With the new year, comes the arrival of the new DC film universe, or the DCU as it has been called. After the prior DCEU had flamed out, especially after last year when almost every film from it flopped, James Gunn and his producing partner Peter Safran have arrived to reboot everything and create a new slate of superhero films, shows, and other media that Warner Bros hopes will revitalize these characters for the general public. Gunn has assembled a writer’s room and has announced many projects around a year ago with a few of them coming very soon.
With the DCU, Gunn has stated that he hopes he will be able to cross over movies, shows, and games of many different types under a shared continuity including shared performers. Not only that, but they will define an Elseworlds label for projects outside of the new universe such as the sequel to Todd Philips’s Joker, the Harley Quinn tv show, and the projects for Matt Reeves Batman universe including a direct film sequel and a Penguin tv show. This will allow for experimental projects that don’t want to be labeled under the universe to be produced and is a good decision given the success of many of DC’s recent non-cinematic universe projects.
As for what the universe will offer, firstly, there’s the talk of said confirmed projects. About a year ago, Gunn revealed the tentative slate of films and shows planned as the first batch of projects for the universe under the label Gods and Monsters. At the moment, most of them are simply in development with few details. The Authority and a James Mangold-directed Swamp Thing film are confirmed but are likely a few years out. Same with a new Batman film called The Brave and the Bold that will feature Damian Wayne and be directed by The Flash director Andy Muschietti. We haven’t gotten much detail on most of the shows either. A True Detective style Green Lantern show simply titled Lanterns, a Booster Gold show, a Wonder Woman prequel series called Paradise Lost, and an Arkham series from Matt Reeves, the director of The Batman, are all in multiple stages of development.
Of the shows, the project that has the most information and the only one coming out this year is Creature Commandos. This will be an animated series that will focus on the titular team of supernatural monsters set up by Amanda Waller in a similar fashion to The Suicide Squad. The cast includes Frank Grillo, Maria Bakalova, Indira Varma, Alan Tudyk, and David Harbour as characters such as Frankenstein, Dr Phosphorus, the Bride of Frankenstein, and Rick Flag Sr. Speaking of Amanda Waller, not only will Viola Davis reprise her role as the character in this new universe, but she will also get her own show titled Waller. Alongside this, James has confirmed that the already greenlit second season of Peacemaker will also be a part of the new universe and is currently the only other show with notable details about its development. The scripts for the season are almost done and Gunn has gone on record that the character’s appearance here transitioning from one universe to another will be explained. Outside of Davis and Cena, alongside Xolo Mariduena as the Blue Beetle, no other cast member from the previous DCEU has been confirmed to return and many already seem to have been replaced or moved on. Given the desire to have a clearer slate and how many sequels to the popular characters of the prior universe performed poorly both critically and financially, this is probably the best move for Gunn to make. While Margot Robbie may be courted back by Warner as Harley Quinn after Barbie was such a huge hit, the only other cast member with rumblings about them is Jason Mamoa. However, many believe that he will leave the role of Aquaman and play Lobo instead since he has been a popular pick for the character even before he got the former role.
Going back to the movies though, the only one with the most prominent info and development as of late is Gunn’s own Superman: Legacy. Given that it will start filming in March and multiple cast members have been announced though, this is no surprise. Billed as the cornerstone to the start of the universe, Legacy is focused on a younger Superman who has a few years of experience but is still trying to find his place in a world of heroes and grapple with his Kryptonian heritage and human upbringing. As someone who is a big fan of Gunn’s work, I am very excited about this project. Gunn is one of the few directors of superhero films working today that gets to the core of why people love them: taking fantastical elements and characters and allowing us to relate to them. The fact that he managed to make an engaging and emotional film trilogy primarily focused on a talking CGI raccoon is a testament that he understands how to create good characterization and knows how to get audiences invested in bizarre concepts. With Superman, Gunn has been open in saying that he won’t fall onto his tropes of comedy and the more brazen elements that defined his Guardians trilogy and especially his first DC projects: The Suicide Squad and Peacemaker. While the film won’t be humorless, Gunn has gone on record in stating that he plans to make a film very true to the character and mythos and won’t just try to make a film that is too similar to his past ones. The cast will feature David Corenswet as Superman, Rachel Brosnahan as Lois Lane, Skyler Gisondo as Jimmy Oleson, and Nicholas Hoult as Lex Luthor. The film will also introduce Superman in a universe with already existing heroes including Hawkgirl, Metamorpho, Guy Gardner, and Mr. Teriffic. As for the plot and look of the film, Gunn has mostly kept it under wraps aside from debunking many rumors personally. We will likely see more info come around once filming starts including a look of Corenswet as Superman. Hopefully, this project will steer the new universe into a great start and reflect the character in a similar way that Matt Reeve’s recent Batman film did by diving deep into the thematic elements of the comic or even Sam Raimi’s Spiderman in bringing the tone and aesthetic of the comic to the screen.
The last notable project and the one that interests me the most aside from Legacy is Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow. Adapted from the acclaimed Tom King limited series, it is a sci-fi coming-of-age epic that focuses on Supergirl before she arrives on Earth. Growing up having seen the destruction of Krypton, Gunn describes her as being a more jaded character compared to her cousin and she will go on an adventure that defines her further as a person. It will be adapted by Ana Nogueira, who was chosen by Gunn since he saw her pitch for the project to be the best. The project is a priority for Gunn who has sung praises towards the original book and has likely framed it as a big step in solidifying success for his universe. It helps that Gunn has put King as a very close collaborator both on this project and the DCU writers’ room as a whole. While we don’t know who the director of this project will be, I hope Gunn chooses someone distinctive and interesting given the material and the prestige around it. Marvel has sort of fallen into the trap of getting unique filmmakers and watering own their traits for the sake of brand consistency and production control. With the DCU however, there is the possibility of the return of more director-driven projects and given that Gunn was the most auteur of the Marvel directors, I hope that he allows for very different types of films to be made under his roof. While a director or lead hasn’t been chosen, there have been more discussions about the project as of late and reports that the studio is testing candidates for Supergirl, so more details will likely come soon.
Overall, even with Warner Bros chaotic state as a business as of late, I am cautiously interested in the new DCU. Gunn is a creative that I have a lot of respect and love for and I feel that he will bring something new and different to a stagnate subgenre. Marvel has sort of run out its welcome and has mostly released sub-par shows and films in quick succession that feel more like spinning the tires or just made for brand management rather than doing anything new or experimental. If Gunn allows directors and writers to produce films that are both more artistically distinctive and less restrictive in terms of production, then there’s the possibility that it will be successful. At the moment, most of these projects don’t have announced directors or actors so it’s very much a wait-and-see scenario regarding the potential of this universe. Even so, I am interested to see where these projects go and if they can restart interest in DC for the general public.
