It should tell you something that we haverunmultipleversionsof these monitor guides for the state of Warner Bros. ’s DC Entertainment movie creation . But it ’s not every week that your whole understanding of the fragile state of a movie universe gets turned upside down by lecture ofone of its giving starsexiting , is it ?
It has been a bit of a wild drive lately if you ’re a DC devotee trying to keep up with what in blaze is actually find with the movies . So in light of the latest inSuperman - ground craze , here ’s a quick—[Ed ’s note : * looks at word count , stares blankly at camera*]—recap of what ’s up with the DC “ Extended Universe ” as we bonk it right now , in an order that could be vaguely described as range from the realms of “ absolutely happening ” to “ god , who even get it on any longer ? ”
Aquaman
We’vegot a trailer and everything ! Yes , while it might still seem strange that we ’re getting an actual Aquaman movie in 2018 — and that it looks like an awful , underwater epic to boot — we really are , good manners of conductor James Wan . We ’re at last going to get to see Jason Momoa ’s Aquaman do more ( presumably ) than just complain butt andshout “ YEAH,”as Arthur Curryreturns to his female parent ’s homeand confront off against the sinisterBlack Manta and Ocean Master . And we ’ll be seeing it pretty presently : Aquaman is due out December 21 .
Shazam!
Next up for the DC Universe is something very unlike . It took us a while to geta good looking at at it , but the adorably silly - looking Shazam ! from David F. Sandberg canal the earnest good luck charm of its young protagonist Billy Batson ( play byAsher Angel , and thenZachary Leviin his grand form ) by yield usa short look at superheroics . Shazam ! is currently set to release April 5 , 2019 .
Wonder Woman 1984
The mankind is quick for more Wonder Woman after herexcellent unaccompanied moviein 2017 , and as the statute title advise , Diana ’s next adventurefinds herin the ‘ 80s . She ’ll have fresh ally to meet , likeKristen Wiig ’s Barbara Minerva(better known to comics fansas Cheetah ) , and new opposition , like Pedro Pascal ’s mysterious , slimy - looking baddie . But at least one familiar typeface is back that really should n’t be : Chris Pine ’s Steve Trevor , who heroically perished during Wonder Woman ’s climax . How ? Why ? We ’ll witness out November 1 , 2019 . At least the footage shown at Comic - Consounds likeit was in effect !
The Flash
Ezra Miller ’s The Flash has fare a long way since it was first announce , in that it has apparently undergone some pretty major changes ( remember when the film was first meant to be outthis year ! ? ) as manager have come and gone from the projection . Even before current director John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein were pay the movie earlierthis twelvemonth , the project had undergonerepeated rewrites .
The Batman
Oh boy . you could spell multiple single history on what a saga this movie has been — andwehave ! The standalone Batman pic was first give out to be conduct and publish by Batman himself , Ben Affleck . He backed out of directingin 2017 , to be replaced byMatt Reeves , and then his script was thrown out altogether months later . All that ’s even before you get into the on - again - off - again - what - is - even - happeningnightmare of endless reports that Affleck himself is eitherDEFINITELYplaying Batman in the picture or isDEFINITELY NOTplaying Batman in the movie . He is Schrödinger ’s casting .
At least Reeves had the decency to offer an updatefairly recently , brushing aside rumors that this would be a “ Year One ” origin - style moving-picture show , rather saying that it is going to be an original , “ very point - of - view noir - drive definitive Batman story . ” When ’s it coming out ? God fuck . Who ’s playing Batman in it ? You test asking God about that .
Joker
When people are rightly incredibly disordered about just what the blaze is going on with your comic script movie cosmos , what do you do ? excuse things ? Ha ha , joke ’s on you , buddy . You obviously start an entirely separate , not really connected arm of moving picture related to Batman ’s most ill-famed enemy !
That is exactly what ’s snuff it on with Joker , a DC flick from The Hangover ’s Todd Philips , produced byMartin Scorcese , andstarring Joaquin Phoenixas the Joker . It ’s an all - new take on the character completely separate from Jared Leto ’s portrayal in Suicide Squad ( more on that in a bit ) . This origin - story moving picture for the fictional character actually just late entered production — it’salready gotan October 4 , 2019 departure date!—and is rumored to see the man who becomes the clown prince of criminal offense cast as a fail comic who snaps after a lifetime of hardships , in the vein of The Killing Joke .
Zazie Beetzand evenRobert De Niroare rumored to co - star with Phoenix , and for approximately two Clarence Day , Alec Baldwin was rifle to play the film’sallegedly - Trumpianspin on Batman ’s father , Thomas Wayne . He cease , so alas , we ’ll never get to know what his take on a character wholiterally exists to be murderedafter bit of screentime will ever be like .
Oh, you can damn well believe I’musing this art again.Image: Collage by James Whitbrook / Photo: (Warner Bros.)
The Joker-Adjacent Spinoff Malaise
This is where thing really pop out acquire ridiculous , because Warner Bros. has settle that it desire to go as all in on the Joker as potential . Aside from Joker , Jared Leto ’s version of the character is reportedly gettinghis own film . Then there’sHarley Quinn vs The Joker , a vehicle for Leto and Margot Robbie ’s takes on the nominal clownish rogues . And then there ’s Suicide Squad 2 , the continuation to thepoorly - receivedvillain team - up that will purportedly have a strong focus on the Joker than the first did . The picture show has already gone through the seemingly mandatory managing director drama , ditch the first film ’s David Ayer before eventually sink oncurrent selection , Gavin O’Connor ( after a uncanny side - step intoMel Gibson dominion ) .
If you want an even more detailed crack-up of this dark corner of the DC movie slating , you may check out our full guide here , becauseof course we have one . It is somehow , as of piece of writing , two months old and Warner Bros. has yet to denote another Joker - adjacent spinoff movie since ! Such restraint .
Supergirl
A more late additionto the DC slate , Kara Zor - El is making the leapfrom the CWto the freehanded cover , courtesy of Cloverfield Paradox writer Oren Uziel . Details are still implausibly little beyond that ; initial reports about the celluloid suggested that no producer are even presently attach , so Supergirl is likely far off into the hereafter of Warner Bros. ’ plan .
Thanks tothis week ’s newsabout Henry Cavill , however , the motion-picture show has taken on a new level of swelling . Reports surrounding the player ’s exit from Superman have suggested that — to remunerate for a lack of the Man of Steel — the DC universe will swivel to Supergirl as an anchor character for a while , allowing for someone who is potentially not Cavill to become Superman . As we said before though , the Supergirl film is so far off it ’s hard to treat any of this , as wild as it is , as anything other than speculation .
Batgirl
Speaking of distaff - character - ride , far - off DC movie program : Batgirl ! Like Supergirl , this one ’s also just a gleam in the studio apartment ’s heart , but it ’s already been through the Warner Bros. melting pot of behind - the - scenes drama . Joss Whedon wasinitially attachedto write and direct the picture , but hequit before this year , cite that he was unable to fare up with a good story for one of DC ’s most iconic Bat - family members .
Whedon wasquickly replacedbyBirds of Prey screenwriterChristina Hodson as a author for the motion picture , but a director has yet to be confiscate . Maybe Warner Bros.should listento the distaff directors who would care to take a crack at it ?
Green Lantern Corps
It feel like it ’s been a life-time since we were getting all those rumor about how Hal Jordan would show up in either Batman v Superman or Justice League . But whenever Hal does get in the movie universe of discourse , he wo n’t be alone ; as the title imply , Green Lantern Corps will focus on the group , rather than one case-by-case member . Hal will be joined by fellow lantern John Stewart in the star roles , and a script iscurrently being workedon by David S. Goyer and Justin Rhodes .
Oh , and then there was thatweird momentwhere people thought Warner Bros. was severely croak to have Ryan Reynolds , lead of theinfamously badGreen Lantern movie , be Hal Jordan again . Let ’s not talk about that . Green Lantern Corps was initially scheduled for a 2020 release , but that is unlikely to happen considering , well , all you ’ve read above .
Cyborg
Like the Flash , Cyborg was meant to get his own solo filmafter being introducedin Justice League , but unlike Flash , things have become eerily unruffled about a solo adventure for Ray Fisher ’s take on the character . ab initio , there were lots of rumors about Cyborgstepping on overto The Flash , making it more of a team - up celluloid , but that wasquickly deny , and given the repeated re - working we ’ve seen that cinema go through , it ’s plausibly an idea that no longer exist .
And really , that ’s somewhat much the last thing we really heard about a Cyborg film . give that DC is bringing the character to itsDC Universe streaming serviceas a supporting characterin Doom Patrol — where he ’ll be playedby Jovian Wade — either plan for a Cyborg movie are rooted or DC and the studio haveno idea what to dowith the character . Probably a minuscule from column A , a little from column B , in that regard .
The Endless Void of Purportedly Greenlit DC Films
Yep , we ’re not even done yet . Everything you ’ve translate above is a sample distribution of the DC picture we actually know some things about . But there are still multiple other movies adapting DC Comics graphic symbol that are purl in the ether — they’re being babble out about , but are not quite being worked on yet . A rundown :
Of these , the one we likely know the most about is Birds of Prey , which will team upHarley Quinnwith the Huntress , Black Canary , Cassandra Cain , and Renee Montoya . It willstar Margot Robbie , be written by Christina Hodson , and directed by Cathy Yan — whoallegedly pitchedan approach so intriguing that Warner Bros. fast - tracked product , break other movies further down the argument , include Gotham City Sirens , another Harley squad up ( this time villain - based , with Poison Ivy and Catwoman)set to be tackledby Suicide Squad ’s David Ayer .
keep it in the Bat - family , there is also a Nightwing moviein the works , direct by The Lego Movie ’s Chris McKay and write by The Accountant ’s Bill Dubuque , but that is still invery early stage . There ’s also the long - simmering potential idea for a supernatural Justice League Dark movie , which was firstgoing to be adaptedby Guillermo del Toro as one of the earliest projection in Warner Bros. ’ then - nascent plans to launcha machine-accessible movie universe(oh , we were so innocent back then ) . Del Toro provide the project , as he is wo nt to do , and wasreplaced byDoug Liman , who wasvery excitedfor the film and thenpromptly also left . There ’s been no real crusade on the motion picture since then and no replacement for Liman , butlast we heard , Gerard Johnstone had been tapped to write a newfangled draft of the script .
And then , at last , we get to two absolutely bonkers ideas that we recognize nothing about in the slightest , other than that they exist in incredibly early stages . First up , A Wrinkle in Time ’s Ava DuVernayhas started workon an adjustment of Jack Kirby ’s iconic Hero of Alexandria , New Gods , setting the stagecoach for an all - fresh branch of DC Universes inspired by DC ’s cosmic character . Then , somehow even weirderthan that : Steven Spielberg is producing ( and potentially head ) a Blackhawks moving picture , ground on the World War II fighter archetype squadron that were initially stars of ‘ 40s - era military comedian before being assume by DC in 1956 and integrated into their superhero universe .
Update :
[ Ed ’s note : Fucking hell . We forgot Dwayne Johnson’slong - standingBlack Adamproject and thatoutside - the - DCEUBooster Goldfilm . Just run short to go gaze into the Source Wall until I perish … ]
Suffice to say , there is a fortune die on with Warner Bros. ’ DC slate right now , path , way beyond the latest confusing drama around Henry Cavill . These slates are always in movement , always chop and commute , uprise and shrinkage , to the point that perchance in another few months we ’ll need to remind ourselves what ’s going on all over again . At least now you ’re caught up ?
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