DC Cinematic Universe ( The James Gunn era)

The old thread was getting long winded and confrontational. I thought was time for a new thread since James Gunn is now in charge

Lets see how well this slate looks in a couple years. Well we know "Superman and Lois" won't be around much longer.

 

Guardedly hopeful about Superman: Legacy (and convinced Rachel Brosnahan is going to be a top-tier Lois Lane). And as a huge admirer of the Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow graphic novel, I was very surprised and excited that a live-action film version is on Gunn's initial slate.

 

Yikes. 5 years between Joker films?

 

DC Universe Animated Movies Will Get Theatrical Releases (cbr.com)

 

Dang. Knew i should have started it...

 

The only things I'm immediately interested in are Lanterns (mostly out of general curiosity of the corner universe without much actual knowledge) and The Batman sequel. Otherwise, I'm mostly indifferent but that can change depending on story development, writers, directors, and casting.

The one thing I'm disappointed about not seeing on the schedule, and I know I'm in the minority, is the lack of a Birds of Prey sequel. Probably harder to do with Margot Robbie's star exploding but it doesn't necessarily have to include Harley (although I would prefer it). I loved the first film and was easily my favorite post-Nolan DC film (I've long lost track of the "correct" official umbrella term).

 

Could not agree more about a BoP sequel, the first is one of my favorite movies and I would love to see more of that take on the characters.
I'm at least curious about everything, but the top ones for me are Superman: Legacy, because of the combination of Supes and Gunn, Green Lanterns, just because I really like the characters, and Paradise Lost, because I love Wonder Woman and the idea of a deeper exploration of the Amazons has me really curious.

 

I'm cautiously optimistic about most of James Gunn's planned stuff, except The Authority (it was a shitty comic that was rightfully torn apart at the conceptual level by Superman years ago), Supergirl (fuck Tom King's work in general, although I am curious how Supergirl will become a murderer/idiot/just general scumbag like he turns all heroes into), Paradise Lost (Paradise Island without Wonder Woman is worthless as a story concept), and Swamp Thing (I just feel tepid towards the character).

I'm hoping that Aquaman 2 is at least as entertaining as the first movie, despite the conflicting reports about it. Blue Beetle I'm not really invested in but will give it a watch if it gets decent reviews. I hated The Batman so I wouldn't watch a sequel, and I've never even bothered with the Joker film.

 

Okay, so...here are my strong opinions on the choices made in Man of Steel...

Don't even think about trying to change my mind!

I'll be curious to see if that slate looks as funny as the old DCEU one does in retrospect. Hopefully things go a bit smoother this time. And if they absolutely MUST change course at some point due to a disastrous project, fingers crossed they do it before the next movie actually starts production. No more changed-part-way-through films, please and thank you.

 

You had me going for a second there.

 

King's Supergirl run already ended last year, and none of those things happen to her.

 

Nope. Still deeply uninterested.

 

It all comes down to Superman: Legacy - if that underperforms we will never see the rest of these [at least in their current form].

 

Creature Commandos could be fun!

 

It's really confusing how they keep reusing the name "DC Universe" for different things. Before this, it was the name for the streaming service that merged into HBO Max. It's also been a video game, a toy line, and the title of various comics.

Not that the name "DC Extended Universe" really made much sense if you thought about it. Extended from what? I guess they meant it was an extension from the comics, but that doesn't really work, because it wasn't in the comics' continuity the way the Star Wars Expanded Universe purported to be in the movies' continuity. It was more of a rebooted/reimagined universe like the Arrowverse, the DC Animated Universe, the MCU, etc. And it wasn't particularly extensive compared to those.

 

And it's a masterpiece, certainly among the small handful of greatest standalone graphic novels DC has ever published. So there's that.

 

By far, Lanterns has my interest, since the GL concept as a full on film or series has never been adapted properly by any stretch of the imagination, and I would hope the production focuses on John Stewart and Hal Jordan, with all other Lanterns (any created from the Silver Age-forward) in supporting roles as needed.

After that, the Supergirl project, since SG--like Green Lantern--has never enjoyed a great, creatively satisfying adaptation (Slater's Supergirl was strong in some parts, but the rest of the film was mishandled garbage indicative of that period's approach to DC adaptations). That said, as much potential Sasha Calle had in The Flash, and she's expressed interest in winning the part in the DCU, unfortunately, the fact she was recently in the SG role (it does not matter that it was in an unrelated film universe) is just too soon, and will be to audiences no matter when the SG film is slated for release.

The best option is to cast an unknown, and deliver a forceful SG lacking the often poor writing and whining indecisiveness of the CW TV series' Supergirl.

Lastly, there's The Joker sequel. The first film is one of the strongest comic book adaptations ever set before cameras, but i'm not of the opinion that a sequel was needed beyond WB's need to milk $omething from that great film. Still, it will be interesting to see where the story takes the Joker, and if any other DC A or B-listers (those not used by the DCU) might make a cameo appearance.

 

I'm curious about Lanterns and I wonder if they'll take Booster Gold back to his original concept. I liked the most recent Swamp Thing TV series and would love to see a good movie version. I have Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow but haven't read it yet.

 

It really is - an amazing piece of work.

 

I hope we'll get a flashback to the WWII era Creature Commandos in the new series---I loved those comics when I was a kid!