In the run-up to Black Adam, which is out in a few days, DC Films is “charting into truly unknown territory,” as The Hollywood Reporter put it in a recent report. Walter Hamada, the head of DC Films, is stepping down, and there’s no one lined up to take his place. The result is what THR calls “a secret, but dramatic land grab amongst some of the biggest players in Hollywood.”
What will Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson follow Black Adam with? What does The Batman director Matt Reeves have up his sleeve? What is James Gunn planning? When will Superman return?
The next question is, how invested are you in any of these things? DC has been juggling projects—and sometimes straight up dropping them—in a way that’s made it hard to keep track, let alone get attached. But here are a few of the tidbits THR‘s Borys Kit includes in this wide-ranging piece:
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- Director James Gunn, who you might think would be very busy with Peacemaker and its spinoff series, “is angling for his own new DC project (or two).” Reportedly, this project is a movie.
- A sequel to Man of Steel (pictured above) has a producer (Charles Roven) and is looking for writers. THR mentions that of course there’s a writer wishlist, and of course Christopher McQuarrie (who directed current Superman Henry Cavill in Mission: Impossible—Fallout) is on it, but who knows if that would ever come to fruition. Dwayne Johnson also wants to make a Superman movie—a Superman vs. Black Adam movie.
- Matt Reeves is working on his sequel to The Batman, and the Colin Farrell Penguin spinoff is still happening. But Reeves has more up his sleeve as well, and is “meeting with writers and directors to build out movies — yes movies, not just series — focused on Batman rogue’s gallery.” Have you been waiting for a Professor Pyg movie? Your time may yet come—though this is all very early in the development process.
- J.J. Abrams had some in-development series at HBO Max—including a new take on Constantine—that are no longer headed to that streaming platform, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re entirely dead; another streamer could pick them up. Abrams is still producing the new Keanu Reeves Constantine, and Ta-Nehesi Coates’s Superman film, which THR notes “exist outside any larger DC movie continuity.”
- And in the land of sequels, Patty Jenkins’ third Wonder Woman movie is expecting a “scriptment,” and The Flash 2 is already written—despite star Ezra Miller’s many troubles.
Despite the shrinking of the Arrowverse, there are still a few DC series on assorted platforms (including the underrated Doom Patrol and, somehow, a third season of Pennyworth). But the next DC project to hit screens, after this weekend, is Shazam! Fury of the Gods in March.
