New DC News! What’s There To Talk About?

New DC News! What’s There To Talk About?

The other day we got some exciting news from James Gunn and Peter Safran about the future of DC. There was some interesting stuff to talk about so that’s what we’re doing today. Let’s get started!

• Clayface: This was a project that was announced In 2024. This is a movie about Clayface set in the DCU. It’s being written by Mike Flanagan. One of the top horror directors working today. All of this work is highly praised by critics and audiences. We’ve gotten updates on that movie with the director and what it’ll be about. The director is James Watkins who did Speak No Evil last year. I didn't love that movie, I was disappointed. There was a lot in there that I did enjoy. I didn’t feel the script was great. He did write the script. His direction wasn’t my issue with that movie, it was the script. The fact that he’s directing and not writing gets me excited. It’s being described as a body horror film with this quote from Gunn. “Works as a pure horror movie for somebody who doesn’t care at all about DC.” I hear that and I go, that’s interesting. It sounds like Gunn is trying to find projects that are new and interesting in the genre. We haven’t gotten a body horror film in the genre. I bet the main inspiration from this movie was The Substance. That’s a current Best Picture nominee and one of the most celebrated movies of last year. I hear Gunn’s quote about wanting to use this movie to get non-DC fans excited. There’s something smart in the idea of creating on-ramps for people, not every on-ramp is something different. Instead of making on-ramps four quadrant blockbusters. He’s trying to find different ways to get fans excited through different genres. There’s something interesting about that, I like that approach. The basic idea of doing a Clayface movie before they introduce Batman seems a bit weird. Clayface doesn’t seem like a movie that you do in the first phase, that seems like something that you wait for. I probably wouldn’t do a Clayface movie this early on, but maybe this fits nicely into Gunn’s larger plan for this universe. 

• The Batman: Part II: Another thing that was brought up was The Batman: Part II. The last update we got on this movie was it was delayed from 2026 to 2027. So many of us are heartbroken over this announcement, but I trust Matt Reeves to cook up something great and special. One of the big questions that came with that delay was, does this have to do with Superman’s release. Mainly, are they waiting to see how people respond to Superman to decide whether or not Robert Pattinson’s Batman should be in the DCU or keep it seperate. In this interview, he confirmed that Pattinson’s Batman is a separate thing. We won’t be seeing Pattinson’s Batman with David Cornswet’s Superman. That’s a big positive for me, I love that it’s happening. I did not want Pattinson’s Batman to be in Gunn’s DC universe. What worked so well about The Batman was its grounded mature nature, you watch the trailer for Superman and these two franchises would not work. When giving these updates, he said this. “Matt Reeves has yet to turn in a full script but what we have read so far is incredibly encouraging.” Honestly, this news wasn’t too surprising given that’s sort of the updates that we’ve been hearing for a while now. Robert Pattinson did an interview for his new movie, Mickey 17 where he said that he knows the plot of the movie. I wish there was something more to it than just “we’re working on it”. Reeves has been saying that he’s been working on the script for years now. The movie was supposed to release in October of this year. Due to the strikes, it got delayed and now isn’t released until 2027. In a separate interview, I thought I heard that this movie would start filming at the end of this year, beginning of next year. Hopefully within the months we got some more positive updates and we know the villain and more of the cast. 

• The Penguin Season 2: Right along those same lines in Matt Reeves’ Batman universe, we got some updates on a possible second season of The Penguin. There isn’t much to talk about here, but they said they aren’t sure if season two is happening. Gunn and Safran were coming at it from the angle of the extensive makeup process for Colin Farrell. Throughout the show they used 800 pounds of makeup for his transformation. That doesn't look super comfortable, therefore I get Farrell isn’t in a rush to return. Farrell said in a separate interview that he doesn’t think it needs a season two and will only do it if Reeves is passionate about it and it ties into his story. I like that update, I loved The Penguin, it was my favorite show of last year. It’s tricky to know if it needs a season two without knowing where this universe is going. Right now, I’m ok if we never get a season two. Let’s absolutely have Colin Farrell show up in The Batman: Part II and however many sequels we’re getting after that. If they announce a year from now that we’re getting a season two, I’d be excited because I trust Reeves and have good faith after I loved The Batman and The Penguin. 

• Animated TV Shows & Movies: Another thing that was talked about was some confirmation on upcoming DC projects, mainly animated projects. We already knew about two animated projects in the works. First up, we’re getting Dynamic Duo which is an animated movie following Dick Grayson and Jason Todd. “It provides a kind of perfect on-ramp for the family audience into the world of Gotham,” said Safran. It was unclear if this is connected to Batman: The Brave and the Bold which is the DCU’s Batman movie. That movie will focus on Damian Wayne’s Robin. I would imagine there’s some sort of connection there. We also know that an animated Blue Beetle tv show is in the works. This is a continuation from the story set up in Blue Beetle’s movie back in 2023. This was news that we’ve known about for a while now, we got an update that they’re still developing it. The other thing related to this was we got announcements about three animated tv shows that are targeted towards a young demographic. First up, My Adventures with Green Lantern. It will follow Jessica Cruz, a Green Lantern and explore her origin story but it’s set while she’s in high school. The next one is DC Super Powers which is basically about a school of superheroes featuring Lightning, The Flash, Plastic Man, Aquagirl, Green Lantern, and Terra with Martian Manhunter being the principal. The final one will be Starfire focusing on her origin story. It even hinted that Lobo might make an appearance in the show. I don’t have too many thoughts on these announcements, the three tv shows that I later mentioned don’t feel like they’ll be a part of the DCU. It sounds like they’ll be it’s own little pocket thing for children. Honestly, I’m fine with that. They’ve discussed doing DC Elseworlds, movies that are under DC but not in the DCU. Pattison’s Batman will fall under that and if these fall under DC Elseworlds, that’s fine with me. 

• Sgt. Rock: There have been a number of rumored projects over the last several months. The big ones being Sgt. Rock, a DC army superhero. Luca Guadagnino who did Challengers from last year is attached to direct the movie. It was said that Daniel Craig was cast in the lead role. A couple days back it was reported that Craig dropped out due to the scheduling conflicts. At this interview, Gunn and Safran said Craig was an idea but they never met with him, he was never cast. It sounds like even the origins of that information is unclear. Gunn even said that Sgt. Rock was never announced. So I’m not really sure where it was coming from, but it sounds like that is happening and Guadagnino is directing it, they don’t have a star yet. 

• Teen Titans: This was another project that we’ve known about for a while now. One of the first movies we’re getting in the DCU is Teen Titans. We’ve gotten Teen Titans very prominently on television, but we haven’t gotten a big cinematic version. It’s cool that we’re getting this in the DCEU. It sounds like they’re very much leaning into the more comic booky side of things. I wouldn’t be surprised if whatever happens to Damian Wayne and Dick Grayson in Batman: The Brave and the Bold could tie into this movie. The writer of Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, Ana Nogueira is writing the film. That gives me confidence. That shows that they’re confident with Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow so the fact she’s connected with Teen Titans means that I’m more excited for Supergirl. I like that the same writer is working on multiple projects so we could build up to them being a prominent creative in the DCU. Already, it sounds like Gunn knows what he’s doing with this universe, that’s a positive.  

• Projects Put on The Back Burner: When Gunn announced the slate of projects for his DCU, he announced several movies and tv shows. For me, this is the most interesting piece of information because it gave us updates on multiple projects. Two of the projects were tv shows, that being Paradise Lost which is a Wonder Woman prequel and Booster Gold. In the interview, they talked about how Paradise Lost is still in development but no information beyond that. With Booster Gold they said they had a showrunner attached for a while, they were excited about the project but sounded like things didn’t fully work out and he moved on. Other projects that were announced are being described as being put on the backburner. For movies that’s Swamp Thing I believe this was the first project that had a director attached. James Mangold was attached to direct the movie, it sounds like he’s still attached. But already signed on to direct A Complete Unknown so couldn’t focus time on Swamp Thing. With A Complete Unknown finished the awards campaign  almost over hopefully we can have some more information and updates on that film. It’s described as a horror movie, I think that’s very interesting to do something different in the DCU. The other movie was The Authority, I don’t know much about them from the comics. But it’s basically an evil version of the Justice League, this was going to be in a movie. The quotes from Gunn and Safran said this. “It’s a very, very big movie, if you’re going to do The Authority properly. And some story elements perhaps that are in Superman and some of the other films that we’ve fast tracked step a little bit on The Authority. For television Gunn announced an Amanda Waller tv show with Viola Davis returning. Originally this was to be filmed and released before Peacemaker season two came out. That’s not happening, season two of Peacemaker is releasing in August. It sounds like they’re trying to find the right script and story to tell, that’s the problem they’re running into. There’s multiple ways to take this news, either as positive or negative. Some people could view this as a negative because there’s multiple projects that are having a troubled production before Superman even comes out. That’s a fair criticism to have about this news, I get where people are coming from. I view this in a more positive light. One of the problems with Marvel is they’re cranking out projects with weak scripts and fixing them in post. That’s why several of the recent MCU projects have felt so bland and generic. Instead of finding a great script from the start, they start with a weak script and fix it. That’s not the right way to go about creating a movie. When they say they’re not prioritizing certain projects because the stories aren’t right, I view that as a good thing. They’re waiting till they have the right script to move forward, that’s smart. That’s a good way to run a business and film franchise or universe. Gunn wants to get this right, he wants it to be a success so he’s learning the problems with recent Marvel and making sure that doesn’t apply to current DC. 

• The DCU’s Story: The final thing to talk about is some information about the DCU’s story as a whole and how it’ll work. One of the big questions was how connected will all of the projects be. Here’s what Gunn said “Remain steadfast in making sure that each of these projects works as a standalone project, so that you can go see Superman and you can watch Lanterns without having to see both of them.” Also talks about how they’re building up to an Avengers style team-up within six years but each will feel like its own story and there’s no homework required for any of these projects. Gunn said this about interconnectedness. “It isn’t like they’re chapters of an overall story. They’re characters that are part of an overall story.” The key thing here is that the characters are more important than the stories. The characters are what connects the projects not the stories. I’m glad that they’re not making some of these projects feel like homework. That’s one of the big reasons why recent Marvel movies like The Marvels and Captain America: Brave New World didn’t do great box office numbers. Because in order to watch those movies there’s multiple movies and tv shows required. I’m glad that they’re not doing it with the DCU. There are connections between the projects, but Superman isn’t a required viewing for Lanterns, Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, or Batman: The Brave and the Bold.