DC Films: The James Gunn Reboot

[Isgrimnur]

HR

A new Batman movie without Robert Pattinson (but featuring Bruce Wayne’s murderous son). A Superman movie on the release schedule (mark your calendars for July 11, 2025). A Game of Thrones-style drama set on Wonder Woman’s home island of Themyscira (Amazonian palace intrigue). And an animated series already in production (Creature Commandos … wait, what?).

That’s just part of what will be coming to theaters and TV screens as part of DC Studios bosses James Gunn and Peter Safran’s new slate.
...
Creature Commandos: An animated seven episode series, written by Gunn
...
Waller: A spin-off of Gunn’s own HBO Max hit series, Peacemaker
...
Superman: Legacy: The movie featuring the Man of Steel that Gunn is writing and may direct, although no commitments on that end have been made. ... “It’s not an origin story,” Safran said.
...
Lanterns: “Our vision for this is very much in the vein of True Detective,” Safran described. “It’s terrestrial-based.” It will feature prominent Lantern heroes Hal Jordan and John Stewart
...
The Authority: a movie based on a team of superheroes with rather extreme methods of protecting the planet that first originated in the late 1990s under an influential imprint known as Wildstorm,
...
Paradise Lost: The duo describe this HBO Max series as a Game of Thrones-style drama set on the all-female island that is Wonder Woman’s birthplace, Themyscira
...
The Brave and the Bold: “This is the introduction of the DCU Batman,” said Gunn. “Of Bruce Wayne and also introduces our favorite Robin, Damian Wayne, who is a little son of a bitch.”
...
The Batman sequel: Pattinson will continue to portray the Dark Knight in at least one more crime saga movie directed by Matt Reeves.
...
Booster Gold: an HBO Max series
...
Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow: raised on a rock, a chip off of Krypton, and who watched everyone around her die and be killed in terrible ways for the first 14 years of her life and then come to Earth.
...
Swamp Thing: a horror film

[Daehawk]

So basically DC is now Gunn Studios and is a place for him to simply push all his own stuff. So if you see one you've seen them all I guess. I like Gunn but this feels like a move too far. Then again DC wasn't doing good anyways.

[hepcat]

And an animated series already in production (Creature Commandos … wait, what?).

no...wait...AWESOME, they mean.

I read most of that with a HUGE grain of salt. A Swamp Thing horror film would be fantastic, as would a Booster Gold series. But I'm skeptical.

Now, when the hell are they going to make that damn Legion of Super Heroes movie or series that Blackhawk and I have been clamoring for! I need to see some Wildfire, Mon El, and Timber Wolf on the screen.

[Lassr]

I'm about as excited for this as waiting on another season of Fear the Walking Dead...

There is so much potential there but they keep just messing it up sooooo bad (other than Batman). It baffles me how incompetent the DC universe has been handled. It's like Marvel has spies at DC sabotaging everything.

[Max Peck]

At least we know that Peacemaker is probably safe.

[El Guapo]

Honestly I think DC should give up on having a big interconnected cinematic universe like the MCU. For one, at this point with the MCU there's so many interconnected movies and shows that it's getting to be like you have homework if you want to watch some interesting new Marvel show. Plus each property is getting weighed down because they have to spend two episodes (if it's a show) or 20 - 30 minutes (if it's a movie) introducing some character that's going to be featured in their own movie / show. So I don't think that there's a lot of bandwidth honestly for a DCU that's a mirror of the MCU, plus it feels like there's an opportunity for DCU to differentiate itself.

So the DCU should just focus on making good movies and shows and shy away from having them all link up. Which they may wind up at, seemingly by accident.

[Malificent]

Honestly I think DC should give up on having a big interconnected cinematic universe like the MCU. For one, at this point with the MCU there's so many interconnected movies and shows that it's getting to be like you have homework if you want to watch some interesting new Marvel show. Plus each property is getting weighed down because they have to spend two episodes (if it's a show) or 20 - 30 minutes (if it's a movie) introducing some character that's going to be featured in their own movie / show. So I don't think that there's a lot of bandwidth honestly for a DCU that's a mirror of the MCU, plus it feels like there's an opportunity for DCU to differentiate itself.

So the DCU should just focus on making good movies and shows and shy away from having them all link up. Which they may wind up at, seemingly by accident.

They've taken the most important first step, at least. Getting someone on board who really understands and loves the comics and why people love DC stuff. The MCU multiverse is great but it only succeeded because Kevin Feige loved comics and wanted to make movies that celebrated their good parts, rather than trying to make them into something else.

[ImLawBoy]

Honestly I think DC should give up on having a big interconnected cinematic universe like the MCU. For one, at this point with the MCU there's so many interconnected movies and shows that it's getting to be like you have homework if you want to watch some interesting new Marvel show. Plus each property is getting weighed down because they have to spend two episodes (if it's a show) or 20 - 30 minutes (if it's a movie) introducing some character that's going to be featured in their own movie / show. So I don't think that there's a lot of bandwidth honestly for a DCU that's a mirror of the MCU, plus it feels like there's an opportunity for DCU to differentiate itself.

So the DCU should just focus on making good movies and shows and shy away from having them all link up. Which they may wind up at, seemingly by accident.

I'm woefully behind on MCU stuff because of this.

[Daehawk]

A new Batman movie without Robert Pattinson (but featuring Bruce Wayne’s murderous son)

Wait I thought people loved this movie and it was a great reboot. Pattinson should / would get at least 2 more. What I miss?

[YellowKing]

The Brave and the Bold project sounds interesting. We've yet to see a good Robin on the big screen.

I've always thought DC was missing a huge opportunity by rehashing the same Batman movie over and over again when all of Gotham is so ripe for the picking. It's like owning the entire Star Wars universe but just rebooting Luke Skywalker over and over.

There are so many great DC story arcs they could run forever just making stand-alone movies that don't have to be related to each other. Sort of like they do with their animated features.

[Daveman]

A new Batman movie without Robert Pattinson (but featuring Bruce Wayne’s murderous son)

Wait I thought people loved this movie and it was a great reboot. Pattinson should / would get at least 2 more. What I miss?

That list mentions later there will be another Pattinson Batman film, it's just going to be it's own thing. There will be another actor as Batman in the DCU catalog.

[Blackhawk]

He should hire Adam Savage to do props. They could pull Parent Trap pranks on the crew for laughs.

[El Guapo]

A new Batman movie without Robert Pattinson (but featuring Bruce Wayne’s murderous son)

Wait I thought people loved this movie and it was a great reboot. Pattinson should / would get at least 2 more. What I miss?

That list mentions later there will be another Pattinson Batman film, it's just going to be it's own thing. There will be another actor as Batman in the DCU catalog.

But like...why?

[Rumpy]

Honestly I think DC should give up on having a big interconnected cinematic universe like the MCU. For one, at this point with the MCU there's so many interconnected movies and shows that it's getting to be like you have homework if you want to watch some interesting new Marvel show.

Yep, I agree with you. I'd be happy with simply standalone movies. It's clear it hasn't worked for them, so maybe they need to try something else.

I've always thought DC was missing a huge opportunity by rehashing the same Batman movie over and over again when all of Gotham is so ripe for the picking. It's like owning the entire Star Wars universe but just rebooting Luke Skywalker over and over.

Batman and Superman, both. It seems like every 10 years we get a new Batman and Superman movie complete with origin story, as if nothing else existed. This is why the first Wonder Woman did so well, because it was a breath of fresh air in a world of DC movies saturated with Batman and Superman.

[Blackhawk]

Quick thoughts:

I like their take on Superman. It sounds like they're finally keying in to what makes Superman stories interesting. It isn't that he's insanely powerful. It isn't that he the 'big blue Boy Scout.' It's the moral and ethical dilemmas those things create. It's similar to the conflict in Captain America: Civil War (another big blue Boy Scout.)

Finally we get to see John Stewart. They're still stuck on Hal Jordan (who is a pretty unlikable character), but still - it opens up options, and is the first time a lot of people are going to realize that Hal Jordan is "a Green Lantern from the Green Lantern Corps", not "The Green Lantern." It's a title, not a name. Maybe we'll get to see Raynor/Cruz/Baz/Gardner, and hopefully some of the other (non-green) Lanterns.

I'm glad that they're going in a different direction with Batman. With that said, it's going to be extremely difficult to write and cast Damian Wayne. He's a complete asshole - but an incredibly competent, lovable asshole. And he's ten (at the point of the story that they're telling - not that they can't change that.) Getting an actor of that age who can pull that off without either being completely hated, or giving him Wesley Crusher syndrome (people hate him because he's showing up the adults that they want to see do things) will be really hard.

A Booster Gold series. That could be good if Gunn keeps his fingers in it - it's right up his alley.

I'm about as excited for this as waiting on another season of Fear the Walking Dead...

There is so much potential there but they keep just messing it up sooooo bad (other than Batman).

The difference now is that pretty much every person the underlined "they" refers to is now gone.

A new Batman movie without Robert Pattinson (but featuring Bruce Wayne’s murderous son)

Wait I thought people loved this movie and it was a great reboot. Pattinson should / would get at least 2 more. What I miss?

That list mentions later there will be another Pattinson Batman film, it's just going to be it's own thing. There will be another actor as Batman in the DCU catalog.

That. The DCU (the shared universe) is separate from their 'Otherworlds' stories (The Batman, Joker, etc), which all exist separate from the shared universe. The new Batman is the Batman of the shared universe.

[Grifman]

So basically DC is now Gunn Studios and is a place for him to simply push all his own stuff. So if you see one you've seen them all I guess. I like Gunn but this feels like a move too far. Then again DC wasn't doing good anyways.

Nowhere does it say he's "pushing his own stuff". Is Kevin Fige pushing his own stuff? He and another guy were called in to develop a coherent DC universe and that is what he is trying to do.

[Grifman]

A new Batman movie without Robert Pattinson (but featuring Bruce Wayne’s murderous son)

Wait I thought people loved this movie and it was a great reboot. Pattinson should / would get at least 2 more. What I miss?

That list mentions later there will be another Pattinson Batman film, it's just going to be it's own thing. There will be another actor as Batman in the DCU catalog.

But like...why?

Because they have a certain direction they want to take, and the prior movie doesn't fit that direction. They want to create their own thing, not force someone else's vision into what they have planned.

[hepcat]

A new Batman movie without Robert Pattinson (but featuring Bruce Wayne’s murderous son)

Wait I thought people loved this movie and it was a great reboot. Pattinson should / would get at least 2 more. What I miss?

That list mentions later there will be another Pattinson Batman film, it's just going to be it's own thing. There will be another actor as Batman in the DCU catalog.

But like...why?

Because they hope to lure me into attending another 4DX showing so that can finish the job they failed to do the first time? I mean, I made it out alive. That surely couldn't have been their end goal, considering what I went through.

And he's ten (at the point of the story that they're telling - not that they can't change that.) Getting an actor of that age who can pull that off without either being completely hated, or giving him Wesley Crusher syndrome (people hate him because he's showing up the adults that they want to see do things) will be really hard.

She was 12, but close enough. I'm still surprised at how good she was in that role at that age.

[Blackhawk]

Yeah, I agree - great example. Hard, but not impossible.

[stessier]

In case you want the news in video form.

[Max Peck]

The BBC is still trying to make this all about Henry Cavill.

DC Boss Denies Sacking Henry Cavill as Superman

One of the new bosses of DC Studios, James Gunn, has denied sacking Henry Cavill from his role as Superman.

The actor confirmed in December the "sad news" he had been dropped, just months after announcing his return.

But Gunn, who recently took over the superhero franchise alongside Peter Safran, said on Tuesday that they didn't fire Cavill, but rather simply did not hire him for further projects.

He made the comments while announcing a raft of new DC movies and TV shows.

[Rumpy]

Kind of amounts to the same thing, doesn't it?. It's all semantics in the end.

[El Guapo]

Kind of amounts to the same thing, doesn't it?. It's all semantics in the end.

It is. Cavill's saying that he was fired from being Superman, Gunn is saying that he wasn't fired from any specific movie. 99% the same thing.

The bigger issue is - who cares.

[stessier]

Kind of amounts to the same thing, doesn't it?. It's all semantics in the end.

It is. Cavill's saying that he was fired from being Superman, Gunn is saying that he wasn't fired from any specific movie. 99% the same thing.

The bigger issue is - who cares.

Cavill and his accountants to name a few.

[El Guapo]

Kind of amounts to the same thing, doesn't it?. It's all semantics in the end.

It is. Cavill's saying that he was fired from being Superman, Gunn is saying that he wasn't fired from any specific movie. 99% the same thing.

The bigger issue is - who cares.

Cavill and his accountants to name a few.

Well, sure, but for the 99.99% of us who aren't them.

[Sudy]

I'll have you know I care deeply and passionately.

[Jaymann]

Kind of amounts to the same thing, doesn't it?. It's all semantics in the end.

It is. Cavill's saying that he was fired from being Superman, Gunn is saying that he wasn't fired from any specific movie. 99% the same thing.

The bigger issue is - who cares.

Cavill and his accountants to name a few.

Well, sure, but for the 99.99% of us who aren't them.

That's a pretty extensive accounting firm of 3,500 people.

[Blackhawk]

Kind of amounts to the same thing, doesn't it?. It's all semantics in the end.

It is. Cavill's saying that he was fired from being Superman, Gunn is saying that he wasn't fired from any specific movie. 99% the same thing.

The bigger issue is - who cares.

Cavill and his accountants to name a few.

Cavill and his accountants are too busy with their massive new Amazon/Warhammer deal to pay much attention to that.

[Isgrimnur]

https://bsky.app/profile/jamesgunn.bsky ... 7nidf42s2r

[hepcat]

Oooh, Clayface AND a script by Flanagan? Count me in. Flanagan is a fantastic horror film writer, so I suspect they’ll go that route with this.