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 forthcoming DC movie is part of this new Chapter 1. The currently set-to-release DC movies, like Shazam: Fury of the Gods and The Flash will still happen and help to set up the beginning of this new story. Other projects, like Matt Reeves’ The Batman and its forthcoming sequel, are being called Elseworlds projects, the name used in DC Comics to denote out-of-continuity, multiverse stories. Here is what we know about the freshly announced, official DCU projects that are on the way.
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 series is written by James Gunn, and considering how much he loves misfit teams of heroes, from the Guardians of the Galaxy to the Suicide Squad, it seems like the perfect fit.
Waller
The first live-action TV project from the DCU will bring James Gunn’s Peacemaker series into continuity by creating a spinoff show called Waller, which will follow Viola Davis’ character, who most recently appeared in the Black Adam post-credits scene. The show will follow on events from Peacemaker Season 1, include some of that show's characters and will act as a bridge to a still-planned Peacemaker Season 2.
Superman: Legacy
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
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 HBO series, Lanterns, debuts. The 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.
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: Legacy 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. The show will be set at some point prior to 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 that this is only the beginning of the “Bat Family” in the DCU. Andy Muschetti will direct the new take on Batman.
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.
Supergirl: Woman Of Tomorrow
While the upcoming Superman: Legacy 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 Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow. It tells the story of what happens when somebody with the powers of Superman grows up in a darker place without the love that Clark Kent had around him. 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.
Swamp Thing
However, 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 admits is “tonally outside” the rest of the DCU, though it will still connect to the rest of the larger franchise.
James Gunn was clear that this is only the beginning of “Chapter 1” of the DCU, so there’s a lot more to come, and obviously a lot more details to be revealed about the various projects we now know about. Only Superman: Legacy actually has any sort of official release date, so we don’t even know for sure when the first of these stories will arrive. However, they are quite exciting, and we can’t wait to see it all come to life.
