DC Announces New Movie and TV Plans

[overgeeked]

Superman: Legacy​

Set for release July 11, 2025 (the only locked-in release date so far), Superman: Legacy is being written by James Gunn with the hope he might direct. And while Commandos and Waller will be out first, it was made clear that this is the big, official start of the DCU.

So what’s it about? “It’s not an origin story,” Safran said. “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.”

Yes! Someone finally gets that superheroes are supposed to be superheroes. None of this killer supers or murderous supers or genre killing shades of grey morality...

“Our stories in general... we want to take it away from good guy versus bad guy,” Gunn added. “There’s really, really almost saintly people. Superman is among them. There are really terrible villains like, you know, Gorilla Grodd, Joker, and then there’s everybody in between. And so there are all these shades of gray of these different types of characters, which allows us to tell more complex stories.”

Oh...never mind.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I think Gunn agreeing with you, @overgeeked, saying specifically that Superman is supposed to be that kind of character. (Something, ahem, not all of his predecessors agreed with.) But there are other characters who are less noble, who are used to tell different types of stories.

Say, using the Authority to tell a story about superhumans that kill, vs. doing that with the Justice League.

 

[overgeeked]

I think Gunn agreeing with you, @overgeeked, saying specifically that Superman is supposed to be that kind of character. (Something, ahem, not all of his predecessors agreed with.) But there are other characters who are less noble, who are used to tell different types of stories.

Say, using the Authority to tell a story about superhumans that kill, vs. doing that with the Justice League.

Could be. But the bit about grey morality and characters and complex stories is all part of the Superman conversation, so I took it as directly related to Superman, not the other stories they talk about.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Could be. But the bit about grey morality and characters and complex stories is all part of the Superman conversation, so I took it as directly related to Superman, not the other stories they talk about.

Well, as someone who desperately wants a Superman on screen that I recognize from A Superman for All Seasons or All-Star Superman, I'm crossing my fingers that Gunn is in-sync with us.

 

[trappedslider]

Arguably the most iconic run for Green Lantern was 100% grounded on Earth in the 1970s.

Oliver, you had a sidekick named speedy what were you expecting to happen?

Well, as someone who desperately wants a Superman on screen that I recognize from A Superman for All Seasons or All-Star Superman, I'm crossing my fingers that Gunn is in-sync with us.

Also known as the pre-dark age.

 

[Ryujin]

Well, as someone who desperately wants a Superman on screen that I recognize from A Superman for All Seasons or All-Star Superman, I'm crossing my fingers that Gunn is in-sync with us.

I sure hope so. The recent trend about catering to the, "But what if Superman went bad?" crowd completely dumps the hopefulness that has been baked into the character, from his inception. (No, not "The Reign of the Superman." That was a bad guy.)

When Gunn talks about playing in the grey area, I think he's talking more about stuff like "Peacemaker." That was a fun show. Pity that season 2 has now been put on hold, now that "Waller" has been announced. Then again maybe that's how the show progresses?

 

[ART!]

Well, I get a Creature Commandos series, so I'm very happy!

Gunn doing a "4 quadrants" Superman movie could be really enjoyable. A Gunn project about a "truth, justice, and the American way" Superman, with all the heart of his usual stuff, but stripped of hard-PG-13 or R content? That's promising.

The Brave and the Bold and Supergirl projects really intrigue me, which is weird because I generally don't like Bat-verse comics, and keep wanting to like Supergirl comics. But this sounds like it will be a hard-edged take on Supergirl, so I'm not sure if will be for me.

In the comics, DC published dozens of comics per month, so interesting The Authority into that world winds up being some writers and some storylines make use of them. But because with tv and film you have fewer projects per year, The Authority might be a much bigger chunk of this new DCCU than it is in the comics. I'm not sure a Gunn-inspired Authority integrated into this DCCU is something I want.

We'll see.

 

[wicked cool]

Why is peacemaker put on hold. Is it literally just Gunn running the entire dc universe. This has potential to be really bad as why can’t he delegate. He’s going to try and direct it all. Good luck

 

[Ryujin]

I am generally a fan of James Gunn so I am willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, but some choices just seem unappealing to me. The Authority was always an odd fit for DC Comics. For those who don't know they were part of a totally different company, Wildstorm, that was bought by DC and in general attempts to integrate them, or any Wildstorm characters, into DC comics haven't worked. Maybe it will fit better into the movie plans. The Brave and The Bold is supposed to include Batman's son, Damien, who I hate with the fire of a thousand suns, and so am not looking at all forward to it. Waller is another strange one, she is a very unlikeable character and can be great in small doses as a foil, but a whole series based on her? DC's animated movies have been generally really good and I don't see a need to integrate them into the new DCU, just keep them on their current, successful path. I read somewhere that the plan is for the DCU to span movies, TV, animation and computer games and that seems like way too much work to follow.

I really hope this isn't an attempt to turn the DCU into the MCU with a bunch of interconnected stuff and overarching stories. First, catching that lightning in a bottle twice won't be easy. Second, will it be able to compete with the already established MCU if it is good? Finally, I love DC comics (comics in general really) but we are getting to the point where there is too much superhero content and only so many viewing hours in a day.

I don't know anything about "The Authority" but if the DCU wants a hard-R movie, they could likely revive WildC.A.T.S.. It would be a suitable CGIfest and the cartoon didn't really do much for it.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

Lost Paradise is clearly an James Gunn's attempt at creating a DC version of Game of Thrones (but also likely D&D maybe), a more fantasy/mythology story and setting, but I don't know if Thenysca is right for this, I mean what factions do the Amazonians really have? Or will the factions be competing Greek Gods? Is it set on Themysica or before the Amazons moved to the Island and will there Tharion the Gargean Island for Men? I misspelled a lot of this so I will likely redo this post later.

I think they will likely have to really flesh out and reenvision Themysica, make it more then just a city state on an island for this to work. Interestingly James Gunn refers to Themysica as the Amazon's world, not island so that might be important.