned Paramount a whopping $791.6 million back in 2018. The most recent outing led by Tom Cruise only managed to make $395.4 million over the summer which is nearly half of what “Fallout” did. The studio is now abandoning the “Dead Reckoning Part Two” title for “Mission: Impossible 8” entirely.
While I think folks at Lionsgate are happy that their “Hunger Games” prequel has made $322.6 million, yet, that would still be a drop of $338.8 million from “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2.” The fourth installment of “The Expendables” distributed by Lionsgate ended up putting up some of the worst numbers with an embarrassing $21.2 million compared to the last pic’s $214.6 million. “Expendables 4” wasn’t the only disappointing Jason Statham film either as Ben Wheatley’s “Meg 2: The Trench” dropped down by $134.3 million.
Universal has many plans for expanding its Universal Monsters franchise with various features tackling different horror characters. However, in 2023 the studio struggled to get folks to watch either of their high-profile Dracula films with both the comedy “Renfield” ($26.4 million global earnings vs $65 million budget) and the grittier “The Last Voyage of The Demeter” ($21.7 million global earnings vs $45 million budget) which took decades to make it to the big screen failed to scare up an audience outside of the Halloween season. Some of the few horror films that struggled.
Meanwhile, on the superhero front, there were indeed signs of audience apathy. Both “The Marvels” ($46.1 million domestic opening weekend) and “Aquaman & The Lost Kingdom” ($27.7 million domestic opening weekend) were follow-ups to billion-dollar successes that failed to make a big splash by not covering their production/marketing costs.
Of course, the headaches that Marvel Studios experienced in 2023 are obvious with “The Marvels” dipping a massive $925.8 million compared to “Captain Marvel” and “Ant-Man 3” saw a significant drop of $146.6 million in contrast to “Ant-Man & The Wasp.” Although, it wasn’t all bad for the MCU since “Guardians of The Galaxy Vol.3” topped the superhero releases at $845.5 million with a minor slip of $18.2 million.
The final installment of the DCEU, “Aquaman & The Last Kingdom,” had a soft opening weekend as mentioned above, and has only mustered $258.2 million which is another colossal hiccup. A difference of $893.8 million when put up against the original. Ultimately, the “Shazam!” sequel ended up with one of the worst turnouts for major superhero blockbusters. At $133.8 million (Made a fraction of what the original did when it earned $367.7 million in 2019) and given its hefty budget of $300 million, “The Flash” was another catastrophe for WB at $270.6 million. With the DCU set for a big reboot in July 2025, starting with “Superman: Legacy,” there are some expectations that the reset could help with the studio’s rebranding post-Snyderverse. Then again, “Blue Beetle” (Not technically a sequel/follow-up) was retroactively added to the DCU by DC Studios around its release despite a weak $129.2 million at the box office.
Then again, it’s not all bad since there were a handful of upticks in 2023, and some of these include “Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse” hitting $690.5 million, a big jump from the Oscar-winning first installment’s global box office of $384.2 million from 2018. “Creed III” saw a $61 million boost which sounds good for the prospect of a fourth film. When it comes to more mature franchises, “John Wick: Chapter 4” also handed Lionsgate their best numbers over four feature films at $440.1 million. “Saw X” and “Scream VI” did well compared to their last installments too.
Every movie is as different as the reasons for them not becoming massive earners.
We can’t really expect studios to pump the breaks completely on the superhero movies given that it’s still a lucrative venture. There is an overload of sequels on the horizon at Marvel with “Deadpool 3,” “Captain America: Brave New World,” and director Destin Daniel Cretton exiting “Avengers 5” to focus on “Shangi-Chi 2.” “Deadpool 3,” an R-rated sequel, is expected to be the only MCU feature film released this year and gives the studios a bit of a cooling-off period.
While these pics haven’t been given official release dates or announced by Marvel themselves, there is an expectation that we’ll be getting “Spider-Man 4,” “Doctor Strange 3,” “Thor 5,” “Captain America 5,” and possibly “Eternals 2.” There are also a bunch of reboots on the way with things like “Fantastic Four,” “Blade,” “X-Men,” James Gunn’s “Superman: Legacy” shooting in 2024, and a new Batman film with “The Brave & The Bold.”
Sony’s adjacent Marvel films in 2024 include “Madame Web,” “Kraven The Hunter,” and the final solo outing for Tom Hardy’s Eddie Brock in “Venom 3.” We don’t know how much appetite audiences have for these movies without Tom Holland’s involvement and a disaster like “Morbius” harkening back to the era of the 2000s when studios were rushing half-cooked superhero films into theaters to meet the demand.
A bunch of non-comic book blockbusters or follow-up installments coming later this year include “Dune: Part Two,” “Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire,” “Gladiator 2,” “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga,” “Kung Fu Panda 4,” “Inside Out 2,” “Kingdom of The Planet of The Apes,” “Alien: Romulus,” “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire,” “Mufasa: The King King,” “Sonic The Hedgehog 3,” “The Lord of The Rings: The War of The Rohirrim,” ‘Smile 2,” “Saw XI,” “Transformers One,” “Beetlejuice 2,” “Wolf Man,” “A Quiet Place: Day One,” “Despicable Me 4,” “Bad Boys 4,” “Ballerina,” “The Strangers: Chapter 1,” and Radio Silence’s Universal Monsters film. Hopefully, these do a lot better with audiences.
Solutions? Well, spending $200-300 million a pop for these films is simply going to be unsustainable, and trying to market every blockbuster as an event continues to be difficult for studios when their slate is mostly these kinds of films in an oversaturated market. Studios would likely benefit from seeking out filmmakers who can deliver genre films at lower costs and potentially scaling back the overreliance on VFX. An adjusted expectation for these movies could be closer to a cume of $300-500 million and studios would be smart to think about going back to budgets closer to/under $80-100 million. The bigger the movie the pricier reshoots and overhauls will be to fix hiccups in the editing/post process which has contributed to a lot of these bloated budgets making it tougher for studios to recoup their overall costs.
Some other factors include that COVID is still ongoing with people avoiding crowded theaters/malls and a lot of audiences don’t have to wait long for releases to drop on streaming services they’re already subscribing to. The latter seems a lot more damaging because the shortened theatrical windows mean studios have to deal with not only folks waiting out to get movies for “free” on streaming via subs and diminishes the importance of the theatrical experience. Warner Bros. during the early days of the pandemic attempted to do day-and-date releases which was detrimental to their film division it led AT&T’s John Stankey to bail on the company by handing over the reins to David Zaslav/Discovery (His tax write-off scheme leading to the erasure of films and shows is equally imbecilic).
A good example of this was Disney, who dumped three straight Pixar films “Soul,” “Luca,” and “Turning Red” on Disney+ and seemingly did large brand damage as they’re trying to fix in retrospect by releasing them all in theaters in 2024 (See teaser trailer above). This comes ahead of the release of “Inside Out 2” in June, a follow-up to a $858.8 million hit, that may aim to curb some of the weak box office that “Toy Story” semi-spinoff “Lightyear” saw in 2022.
It’s worth mentioning that things like “Barbie,” “Oppenheimer,” and “Super Mario Bros.” surprised us all with their massive earnings as when these movies were first announced they weren’t slamdunks to the point we were expecting them to be the Top 3 films of 2023. Their theatrical windows gave those pics plenty of time to accumulate a bunch of cash. Also, doesn’t hurt that both “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” (Still playing at my local theater in December) came from visionary filmmakers, Greta Gerwig and Christopher Nolan respectively. Selecting creatives that can contribute to the script or elevate the material to make something appealing to an audience when a lot of genre projects can blend together or seem generic might help. Nolan and Denis Villeneuve have been extremely vocal on the importance of theatrical windows.
We shouldn’t be all doom-and-gloom about the situation. I’m mostly optimistic since there were plenty of good box office stories in 2023 and studios aren’t suddenly going to stop making these movies. Yet, potentially trimming the volume of releases, not trying to manufacture event status for all films, and using their abundant resources more carefully should be a good start. Marvel/Disney have already signaled they’re looking to pivot and make constructive changes. We’ll see if other studios make similar adjustments with their own franchises that are seeing dwindling interest.
Here is a rundown of franchise releases in 2023 to give you an idea of how lopsided the box office of 2023 actually was:
GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 3 ($845.5 million)
FAST X ($704.8 million)
SPIDER-MAN: ACROSS THE SPIDER-VERSE ($690.5 million)
MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – DEAD RECKONING PART ONE ($567.5 million)
ANT-MAN & THE WASP: QUANTUMANIA ($476 million)
TRANSFORMERS: RISE OF THE BEASTS ($438.9 million)
THE HUNGER GAMES: THE BALLAD OF SONGBIRDS & SNAKES ($322.6 million)
After being in the mix to play Bruce Wayne/Batman in Matt Reeves’ “The Batman” and losing the more recent role of James Gunn‘s new Superman, British actor Nicholas Hoult has landed the key villainous part of DC Comics supervillain, Lex Luthor. Deadline first reported the casting update. This comes after both Alexander and Bill Skarsgard were linked for being in the running alongside Hoult to play Luthor in “Superman: Legacy.”
The rest of the cast consists of David Corenswet as Clark Kent/Superman, Rachel Brosnahan as Lois Lane, Venezuelan actress María Gabriela de Faría playing a villain called The Engineer, Nathan Fillion features as Guy Gardner/Green Lantern, Isabela Merced set to play Hawkgirl, Edi Gathegi will play Mister Terrific, and Anthony Carrigan takes on the role of Rex Mason/Metamorpho.
Hoult is no stranger to comic book roles after playing Dr. Hank McCoy/Beast in the “X-Men” prequel films that launched with Matthew Vaughn’s “X-Men: First Class” and ended with “Dark Phoenix.” Previously, the cinematic version of the Lex Luthor role had been played by Gene Hackman, Kevin Spacey in “Superman Returns,” and more recently Jesse Eisenberg played the DC Comics baddie in the lackluster “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.”
The last version of Luthor was slowly putting together his own team, The Legion of Doom, with Joe Manganiello’s Slade Wilson, aka, Deathstroke being his first major acquisition in a post-credit scene. It remains to be seen if Lex’s Legion will be part of Gunn’s future plans for the DCU alongside “Creature Commandos” and “The Authority.”
“Superman: Legacy,” the first big live-action feature film from DC Studios’ new reset DCU, will be released on July 11, 2025.
Despite “Aquaman & The Lost Kingdom,” the upcoming sequel to the billion-dollar hit “Aquaman,” being on the way this December, it looks like actor Jason Momoa (“Dune,” “Game of Thrones”) is now seeking another big comic book role at DC Studios. In a new report from Variety, the outlet claims that Momoa’s time as Aquaman is ending and is already in talks to play another DC Comics character. That being Lobo, a beefy alien biker and bounty hunter who can go toe-to-toe with Superman but has some antihero traits similar to that of both Marvel’s Wolverine and Deadpool. Gruff appearance and lots of witty one-liners ready to go, a character that would most likely suit Momoa’s entire aesthetic more than Aquaman or any other hero or villain in comics.
Speaking of the Man of Steel facing off with The Main Man, they also suggest it is unclear if his first appearance would be in James Gunn‘s “Superman: Legacy” or in a hypothetical solo adventure. As far as we know there hasn’t been any active development on the new incarnation of the “Lobo” movie, which had been in the works a long time ago.
Momoa may return, just not as Aquaman. Sources say the actor has engaged in talks to play Lobo, either in the 2025 reboot ‘Superman: Legacy,’ written and directed by Gunn, or in a standalone film.
Ages ago, a solo “Lobo” movie had been in development at Warner Bros. predating either Momoa or Gunn’s involvement with the current run of comic book movies. At one point, Joel Silver was producing and had Guy Ritchie (“Aladdin,” “Snatch”) attached to direct with various suitors aiming to play Lobo at different times such as JeffreyDean Morgan (“Watchmen,” “The Walking Dead”) during the Ritchie version and “Black Adam” actor Dwayne Johnson (Eyed a mangled Sgt. Rock incarnation as well) back with Brad Peyton when it once looked like he was going to direct.
However, a leaked version of the “Lobo” script made its way online and seemed to focus on alien fugitives making their way to Earth as Lobo was in pursuit of them in his capacity as a ruthless bounty hunter. Making his way to Earth to collect his newest bounties.
Since then, there really hasn’t been any talk of bringing Lobo to the big screen and we’ll wait for some official word from Gunn/WB before getting too excited about the prospect of Momoa as Lobo. It would be nice to see DC Studios branch out with a couple more cosmic projects since Lobo is a character that can be explored in outer space and on Earth. The former is the preferred setting given how few non-Earthbound films we’ve seen from Warner Bros. since they started churning out modern DC projects.
Momoa had been previously outspoken that one of his dream roles would be playing Lobo, so, this might be a solid way to transition the actor into the newly formed DCU. The hard reset on the DCEU seemingly is the reason as other actors playing “Justice League” members (Momoa, Ben Affleck, Gal Gadot, and Ezra Miller) aren’t expected to reprise their roles either. This comes after some misleading statements suggesting that Gadot would be involved with a third “Wonder Woman” movie and a wave of untrustworthy online rumors claiming that Affleck would be getting multiple new projects as Batman. Clearly, the Affleck nonsense has been put to rest.
In fact, none of the stars cast by Zack Snyder for 2016’s “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” and 2017’s “Justice League” — including Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Gal Gadot, Ezra Miller and Momoa — will reprise their roles in the new DC universe in character.
Gunn has clarified the three existing characters carrying over to the DCU are John Cena’s Peacemaker, Viola Davis’ Amanda Waller, and Xolo Maridueña’s Blue Beetle. Limiting the carry-over characters, including ones that Gunn helped mold, might be sort of an olive branch to fans potentially upset that the Snyderverse is being expelled for the new rebooted cinematic universe.
I’m sure we’ll end up hearing soon from Gunn on these new tidbits.
There had been suspicions that Warner Bros. was holding back a trailer for their “Aquaman” sequel because of a potential release date shift amid moving “Dune: Part Two” from November to March of next year. The studio has dropped a first-look trailer for the DC Comics film that is a follow-up to the billion-dollar hit and looks like “Aquaman & The Lost Kingdom” will indeed make that December 20 date as promised.
We’re not expecting too much in the way of plot and character depth, but it looks like director James Wan has cooked up something that doubles down on the spectacle. We now see Black Manta has the means and power via The Black Trident to get revenge for the death of his father. The villain was slowly being set up in the first installment as a future antagonist. As Black Manta threatens Atlantis and the other kingdoms, Arthur will have to team up with his villainous brother, Orm, to save their people from this deadly menace from the surface.
“Aquaman 2” is now the last feature film from the previous regime as James Gunn and Peter Safran look to reset the DCU with “Blue Beetle” confirmed to be part of that new vision. Gunn is gearing up to shoot “Superman: Legacy” next year in Atlanta with actors David Corenswet as Clark Kent/Superman, Rachel Brosnahan as Lois Lane, Nathan Fillion as Guy Garnder/Green Lantern, Edi Gathegi as Mister Terrific, Isabela Merced as Hawkgirl, and Anthony Carrigan as Metamorpho.
It’ll be interesting to see if Jason Momoa ends up getting a second DC Comics role in the new DCU as there have been hints that he may just happen to end up landing to Lobo if his tenure as Aquaman is truly finished. Momoa is the spitting image of the alien bounty hunter and certainly would be a comedic/mature character that fits nicely alongside Gunn’s own “The Suicide Squad.” A “Lobo” movie has been in the works for ages with a string of directors being involved/wanted at different points such as Guy Ritchie, Michael Bay, and Brad Peyton.
Having failed to defeat Aquaman the first time, Black Manta, still driven by the need to avenge his father’s death, will stop at nothing to take Aquaman down once and for all. This time Black Manta is more formidable than ever before, wielding the power of the mythic Black Trident, which unleashes an ancient and malevolent force. To defeat him, Aquaman will turn to his imprisoned brother Orm, the former King of Atlantis, to forge an unlikely alliance. Together, they must set aside their differences in order to protect their kingdom and save Aquaman’s family, and the world, from irreversible destruction. All returning to the roles they originated, Jason Momoa plays Arthur Curry/Aquaman, now balancing his duties as both the King of Atlantis and a new father; Patrick Wilson is Orm, Aquaman’s half-brother and his nemesis, who must now step into a new role as his brother’s reluctant ally; Amber Heard is Mera, Atlantis’ Queen and mother of the heir to the throne; Yahya Abdul-Mateen II is Black Manta, committed more than ever to avenge his father’s death by destroying Aquaman, his family and Atlantis; and Nicole Kidman as Atlanna, a fierce leader and mother with the heart of a warrior. Also reprising their roles are Dolph Lundgren as King Nereus and Randall Park as Dr. Stephen Shin.
Actor Giancarlo Esposito has been getting multiple second-winds thanks to his renewed popularity from shows like “Breaking Bad” and “Better Call Saul,” allowing him to continue exploring various genres such as sci-fi fantasy with playing a minor Imperial villain in “The Mandalorian” series (Each season having varying levels of screentime). But he seems to be embracing calls from the internet to take on comic book roles within the worlds of Marvel and DC.
While speaking with a crowd at Comic Con Panama, the actor revealed (See video below via Mint Doom on Twitter) that he’s had an early chatter with DC Studios co-head James Gunn about potentially joining the newly reset DCU, which had officially kicked off earlier this month with “Blue Beetle.” However, a character wasn’t declared nor were the subjects discussed in that talk assumed to have taken place before the strikes.
“I have been talking to James Gunn about the possibility of being in a movie – so who knows?”
What we do know is that Gunn is on the hunt for actors to play multiple roles in “Superman: Legacy,” but the names being mentioned for someone like Lex Luthor have been attributed to actors like Alexander Skarsgård, Bill Skarsgård, and previous Clark Kent hopeful, Nicholas Hoult. Fans might want to pigeon-hold the actor to only being right for villains, but Esposito seems to be keen to rebuff that notion. Planet).
In the past, Esposito has mused about a personal desire to play more heroic comic book characters such as Professor Charles Xavier from the “X-Men.” While fan sites/accounts have made massive leaps about Esposito taking certain roles, none of that has actually been backed up by more credible sources like the studios themselves or trades. More or less when the actor has on occasion brought up characters, it has been his personal reaction to internet fan-castings and not likely something he’s actually been offered.
Things like this might not even materialize into a role and could simply be a meeting of the minds that goes nowhere. Then again, we could see him being a good fit as a more cheerful version of, Perry White, Clark and Lois’ boss at the Daily Planet. There are also multiple other high-profile DCU projects in the works as well such as “The Brave & The Bold,” a second season of “Peacemaker,” an animated project focused on the “Creature Commandos,” and even more on the horizon.
Few days ago I was at an event in my country, and I got to see and meet Giancarlo. He answered lots of questions 👀 This one I recorded left me surprised (someone asked if he had a chance to appear in DC films) #dccomics#jamesgunnpic.twitter.com/GPH5ET3QrS
I’ve been onboard the James Gunn train concerning his reboot of the Superman franchise and even going back to suggesting days before he was announced as overseeing DC Studios with partner Peter Safran that he should just make Man of Steel 2. While actor Henry Cavill is officially out as the DCU’s Superman, giving the character a new film is still very much a priority. We already know that Superman: Legacy is being written by Gunn and will likely begin shooting by next year as the release date of July 2025 would suggest.
Another nifty little tidbit has been revealed Gunn in a tweet (confirming as the studio head and screenwriter) that Superman: Legacy will be inspired by the Grant Morrison-penned comics, All-Star Superman. What exactly is being taking from those stories is unknown at the moment or could be simply being a tonal thing but it’s not that much of surprise given they used Frank Quitely’s artwork when the film was finally announced earlier in the week during the Gods & Monsters slate presentation.
The series revolves around Superman, who is dying due to overexposure to the Sun, as he accomplishes many heroic feats (The Twelve Labors of Superman) and attempts to make peace with the world before his imminent death.
There are also claims being made by The Hollywood Reporter that the new actor being looked at to play the new Clark Kent will be someone around 25 years of age. Although, don’t expect names announced anytime soon as Gunn has stated they won’t be looking at actors until he completes the superhero pic’s script. Interestingly enough, rumored “contender” Jacob Elordi is exactly 25 currently before his birthday in June.
A director hasn’t been officially announced, even though, there are good signs that Gunn could decide to do it himself as he only directs movies he writes. With a release date of July 11, 2025, Gunn and his team at DC Studios have plenty of time to figure out who is going to wear the boots and cape.
We're talked a lot about Woman of Tomorrow, but these are more of the comics inspiring #DCStudios and the new #DCU in these early days. That doesn't mean we're adapting all these comics, but that the feel, the look, or the tone of them are touchstones for our team. Check 'em out! pic.twitter.com/34KrVPeEL5
DC Studios recently announced their first big slate lineup this week as newly minted co-CEO James Gunn revealed to the world that they would making a new string of film and television projects within the DCU and other things set outside of the DCU being branded as “Elseworlds” like Matt Reeves‘ The Batman being part of that group alongside the Joker sequel.
The biggest sign of confidence for Reeves’ Gotham saga is that we’re going to see multitide of spinoffs and sequels. With the latter getting a title and release date as DC Studios announced that The Batman Part II will be heading back to theaters on October 3, 2025 and should reassure fans that had been worried that Reeves’ vision for follow-ups could have been tainted with DC Studios meddling or trying to merge that version of Batman into their DCU films. Thankfully, they cleared that up real quick by announcing a new Batman project with The Brave & The Bold, focusing on Bruce Wayne and his son Damian Wayne as the new version of Robin.
That’s not all the Batman news going this week. Towards the end of the month, we’ll see the start of production of The Penguin spinoff series at HBO Max and star Colin Farrell has confirmed to Variety’s Awards Circuit Podcast that they aiming to shoot eight episodes.
“It’s going to be an eight-part thing,” Farrell said on the podcast. “Around Oz’s rise to power, filling that power vacuum created when Falcone was killed. Matt’s idea was to have the Penguin show begin about a week after the end of the Batman film. And if it works, if the trajectory is interesting, and the audience goes for it, and we do our jobs right, the second Penguin feature will pick up where the HBO show will end.”
We have to assume that Farrell will also be returning for The Batman Part II, given the series is expected to show his rise to become a major crime figure in Gotham by the time the sequel is released in 2025.
Earlier this week, the first wave of new DC Studios projects were finally announced and one of the more interesting standouts from that upcoming Gods & Monsters 2025-2027 slate included a horror film focused on the underrated DC Comics character, Swamp Thing. It really didn’t take long for a creative to be attached to the new comic book project.
We ended up seeing director James Mangold (Ford v Ferrari) tweet out a comic book image from Swamp Thing and led to co-CEO James Gunn to retweet that post. Only for the The Hollywood Reporter to reveal that Mangold was indeed in early talks to write/direct a new feature film remake. This news was a bit of surprise that it simply wasn’t mentioned in that big announcement from Tuesday, but neat none-the-less.
Mangold isn’t exactly known for his horror chops but has a fantastic library of pulpy credits which includes two comic book films with the Hugh Jackman-led pics The Wolverine and Logan. The two X-Men films certainly inspired by established comics but also were given a more origin spin by the filmmaker making them slightly more unique. He most recently worked with Lucasfilm’s final installment of the Indiana Jones franchise starring Harrison Ford with Indiana Jones & The Dial of Destiny that is due to be released this July.
Given that the we’re expected to play within the horror genre, we’re hopeful that Mangold will take cues from other body horror movies like The Thing and The Fly for inspiration.
Gunn also recently added on Twitter that the upcoming film will indeed be inspired by the Alan Moore run of the character. Previous comic book properties that have been adapted from Moore’s work consists of Watchmen, From Hell, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, and V For Vendetta. However, the writer is well-known as being completely adverse to his source material being touched by Hollywood and likely won’t be supporting this project either.
Swamp Thing isn’t some new undiscovered property but certainly has had an odd go when it comes to live-action adaptations. The 1982 live-action film was written and directed by legendary horror director Wes Craven, that version led to a sequel, television show, and a cartoon series as well. It wouldn’t be until 2019 that producer James Wan (Aquaman) attempted a revival for the now dead DC Universe streaming service via his production company Atomic Monster after a version of Justice League Dark (that would have included the character) fell apart.
SOURCE: THR
We're talked a lot about Woman of Tomorrow, but these are more of the comics inspiring #DCStudios and the new #DCU in these early days. That doesn't mean we're adapting all these comics, but that the feel, the look, or the tone of them are touchstones for our team. Check 'em out! pic.twitter.com/34KrVPeEL5
THE RONIN 