I believe that it is fair to say that since the release of Zack Snyder’s ‘Man Of Steel’, Warner Bros’ DC Cinematic Universe has undergone major evolutions with many films being announced and many being subsequently cancelled. However, before going into the details everyone has been waiting for regarding the upcoming DC movie slate, it’s time to look back at the initial movie slate that Warner Bros released for the DCEU in late 2014.
From that slate in 2014, below is the updated version of that slate, including what films were released, the ones that are in development and the ones that have been cancelled as of writing.
We do already have some dated DCEU films for the future that have been officially announced. This includes ‘Joker’ (October 5th, 2019), ‘Birds of Prey’ (February 7th, 2020), ‘Wonder Woman 1984’ (June 5th, 2020), ‘The Batman’ (June 25th, 2021), ‘The Suicide Squad’ (August 6th, 2021) and ‘Aquaman 2’ (December 16th, 2022).
With all of these films dated, it seems that Warner Bros are going into full gear with their DC Cinematic Universe. Recently executives at Warner Bros have stated that the DC Cinematic Universe will begin to move into a stand-alone approach rather than having solo films build up to a ‘Justice League’ film. Most of these films that have been dated indicate this and furthermore, information that I will present in this article will provide more credence towards how the Current Position of the DC Cinematic Universe is to forego a fully interconnected universe and instead focus on standalone stories. I’ll be touching on films that are not yet in production so unfortunately there will be no new ‘Joker’, ‘Wonder Woman 1984’ and ‘Birds of Prey’ news in this article.
THE BATMAN
When the 2021 date was announced for ‘The Batman’, Ben Affleck also announced his departure from the role and thus the search begun for a new Caped Crusader. Although there’s masses of rumors on who could be playing the next Batman, I am not going to jump into that rabbit hole. All I will say is that they want a name actor for the role between 25 and 33 years old and will most likely not go for an unknown actor. However, I can inform on what the story of the film will entail. Matt Reeves is currently polishing up the screenplay and is almost fully complete, Reeves did more rewrites to include more action into the film with a focus set to be more on Batman’s skills as a detective as the film will centred around a mystery that Batman will have to solve, it is speculated by other outlets that the film will also be set in the ’90s. As previously reported, multiple villains will be included in the film with The Penguin set to be one of the main antagonists of the film. It also seems that since they will be going for a younger take on Batman, they will likely decide to cast younger versions of both James Gordon and Alfred Pennyworth. As first reported in the HeatVision Newsletter, the film is still eyeing to begin filming around November.
THE SUICIDE SQUAD
Last week I discussed James Gunn’s ‘The Suicide Squad’ and what I heard regarding the film and it’s status so I will not dwell much on ‘The Suicide Squad’ other than inform you of the key details. Idris Elba is cast as Deadshot, Margot Robbie will reprise her role as Harley Quinn and it is unknown if Joel Kinnaman and Viola Davis will reprise their respective roles as Rick Flagg and Amanda Waller. Per Collider, the roster for the new team will include a gender swapped Ratcatcher, King Shark, Peacemaker (with the role being made for Dave Bautista), Polka Dot Man and per our report from last week, the rumored inclusion of Killer Frost. The film’s story is rumored to focus on the team on a mission to the Middle East to stop Onslaught and infiltrate their headquarters in Qurac and filming is eyed to begin on September 9th in Atlanta. Deadline also broke the major news yesterday that James Gunn will return to direct ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3’, as far as I know, this does not affect anything for Gunn’s ‘The Suicide Squad’ film and that will continue on as planned. The only new information regarding the film is that casting is about to begin and it seems the film may have eyes on certain Guardians alums to fill out the team roster.
AQUAMAN 2
Since ‘Aquaman 2’ is so early in development, there is not much to inform regarding the film. Deadline has noted that James Wan will only return if he finds the script satisfying which is still the case. Black Manta will be the villain of ‘Aquaman 2’ however, he will not be alone in attempting to take down the Aquaman. Also I’ll link into this that I do not have an update on ‘The Trench’ other than the writers are currently developing the screenplay and if all goes to plan, I imagine it could go into production next year for a 2021 release since the film will be a lesser budget compared to other DC flicks.
BLACK ADAM
Dwayne Johnson’s ‘Black Adam’ is seemingly going ahead at New Line after years of waiting. That Hashtag Show recently released a huge chunk of information regarding the film, the current script of the film features Hawkman, Stargirl and Atom Smasher and the film is currently eyeing to begin filming in March 2020 whilst the search for the director is on. Geeks Worldwide also revealed yesterday that ‘Black Adam’ will take inspiration from the ‘Dark Age’ comic. All of this aligns with what I’ve heard on the film with Hawkman set to be the main antagonist of the film also. Now for this next part, this is currently just a rumor so take this with a grain of salt but I’ve heard that with the current script of ‘Black Adam’, if the film is recieved well, this may pave the way for both a ‘Justice Society of America film’ and a ‘Hawkman and Hawkgirl’ film. ‘Hawkman and Hawkgirl’ is a film that has been up and down in early development so it is not surprising that the film may finally be receiving the push from ‘Black Adam’. Both a ‘Justice Society Of America’ film and a ‘Hawkman & Hawkgirl’ film have received pitches, although no screenplays have been commissioned yet, it is possible that Black Adam will kickstart both of those films. With a March 2020 production start set, this gives enough time for Dwayne to have it scheduled so other projects do not conflict with the film again, this means that the film is likely to move forward in 2020, likely with a 2021-2022 release from New Line.
NEW GODS
Ava DuVernay is teaming with screenwriter Kario Salem on DC’s live-action adaption of ‘New Gods’. Before delving into ‘New Gods’, I should preface the debacle that Marvel Studios copied the idea of ‘New Gods’ by doing ‘The Eternals’ and vice versa. Marvel was planning to do ‘The Eternals’ long before ‘New Gods’ was announced so do not worry, as both films will have their own unique flare and style from two incredible female directors.
Now onto the meat and potatoes of ‘New Gods’, the script is currently in the process of being written. The film’s current script will focus on Big Barda and Mister Miracle escaping Apocalypse and will feature sub-plots focused on other New Gods. The film will feature The Furies as the main villains and Darksied may make his first live-action debut also. Most of the cast are expected to POC and female which signifies a great step in the right direction. Although Chloe Zhao and Ava DuVernay are developing similar properties, both will be offering strong inclusion and representation which is why both of these films are two of my personal most anticipated comic book movies.
THE FLASH
Whew, it’s incredible how much can change in a day. The HeatVision Newsletter broke another large story last night that, in a last ditch effort to play the character before his contract expires in May, Ezra Miller has written the screenplay for ‘The Flash’ with the help of Grant Morrison, he plans to hand in the script to Warner Bros in the next week. Although directors Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley have their own screenplay in place, it clashes with the “darker” version that Ezra Miller wants. The only information that I have on Ezra Miller’s screenplay is that he plans to have a dark epic involving The Flash, something as large of an event as Flashpoint. It’s unknown how this will work out but Geeks WorldWide recently reported that ‘The Flash’ film is eyeing a November start and if Warner Bros decides to choose the director’s vision over Ezra Miller, they may have time to recast before November but it is difficult to say currently.
SUPERGIRL
Not much to update on the Supergirl film besides that the first draft of the film’s screenplay followed Kara in high school (similar to ‘Spider-Man: Homecoming) with some of the first half of the film taking place on Krypton with the Earth portion of the film set to take place in the 70s, Brainiac was also the villain in that draft of the screenplay. However, Oren Uziel is set to do a rewrite of the screenplay for the film soon so it is unknown how much of what was in the original draft will stick. Warner Bros currently plan to have Supergirl take over for Superman as talks with Henry Cavill have not moved for a while and it seems very unlikely that Cavill will be reprising the role, at least in the foreseeable future.
WHAT ABOUT THE OTHER DC FILMS?
Regarding other DC films, the ‘Plastic Man’, ‘Batgirl’ and ‘Blue Beetle’ screenplays are currently in development alongside ‘Green Lantern Corps’. ‘Justice League Dark’ and ‘Gotham City Sirens’ are also films that I have heard will be resurrected soon although I’m not sure which screenwriters will tackle those films. Other than that, I am currently unsure of the status of any of the other DC films, it has obviously became a common meme of how many films DC has in development but currently, it seems they have a battle plan in play that they are executing despite losing both Henry Cavill and Ben Affleck.
Let us know your thoughts on all of the films discussed in this editorial.
