The DCU’s future has finally been revealed. As James Gunn and Peter Safran revealed, the first films and television shows that will launch the new DC universe. This news comes three months after the two were named co-CEOs of DC Studios. The first chapter of Gunn and Safran’s rebooted universe. Titled “Chapter One: Gods and Monsters,” will air between 2025 and 2027.
According to Gunn, these projects will include both television and film. With films such as the previously announced Superman Legacy, The Brave and the Bold, and a Batman and Robin film. Other movies that have been announced include a Swamp Thing feature, a Supergirl feature, and a The Authority feature.
Similarly, a Green Lantern series, an animated series, Creature Commandos written by Gunn, Booster Gold. The Peacemaker spinoff live action series Waller starring Viola Davis, and a Wonder Woman prequel titled Paradise Lost are all in the works for television.
During the media briefing, Safran said, “DC Studios is unprecedented.” He further stated that “it is a standalone production entity and studio.” It is the first time ever that everything DC-related—film, television, live-action, animation, and gaming—is all centralized under one creative vision, that of James and myself.
Gunn also added that “one of our strategies is that we take our diamond characters—Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman—and we use that to help prop up other characters that people don’t know.” like what happened with the Guardians of the Galaxy in some way. like taking teams like The Authority, which I know is just as spectacular an idea for a film that is a completely different take on superheroes. because it’s really connected to Superman. “It’s about using those well-known properties to help lead into lesser-known properties.” He further said, “We’re going to promise that everything from our first project forward is going to be unified,”.
Additionally, according to Gunn, DC projects that fall outside the core DCU, such as Teen Titans Go, Matt Reeves’ “The Batman Part II,” and Todd Phillips’ “Joker: Folie à Deux,” will be categorized as “DC else worlds tales.” In addressing the future of existing DCEU characters such as Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman, Zachary Levi’s Shazam, and Jason Momoa’s Aquaman. Safran stated, “These four movies are terrific.” There’s no reason why any of the characters or actors who play them shouldn’t be part of the DC Universe. “There’s nothing that prohibits that from happening.” “We’ll incorporate characters from the past, but mostly we’ll cast anew.”
The upcoming DCU projects are discussed in detail below.
MOVIES
“Superman: Legacy“
Superman: Legacy is currently slated to open on July 11, 2025, and according to Safran, it’ll mark “the start of the DCU, but it will not be an origin story of the proverbial Man of Steel.” Safran described the story as “focusing on Superman balancing his Kryptonian heritage with his human upbringing”. Stating that “he is the embodiment of truth, justice, and the American way.” “He is kind in a world that thinks of kindness as old-fashioned.”
“The Authority”
“Superman: Legacy” will lead directly into “The Authority”. An ensemble movie about superhumans who, unlike the man of steel, are more pessimistic in their approach to saving the world. “It isn’t just a story of heroes and villains, and not every movie and TV show is going to be about good guy versus bad guy,” Gunn said. “There are people that are very questionable, like the Authority. Who basically believe that you can’t fix the world in an easy manner, and they take things into their own hands.”
“The Brave and the Bold”
The brave and the bold will follow “the Bat family,” according to Gunn. First among them is Robin, who hasn’t appeared in a live-action movie since 1997’s “Batman and Robin.” Gunn further said, “Damian is Bruce Wayne’s biological son. A fact unknown to Wayne for the first eight to 10 years of Damian’s life.” “It’s a very strange sort of father-son story about the two of them.”
“Supergirl: The Woman of Tomorrow”
This is based on the 2021 and 2022 King’s Comics run of the same title, “Woman of Tomorrow,” which features Superman’s cousin, Kara Zor-El. Gunn explained, “this is a very different type of Supergirl.” He stated, “We see the difference between Superman, who was sent to Earth and raised by loving parents. From the time he was an infant, and Supergirl, who was raised on a rock chip off of Krypton and watched everyone around her die and be killed in terrible ways for the first 14 years of her life.”
Swamp Thing
This project is quite unlike the other DCU projects. According to Safran, “Swamp Thing” will “investigate the dark origins of Swamp Thing through the prism of horror.”
TELEVISION
“Creature Commandos”
This is set to be an HBO Max animated series, and the show is already in production. Debuting in 1980, the Creature Commando storyline follows Frankenstein’s monster teaming up with a werewolf, a vampire, and a gorgon to fight Nazis in World War II. Most importantly, Gunn said that “the actors cast to voice the characters on the show will also play the roles in live action later on in the DCU.”
Waller
This will feature Amanda Waller, played by Viola Davis, as well as “team peacemaker”. It follows Waller as she grapples with the fallout from her daughter Leota Adebayo’s (Danielle Brooks’) outing Task Force X (a.k.a. the Suicide Squad) and Waller’s role in running it to the world.
Lanterns
According to Safran, this will be “a huge HBO-quality event” that is “very much in the vein of “True Detective.” The show will focus on two of the best-known members of the Green Lantern Corps: Hal Jordan and John Stewart. As they investigate a mystery. Safran emphasizes that it “plays a really big role in leading us into the main story that we’re telling across our film and television.”
“Paradise Lost” .
Set to be a prequel to the Wonder Woman movies. Safran describes this show as a “Game of Thrones-ish story,” which is set on the island of Themyscira before the birth of Diana (a.k.a. Wonder Woman). “It’s really about the political intrigue behind a society of all women,” Safran said.
Booster Gold
The last DCU project announced is “Booster Gold,” which would most likely be a comedy. Safran described Booster, aka Mike Carter, as “a loser from the future who uses basic future technology to come back to today and pretend to be a superhero.”
Mike is a disgraced former football star from the 25th century. Who uses a time machine to travel back in time so he can be a superhero.
Gunn added that, “basically, ‘Booster Gold’ is imposter syndrome as a superhero.”