A new Variety report published Tuesday has provided an update on all things DC Films, and while much of the Warner Bros.-backed comics giant’s plans are still quite hypothetical or indistinct at this point, there are a handful of intriguing tidbits worth noting.
Going forward, DC’s goal is to capitalize on their recent successes (Aquaman, Shazam!, the dreaded Joker) by securing the futures of their two most prominent characters: Superman and Batman (y’know, the “Martha” guys). While the Caped Crusader’s latest iteration appears well in hand, with Robert Pattinson stepping up to star in Matt Reeves’ much-anticipated The Batman, Supes is a serious question mark: Man of Steel, Batman v Superman and Justice League star Henry Cavill stepped away from the role last fall, and DC has yet to lock onto a suitable replacement. One super possibility: Black Panther’s Michael B. Jordan, who pitched Warner Bros. on his vision for the character earlier this year. But as Variety notes, it would be a while before we would see Jordan as Superman: “Jordan isn’t ready to commit to taking on the project since filming doesn’t seem likely to happen for several years and he has a full dance card of projects. Insiders think that a new Superman film is unlikely to hit screens before 2023, given that there’s no script and no director attached.” DC has also had talks with J.J. Abrams about rebooting the character, so one way or another, we’ll have a shiny new Supes on our hands in the years to come.
Other key reveals from the report: In light of Joker’s resounding box-office success, Warner Bros. and DC won’t be backing down from R ratings: Both Cathy Yan’s Birds of Prey (Feb. 7, 2020), for which the studio “has high hopes,” and James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad (Aug. 6, 2021) are likely to be R-rated, leaning into DC’s status as Marvel counter-programming without sacrificing fun in favor of Snyderian grim-darkness. And any of the many villains of both The Batman and Birds of Prey could spawn their own Joker-esque origin story spinoffs.
The studio is also looking into new Green Lantern and Flash films: DC’s Geoff Johns will submit a Green Lantern Corps script by year’s end, with Abrams and Bad Robot also being courted to produce the project, as well as Greg Berlanti; It’s Andy Muschietti, meanwhile, will direct the Ezra Miller-starring, Christina Hodson-scripted Flash film sometime in 2021, once Miller wraps on the next Fantastic Beasts. And don’t forget Aquaman: Both a James Wan-directed sequel (expected to shoot in early 2021) and a spinoff set in The Trench are in the works, though it’ll be a while before they surface.
Variety’s breakdown ends on a particularly spicy note: The release of the so-called “Snyder cut,” aka Zack Snyder’s inexplicably much-clamored-for version of Justice League, simply isn’t in the cards, no matter how many online whiners make a stink about it. “That’s a pipe dream,” a “knowledgeable insider” told the trade. “There’s no way it’s ever happening.” Warner Bros. doesn’t want to spend millions to finalize VFX and such for a movie that was already a conclusive critical and commercial failure. Imagine that!
You can read the entire rundown of DC’s plans over at Variety.