The DCU is going through huge changes. The slate unveiled by DC heads James Gunn and Peter Safran is ambitious and exciting.
Filmmaker James Gunn, who directed SUICIDE SQUAD and the streaming series "Peacemaker" for DC, has been hired to oversee the creative direction of DC's movie future. He's working with Peter Safran, who heads the business side of DC Studios. The two have unveiled five upcoming movies and five related streaming series —including new Superman and Batman movies.
Gunn and Safran have designed an interconnected universe in which characters will be consistent from their movie to TV and video game appearances, played by the same actors across all forms of content. And Gunn insists that they will only give movies a release date when the script is solid and locked — so some of the new movies do not yet have release dates.
New DCU Movies With Release Dates
Starting with this year's SUPERMAN, a few of the new DCU movies have been set with release dates. Here they are, in order of planned release.
Superman
The first new DC movie to come from the Gunn/Safran regime is a new version of Superman with David Corenswet playing Clark Kent and Superman, and Rachel Brosnahan playing Lois Lane. This new version sounds like a very pure, classic version of the character. Gunn is writing and will direct. "It’s not an origin story," Safran says. "It focuses on Superman balancing his Kryptonian heritage with his human upbringing. Superman represents truth, justice and the American way. He is kindness in a world that thinks of kindness as old fashioned." [July 11]
Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow
Sometimes Supergirl is depicted as, well, a lot like Superman. That won't be the case here, as Milly Alcock ("House of the Dragon") takes the title role. Gunn describes this as "a big, science-fiction epic." It's based on the comic book series "Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow" by Tom King and Bilquis Evely. (King is one of the writers who has contributed to the overall structure of DC's new slate.) "In our story, we have Superman who was sent to Earth and raised by incredibly loving parents. Kara was on Krypton. She was on a piece of Krypton that drifted away from the planet and she lived there for the first fourteen years of her life in a horrible situation where she watched everyone around her die. So, she’s a much harsher and more f*cked up Supergirl than you’ve been used to thus far." Playwright and actress Ana Nogueira is set to script. [June 26, 2026]
Clayface
This one is kind of a left-field development. CLAYFACE, based on a classic Batman villain, was not part of the initial DCU movie slate. It comes from screenwriter Mike Flanagan (THE LIFE OF CHUCK, "Midnight Mass," DOCTOR SLEEP). James Gunn explained on social media that CLAYFACE is moving forward "because of the number one rule here at DC: No movie will be greenlit before the script is ready. And [Mike Flanagan's] script was ready. Could this be a backdoor introduction to a new Batman in the DCU? Maybe! All we really know is that, back in 2021, Mike Flanagan said that he was "really keen to do a standalone Clayface movie as a horror/thriller/tragedy." [September 11, 2026]
(Updated TK)
A few movies, such as this sequel to THE BATMAN, will be branded as "Elseworlds" stories to make clear to audiences that they are not part of the primary continuity. (Elseworlds is a brand long used by DC to denote stories that spin away from the core DC storyline.)
It's too early to have any real details, but writer/director Matt Reeves, co-writer Mattson Tomlin, and star Robert Pattinson are all working together again for THE BATMAN - PART II. Since Barry Keoghan briefly appeared as the Joker in the first movie (and had a longer scene that was released as deleted footage) we expect that he'll appear as well. Beyond that, we'll have to wait for more info. [October 1, 2027]
Planned DCU Movies Waiting for Release Dates
We'll go in alphabetical order for this set of DCU movies that are planned but have yet to get a solid release date. Some of these movies may be more firmly planned than others. THE AUTHORITY, THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD and SWAMP THING were all in the first big announcement of the new DCU slate, for example.
The Authority
James Gunn recently tweeted about DC's deep roster of characters, especially when taking into account imprints like Wildstorm. So it's not a total surprise to see The Authority — which became a DC team when the company bought the publishing imprint Wildstorm — in the new roster. "The Authority’s a very different kind of superhero story," Gunn says. "They are basically good-intentioned, but they think that the world is completely broken and the only way to fix it is to take things into their own hands, whether that means killing people, destroying heads of state, changing governments—basically, whatever they want to do to make the world better. We’ll see how that journey goes for them." [Release Date TBA]
Untitled Bane and Deathstroke Film
In September 2024, WB and DC were said to be developing this movie featuring Batman villain Bane and frequent Titans nemesis Deathstroke. All we know is that Matthew Orton (CAPTAIN AMERICA: BRAVE NEW WORLD) is writing. No director has been attached as of yet, but with Gunn's approach to green-lighting solid scripts, we could hear about this movie pushing forward at any time. [Release Date TBA]
The Brave and the Bold
"This is the introduction of the DCU’s Batman," Gunn explains. "It is not Robert Pattinson. It is not Ben Affleck. This is the story of Damian Wayne, who is Batman’s actual son that he didn’t know existed for the first eight to ten years of his life. He was raised as a little murderer and assassin. He’s my favorite Robin. It’s based on the Grant Morrison comic run ["Batman & Son"], which is one of my favorite Batman runs. We’re putting it all together right now." [Release Date TBA]
Untitled Constantine Sequel
The movie CONSTANTINE, starring Keanu Reeves as DC and Vertigo's magically-inclined scoundrel, did well enough when it was released in 2005. Its profile has risen steadily in the years since, however, especially as Keanu Reeves has enjoyed a massive new wave of popularity thanks to the JOHN WICK movies. Now, Reeves and original director Francis Lawrence (THE HUNGER GAMES series) are working on a long-awaited sequel. [Release Date TBA]
Sgt. Rock
This could end up being the most surprising DCU movie. Filmmaker Luca Guadagnino (CHALLENGERS, QUEER) is expected to direct from a script by his recent collaborator Justin Kuritzkes. Daniel Craig has been in talks to play the title character, who was introduced in the '50s as a World War II-era soldier. Rock maintained popularity for decades (and was arguably cloned by Marvel as Nick Fury) and has long been the subject of a variety of movie development efforts. [Release Date TBA]
Swamp Thing
One of the most exciting aspects of this new slate is Swamp Thing. Gunn calls this "a very dark horror story" which will tell the origins of Swamp Thing — which hopefully means an adaptation of Alan Moore's celebrated storyline from the 1980s. Gunn has strong roots in horror. And at a small press presentation announcing this slate on January 30, he said "You need to tell stories that don’t just pretend to be different genres, but actually are different genres.” So when he promises a dark horror story, we believe that might actually be what we see! [Release Date TBA]
Teen Titans
Ana Nogueira, who wrote the new SUPERGIRL movie, has also been hired to script a live-action TEEN TITANS movie. The team was originally a sidekick collective led by the original Robin, Dick Grayson. The team has been revamped several times, and is now solidly associated with Grayson's more adult alter-ego, Nightwing, alongside characters like Cyborg (who showed up in Zack Snyder's Justice League), the alien Starfire, and the empath Raven. [Release Date TBA]
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All images courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures.