Over the last few years fans have watched the Justice League and the wider DCEU come
together, but that's only the beginning of Warner's plans for Worlds of DC domination.
So just what is there to look forward to in the years to come?
Here are a few of the most exciting DC movies slated for release.
In July 2018, Warner Brothers announced that Joaquin Phoenix had signed on to star in Joker,
a standalone feature exploring the origins of Gotham's Clown Prince of Crime from director
Todd Phillips.
The internet took a moment to scratch its collective head, then voiced a fair degree
of skepticism particularly after a short teaser surfaced showing Phoenix looking pretty much
like he normally does, albeit wearing some Pagliacci style clown makeup.
Phillips, a director known mostly for his comedy work, promised "a gritty character
study" and a "cautionary tale," which only seemed to add to the skepticism.
Then, in April 2019, the first teaser trailer dropped and the skeptics fell silent probably
because their jaws were on the floor.
Joker looks to be a dark film anchored by a ferocious performance from Phoenix.
It's also the first of Warner Brothers and DC's promised attempts to tell filmmaker-driven
stories outside Extended Universe continuity.
While speculation has run rampant that this will connect to Matt Reeves' forthcoming The
Batman, Phillips has insisted that his Joker is strictly a one-shot, and a unique one at
that.
As Phillips recently told The Hollywood Reporter:
"When the marketing department asked me the other day to describe the movie, I said 'I
can't.'
They said at least tell us the genre, and I thought about it for a minute and said,
'It's a tragedy.'"
Suicide Squad may have been a bit of a mess, but it at least featured a solid take on fan
favorite Harley Quinn.
There are multiple projects on tap for the character, but first up is Birds of Prey (And
the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn), which has been described as an "R-rated
girl gang film" in which Harley teams up with Huntress and Black Canary to face off against
Black Mask, who is chasing after a young Cassandra Cain.
It sounds like pretty dark stuff, but Margot Robbie has explained that the film's mouthful
of a title was meant to reflect the fact that the it'll be a bit more lighthearted than
it might appear.
"Like, Birds of Prey makes it sound so serious, and that kinda, you know is like Harley adding
‘Hey,I'm in this, too.’"
Fans will be quick to note that, in the comics, Cain eventually takes up the mantle of Batgirl,
though it remains to be seen if her film incarnation will follow suit.
2017's Wonder Woman was the first DCEU effort to be widely embraced by fans and critics
alike, and its sequel, Wonder Woman 1984, will see Diana taking on new challenges during
the era of yuppies.
Originally scheduled for a November 2019 release, the flick was pushed back to summer 2020 to
avoid competition with Joker and placing it in the same release slot where the first film
found blockbuster success.
The sequel has cast Kristen Wiig as the hero's frequent nemesis Cheetah, as well as Pedro
Pascal in an as-yet unconfirmed role which some insiders have claimed will be Maxwell
Lord, who in the comics is a villainous telepath.
Interestingly, Chris Pine is also set to return as Steve Trevor, despite his character meeting
his end in the first film.
Patty Jenkins will return to the director's chair, working from a screenplay she co-wrote
with comics legend Geoff Johns and Dave Callaham, who will also be scripting Shang-Chi for Marvel
Studios.
While it's always seemed inevitable that DC would field a solo movie starring the Flash,
the project has endured a troubled road.
The character was introduced in 2016's Batman v Superman with Ezra Miller in the role, but
since then, the Scarlet Speedster's standalone film has seen a revolving door of behind-the-camera
talent.
In early 2018, Warner Bros. landed Spider-Man: Homecoming screenwriters John Francis Daley
and Jonathan Goldstein to direct the picture, which by that point had already been announced
as an adaptation of the Flashpoint storyline.
With Miller's WB contract expiring in May, the star took it upon himself to craft his
own version of the Flashpoint script along with legendary comics scribe Grant Morrison
in a bid to hang on to the role.
It's been reported that Warner's brass liked Miller's dark, gritty script, but unfortunately
not enough to reverse course on the lighter, funnier version that Daley and Goldstein are
intent on delivering.
This means that, despite his best efforts, Miller's time as Barry Allen is almost certainly
done.
Warner Bros. is likely to act fast in recasting the part, as Flashpoint is still thought to
be on track for a 2020 release.
The fate of standalone outing The Batman has been up in the air ever since the relative
failure of Justice League at the box office.
One misses the days where one’s greatest concerns were exploding wind-up penguins."
Ben Affleck was initially on board to reprise the role and direct, but after he relinquished
the director's chair to Matt Reeves, rumors started swirling that he was done with the
cape and cowl.
This has now been confirmed, as Reeves has gone public with a few details about his film
and Affleck took to Twitter to wish the director well.
Although the story will focus on Bruce Wayne's early years as a costumed crime-fighter, Reeves
has gone on record saying that it won't be an adaptation of Frank Miller's Year One comics
storyline.
He's also confirmed that the film will indeed share a connection to the rest of the DCEU,
which may or may not have something to do with Joker..
Production on The Batman is slated to begin in November 2019.
Marvel fans rejoiced when it was announced in March 2019 that James Gunn had been reinstated
by Disney as director of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.
Unfortunately, they're gonna have to wait for him to finish up one other project first:
The Suicide Squad, which he was hired to write and direct during his brief exile from Marvel.
With the project firmly in Gunn's capable hands, this new Squad is shaping up to be
not so much a sequel as a soft reboot of the story, so, we'll be seeing some new faces
when the film drops in summer 2021.
"Well that's it so we’re some sorta suicide squad."
Foremost among these is Idris Elba, who may be taking over the role of Deadshot from Will
Smith.
Gunn is said to be drawing heavily from the the antihero team's Deadshot-centric '80s
comics run, with the mercenary serving as a sort of mentor figure to the assembled baddies.
Among the other characters rumored to be appearing are Ratcatcher, a former exterminator who
commands armies of rodents; King Shark, a humanoid shark; Polka Dot Man, who can use
his wardrobe's spotty adornments as weapons; and Peacemaker, a vigilante so dedicated to
peace that he'll kill.
Sounds like a James Gunn joint through-and-through.
Jason Momoa's appearance as Aquaman in 2017's Justice League was received well even though
the movie itself underperformed at the box office.
But then a funny thing happened: James Wan's Aquaman, again featuring Momoa in the role,
became a smash hit, raking in over a billion dollars worldwide and becoming the highest-grossing
film in the DCEU.
It didn't take long for Warner Bros. to determine that they had a hot property on their hands,
and in February 2019, it was confirmed that a sequel is in the works.
The first film's co-screenwriter, David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick, is already hard at work
on the script, and Wan will be returning as a producer, although it's unclear if he will
direct.
As for Momoa, nothing is set in stone but given his intensely charismatic performance
and wholehearted commitment to the role, it's unlikely that the project would be moving
forward if he were not on board.
If nothing else, Warner Brothers is definitely taking their time to make sure they get this
one extra-right: Aquaman 2 splashes down in theaters on December 16, 2022.
Back in 2014, Dwayne Johnson was handed the role of Black Adam during the first round
of casting for Shazam!, but his involvement was scrapped when the filmmakers decided on
a more lighthearted approach to that movie.
As producer Hiram Garcia explained to Collider, it was also determined that Black Adam was
compelling enough to support a feature of his own.
Garcia said:
"We were just realizing that both characters are so special that we didn't want to compromise
either of them by cramming them both into the same movie.
We're actually very deep into a script on it right now, which is coming along really
well."
In an Instagram post in April 2019, Dwayne Johnson confirmed that due in large part to
the success of Shazam! production on the flick is expected to finally begin in 2020.
Warner Bros. hit a bit of a roadblock when it comes to meeting its scheduled July 2020
release date for Green Lantern Corps.
The film was set to feature a script by David Goyer and Justin Rhodes.
The script they'd prepared featured Hal Jordan and Jon Stewart as the primary Lanterns and
had been described as "Lethal Weapon in space," which admittedly does sound pretty awesome.
That script has since been scrapped.
Acclaimed comics scribe Geoff Johns, who made his name writing the world of Green Lantern
for several years, is now attached to rewrite the script from page one.
He says it will be very much akin to what he recently did with DC's Rebirth initiative
and that it's
"...going to celebrate the mythology, and reinvent it in a different way."
Justice League may have been a resounding disappointment, but with the DCEU having finally
found its footing with the critical and financial success of Wonder Woman and Aquaman, that
doesn't necessarily mean that another go-round isn't in the cards.
Indeed, the sequel could be seen as an opportunity for Warner to make good on the things they
got wrong the first time, but the big question is, “will the movie shift the focus to the
more successful DCEU movie characters?” - you know, instead of the one’s whose mother
share the same name.
"Why did you say that name!?!"
Some have speculated that Aquaman director James Wan would be a perfect fit to take on
a Justice League sequel, especially now that Zack Snyder is officially out of the picture.
For his part, Aquaman star Jason Momoa loves the idea of a sequel, and has theorized that
Black Manta could assemble the Legion of Doom.
He told the Toronto Sun:
"Seeing all the bad guys together and seeing us come in would be awesome.
I'd definitely like to come riding in on a tidal wave to whoop some ass."
“Ride ain't over yet."
"My man!"
Perhaps no piece of superhero news has rocked the movie world quite like the rumors that
actor Henry Cavill will be stepping down as Superman.
In September 2018, news leaked that negotiations between Cavill and Warner Brothers had broken
down over a cameo in Shazam!, leading to the actor removing himself from the role.
Since then, Warner Brothers and Cavill's own rep have insisted that Cavill is still employed,
though the star himself has played it coy, with one bizarre Instagram video being his
only public comment.
While a script for Man of Steel 2 is confirmed to be in the works, there's no telling how
this potentially massive shakeup will affect the film's progress.
After all, finding the perfect Superman is no small feat, and it's hard to imagine the
studio moving forward with this one until they land a replacement for Cavill.
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