DC Comics has some of the most popular characters in the history of fiction. Having said that, with the exception of Batman, those characters haven't always been successful on the big screen. While the first attempt at a shared cinematic universe was hit or miss at best, WB has a lot riding on a major reboot from James Gunn and Peter Safran.
Not every upcoming DC movie is part of James Gunn’s new shared universe. The Joaquin Phoenix-led sequel to Joker and Robert Pattinson’s return as Batman are still happening under the DC banner but as separate, unconnected projects. Still, there is a lot planned for the first chapter of the new universe, which James Gunn is calling Gods and Monsters.
Creature Commandos
Animation has always been a big part of DC’s superhero universe in a way that it has never really been with Marvel. However, DC’s animated projects have always been something separate from the live-action films and series. That changes with the first Chapter 1 entry, Creature Commandos. The animated series will be part of the franchise, and many voice actors will be playing the same role in live-action. The Creature Commandos cast will include the voices of Frank Grillo as Rick Flag Sr, Maria Bakalova as Princess Ilana Rostovic, Indira Varma as The Bride, Zoe Chao as Nina Mazursky, Alan Tudyk as Dr. Phosphorus, David Harbour as Eric Frankenstein and Steve Agee as John Economos. We also know that at least some of the characters will appear in live-action in James Gunn’s Superman movie and Peacemaker Season 2.
Superman
Release Date: July 11, 2025
The first big screen entry in the new DCU and the “true beginning” of Chapter 1, according to James Gunn, is the one project we already knew was on the way. The DCU Superman, in a script penned by Gunn himself, will be introduced in Superman: Legacy. David Corenswet has been tapped to play the Man of Steel, while Rachel Brosnahan will play Lois Lane. The Superman: Legacy cast, will go far beyond the core Superman characters, however. We know Nathan Fillion will play Green Lantern Guy Gardner, and Isabela Merced will play Hawkgirl, so this will be a significant launch point for the new DCU
Peacemaker: Season 2
Technically, the first season of James Gunn’s Peacemaker series was not part of the new DCU continuity, but according to what we know about Peacemaker Season 2, the new season will be. How exactly that will work is anybody’s guess, but the series went into production in April 2024 so we won’t have to wait too long to find out.
Waller
What we originally thought would be the first live-action series of the DCU will in fact be the second, as details surrounding Peacemaker Season 2 have seemed to confirm that a series focusing on Viola Davis’ Amanda Waller, simply called Waller will arrive sometime after that season. Beyond the star, little is known about this one, except that, despite Waller appearing in the very humorous Peacemaker, the new show will not be a comedy.
Lanterns
Quite possibly the biggest DC character to never get introduced in the previous DC universe was Green Lantern. That will be rectified when a new series, Lanterns, debuts. The Lanterns TV show will focus on two popular Green Lanterns, Hal Jordan and John Stewart. Gunn likens the show to the hit HBO series True Detective. The "terrestrial" mystery at the heart of this show will apparently tie into whatever larger story the DCU is planning to tell going forward.
Supergirl: Woman Of Tomorrow
Release Date: June 26, 2026
While the upcoming Superman movie seems destined to give us a more traditional and hopeful Superman, fans looking for a darker take on the mythos will likely be interested in any Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow details. Milly Allcock of House of the Dragon has been cast in the coveted role of Kara Zor-El. The movie is set to be directed by Greg Gillespie. The screenplay for Woman of Tomorrow was written by Ana Nogueira who previously handled a script for a Supergirl movie that would have spun off from The Flash, before that universe came to an end.
The Authority
The second film James Gunn revealed in his official video presentation is a team of characters not nearly as well-known as Superman. The Authority is a team of superheroes so dedicated to saving the world that they’ll do anything to fix it. Gunn specifically mentioned that The Authority will interact with all of the “primary DCU characters,” so expect this one to be something of a crossover event, we already know that María Gabriela de Faría has been cast in Superman to play Authority member Angela Spica, The Engineer.
Paradise Lost
The future of Gal Gadot and many others who previously played major DC characters is unclear at best, but we may get some hints as to the future of Wonder Woman in the new series Paradise Lost. The show will be set on the warrior's home island of Thymiscira, a.k.a. Paradise Island. Gunn compared this new series to Game of Thrones, in his DCU Chapter 1 announcement video. The show will be set at some point before the birth of Wonder Woman, but it could certainly lead to future stories for her.
The Brave And The Bold
Matt Reeves’ The Batman franchise will continue with a second film, but the DCU will also have its own Batman. The Brave and the Bold will introduce this new Batman, as well as, for the first time on the big screen since 1997, Robin. This Robin will be Damian Wayne, Batman’s biological son who was trained by the League of Assassins. Gunn also teased in his announcement video that this is only the beginning of the “Bat Family” in the DCU. Andy Muschetti will direct the new take on Batman. As of November 2023, there was no script for The Brave and the Bold so no casting has even been rumored.
Booster Gold
Booster Gold had previously been in line to get a movie adaptation at some point, but that script had been languishing in development hell. Now Booster is back with a new HBO Max series. Gold, a.k.a. Michael Jon Carter, is from the future, and through the use of time travel and other advanced technology, he travels back in time to our present, where all his fancy tech effectively makes him a superhero. Of course, the guy is largely a fraud, which is where the real story of Booster Gold comes in. The Boys Anthony Starr has been rumored for the role, and he is friends with James Gunn, but at this point, we don’t know what the status of this project is.
Swamp Thing
Supergirl likely won’t be the darkest thing in the DCU, as a Swamp Thing movie looks to be a true horror story that even James Gunn called “tonally outside” the rest of the DCU in the announcement video, though it will still connect to the rest of the larger franchise.
James Gunn has been clear that this is only the beginning of “Chapter 1” of the DCU, so there’s a lot more expected to come, and a lot more details to be revealed about the various projects we now know about. Only Superman and Supergirl actually have any sort of official release date, so we don’t even know for sure when many of these stories will arrive. However, they are quite exciting, and we can’t wait to see it all come to life.
