I would have never expected most of these ideas, and there's a few head-scratchers, but all of the newly announced stuff sounds really interesting.
Here's the full list, via
Gizmodo:
Gizmodo said:
Creature Commandos
Though Superman: Legacy is the true start of the new DC Universe, two projects will come out beforehand that also are part of the overarching canon. First up, and already in production, is this seven-episode animated HBO Max series that James Gunn himself has already written. It will follow the adventures of Rick Flagg Sr. (who’ll appear in other projects), Dr. Phosphorus, Nina Mazursky, Frankenstein, Bride of Frankenstein (described as the lead of the show), G.I. Robot, and Weasel—all of whom are being cast with the thought that if an actor voices them on the show, they will also play them in live action.
Gizmodo said:
Waller
Viola Davis returns in a live-action HBO Max series centered on her character from the previous DC movies (which is something that, according to Gunn and Safran, is currently on the table for everyone previously cast, with the exceptions of Henry Cavill as Superman and Ben Affleck as Batman.)
The story will bring back characters from the Peacemaker show and tell a story with events set between Peacemaker seasons one and two, because Gunn hasn’t had time to write Peacemaker season two yet. It was created by Christal Henry (Watchmen) and Jeremy Carver (Doom Patrol).
Gizmodo said:
Superman: Legacy
Set for release July 11, 2025 (the only locked-in release date so far), Superman: Legacy is being written by James Gunn with the hope he might direct. And while Commandos and Waller will be out first, it was made clear that this is the big, official start of the DCU.
So what’s it about? “It’s not an origin story,” Safran said. “It focuses on Superman balancing his Kryptonian heritage with his human upbringing. Superman represents truth, justice, and the American way. He is kindness in a world that thinks of kindness as old-fashioned.”
“Our stories in general... we want to take it away from good guy versus bad guy,” Gunn added. “There’s really, really almost saintly people. Superman is among them. There are really terrible villains like, you know, Gorilla Grodd, Joker, and then there’s everybody in between. And so there are all these shades of gray of these different types of characters, which allows us to tell more complex stories.”
I don't love this title, but that's my only quibble here.
Gizmodo said:
Lanterns
Hal Jordan and John Stewart will star in a live-action HBO Max show described as a “True Detective-type mystery” but with superheroes. The Earth-based show will see the two Lanterns who are “basically super cops on precinct Earth” telling a story about some kind of “ancient core” that is crucial to the overall story that the DCU is telling.
Here's hoping Hal goes weird and philosophical, like first season True Detective.
And, just because I'm a jerk, I would love to see Hal Jordan the human disaster, rather than the boring angelic character folks like Geoff Johns try to make him, brushing away all the weird and awful crap he's done over the decades.
Gizmodo said:
The Authority
“This is a big movie,” said Gunn of The Authority, which he also described as a passion project of his, and said he’s currently working on the outline for it with another writer. “The Authority is a very different kind of superhero story,” Gunn continued. “They’re basically good-intentioned, but they think that the world is completely broken and the only way to fix it is to take things into their own hands. Whether that means, killing people, destroying heads of state, changing governments, whatever they want to do to make the world better. And we’ll see how that journey goes for them.”
The Authority comes from Wildstorm, a comic imprint purchased by DC and Wildstorm characters are all on the table for the DCU.
I would not have, in a million years, guessed we'd see the Authority before a new incarnation of the JLA. (Which, to be fair, Snyder's take on the JLA was very in keeping with the Authority, without realizing that Ellis was suggesting the Authority were wrong, much of the time.)
Gizmodo said:
Paradise Lost
How did Wonder Woman’s world, Themyscira, come to be? That’s the topic of this live-action HBO Max show that Gunn and Safran described as Game of Thrones on Themyscira, home of Wonder Woman, but all set place before her birth.
“It’s an origin story of how did this society of women come about?” Gunn said. “What does it mean? What are their politics like? What are their rules? Who’s in charge? What are all the games that they play with each other to get to the top? And I think it’s a really exciting thing that we’re working on.”
But what about Diana? Gunn and Safran said they’d been in touch with Gal Gadot who isn’t opposed to coming back, but nothing is finalized.
This is a jaw-dropping idea for an HBO show. I bet it's going to be amazing.
Gizmodo said:
The Brave and the Bold
This is the big one. Matt Reeves’ Batman films are still happening (Gunn said it’s envisioned as a trilogy and called the series, which includes the Penguin TV show, “The Batman Crime Saga”) but will not be part of the DCU. The DCU however will have not just its own Batman, but a Robin too. “This is the story of Damian Wayne,” Gunn said. “Batman’s actual son who we didn’t know existed for the first eight to 10 years of his life. He was raised as a little murderer, an assassin. He’s a little son of a bitch. He’s my favorite Robin. It’s based on the Grant Morrison comic book run, which is one of my favorite Batman runs, and we are putting that all together right now.”
But that’s not all. “It’s going to feature other members of the extended Bat-family just because we feel like they’ve been left out of the Batman stories in the theater for far too long,” Safran said. Also of note, Gunn played coy when asked if Dick Grayson would make an appearance.
I'm not clear if this is a movie or a TV show.
Gizmodo said:
Booster Gold
A live-action HBO Max series about “a loser from the future, who uses his basic future technology to come back to today and pretend to be a superhero,” Safran said.
“I think of it basically as the story of a superhero as imposter syndrome,” Gunn added. “How do you deal with that? How does he try to use this future technology to be loved by people today? And what is really at the base of that, as a character study? That’s going to be a very different type of show. And we are talking to an actor about this right now.”
Another shocker. Booster Gold can be fun, but he is a C-list hero at best. Still, if they can make Peacemaker work, they can work a lot of the same magic here.
Gizmodo said:
Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow
Based on Tom King’s run of comics, this movie will explore how Supergirl is different from Superman. “Superman was sent to Earth and he was raised by incredibly loving parents, whereas Carol was in a piece of Krypton that drifted away from the planet and lived there for the first 14 years of her life,” Gunn said. “[It was] a horrible situation where she watched everybody around her die. And so she’s a much harsher and more naughty word up Supergirl.”
Of course, Sasha Calle plays Supergirl in the upcoming Flash film and Gunn and Safran have not ruled out that she could return in the role. But it’s not set just yet.
Amazing, no notes.
Gizmodo said:
Swamp Thing
“This is a film that will investigate the dark origins of Swamp Thing,” Safran said. “It’s important to point out that in these stories, although interconnected, they’re not all tonally the same. So each set of filmmakers brings their own aesthetic to these films and the fun is seeing how these totally different works mash-up in the future.”
This whole list is so wild, and really makes it clear that the British Invasion comics of the early 1990s was transformative for superhero books, especially DC Comics.
variety.com
