A Closer Look at the DC Comics Superhero Movie Release Calendar

Warner Bros. have finally put their cards on the table regarding their DC Comics Cinematic Universe. With Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justiceand the first Justice League movie flying through production, Warner Bros. announced a huge slate of superhero movies. The big surprise may very well be the Suicide Squadmovie, that features an all-star cast.

Clearly, they're done having Marvel eat their lunch, right? With that in mind, we take a closer look at the entire release schedule, and look a little bit further into the future to see what else might be in store.

March 25th, 2016 - Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice

What else do we have to say about this one? Well, not only is it the key to the newly minted DC Cinematic Universe, and the gateway to the Justice League movie, it's quite possible that the multi-hero approach of Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice will ultimately point the way towards how Warner Bros. will approach most of these future movies. As we'll see, there are definitely solo movies on the horizon, but things probably aren't going to follow the Marvel model.

Even though Warner Bros. is now adopting a multi-film "shared universe" approach that appears similar to what Marvel Studios has built so successfully over the last six years, they likely aren't looking to duplicate that model. Unlike Marvel, where every film (not to mention TV show) aggressively teases and/or sets up potential plot elements and introduces characters for future films, it's fairly likely that at least a few of the DC Universe movies will remain somewhat independent of one another. 

This is a safe assumption because we already know that two of the films definitely on that schedule, Shazamand Sandman, aren't particularly Justice League-centric films, and will likely spend considerable time building their own universes. While we have a pretty good idea of what the Justice League movie line-up will be (see the image we've chosen for that one down below), it's likely that not everyone is going to get their own movie...and that might be a good thing. 

[related article: Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice - Everything You Need to Know]

August 5th, 2016 - Suicide Squad

The Suicide Squad movie is very real, with an impressive all-star cast. Jared Leto is playing the Joker (a difficult role to step into in the wake of Heath Ledger's incredible performance in The Dark Knight), Margot Robbie is Harley Quinn, Will Smith is Deadshot, Jai Courtney is Digger "Boomerang" Harkness, Tom Hardy is Squad leader Colonel Rick Flagg, and Cara Delvinge is Enchantress. 

Dan Lin and Stephen Gilchrist as producers and with a script by Justin Marks (he of Top Gun 2 and the live-action Jungle Book, but who also wrote the excellent, unproduced Green Arrow: Escape From Supermax). David Ayer is directing.

Warner Bros. and DC Comics have been doing everything in their power to up the Suicide Squad's profile in recent years. With recent live-action appearances on Arrow, an animated film pairing them with Batman, and a high-profile comic book relaunch, it's easy to see how characters like Deadshot and Harley Quinn could anchor a Suicide Squad movie. DC Entertainment loves synergy.

[related article: Everything You Need to Know About the Suicide Squad Movie]

June 23rd, 2017 - Wonder Woman

The fact that we have yet to see a Wonder Woman solo movie is almost beyond belief. We don't have time to get into the rampant short-sightedness that is keeping women from taking marquee roles in superhero movies at the moment (and that's bound to change one of these days), but now that Gal Gadot is going to do some Amazonian ass-kicking in Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, her emergence as a headliner is inevitable.

Warner Bros. were clearly impressed with Ms. Gadot, as she'll be doing Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, the Wonder Woman solo movie, JusticeLeague, and Justice League 2in a fairly short amount of time. We'll know more about her soon enough! Michelle MacLaren (of Breaking Bad, The Walking Dead, and Game of Thronesfame) is directing. We have a little more on that right here.

November 17th, 2017 - Justice League Part One

Zack Snyder will direct Justice League, and signs pointing to BvS co-writer Chris Terrio sticking around to work on the script, not to mention the fact that at least five members of the team (Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Cyborg, and Aquaman) will appear in Dawn of Justice, it should be relatively easy for the filmmakers to pull double duty and a remarkably short turnaround. 

The image above represents what is all but certain to be the Justice League line-up for the movie, possibly without Green Lantern, who they may hold back for introduction in the second installment. Yes, they also confirmed a sequel. We'll get to that shortly.

[related article: 7 Possible Justice League Movie Stories] 

March 23rd, 2018 - The Flash

Debuting to some more than respectable numbers, The Flash TV series appears to have some staying power. In the past, Warner Bros has been shy about pushing multiple live-action interpretations of their characters at the same time (the success of Smallville helped hold up new Superman films for some time, while plans to introduce Bruce Wayne on that show were scuttled as Batman Begins became a reality). Clearly, that is no longer the case.

Ezra Miller (The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Madame Bovary) has been announced as the lead for a Flash solo movie. He may or may not actually be Barry Allen, that's how few details about this film are out there. It's a little unclear at the moment if Flash will make his first appearance in Justice League Part One or Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, or if this film will serve as an origin story and introduction. This should become clear in coming days.

The most recent Flash screenplay that we're aware of was by Greg Berlanti (executive producer of Arrow and The Flash) and Michael Green. It's a good read, and better than a number of previous attempts (including one by Batman Begins and Man of Steel writer David Goyer), but elements of that have made their way into The Flash TV seres, and presumably beyond.

July 27th, 2018 - Aquaman

Finally, Warner Bros. confirmed what everyone on the planet already knew: Jason Momoa is Aquaman. There's no doubt that they've been taking Aquaman very seriously, having recently hired two different writers (Will Beall and Kurt Johnstad) to each develop an Aquaman solo movie...and may the best script win. We should know more about one of those screenplays, as well as a director for this one, soon enough.

April 5th, 2019 - Shazam

Shazamhas both a writer (Darren Lemke, of Turbofame) and a star (Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson as the villainous Black Adam) announced. 

Recent comments by New Line President Toby Emmerich about how Shazam is "not a Justice League character" seem to place him outside the immediate concern of the shared universe and potential team-ups. While it's plausible that we'll see elements from Shazamshow up in a future WB/DC superhero movie, it's probably not a priority. That being said, if we end up getting to see Henry Cavill's Superman fight Dwayne Johnson's Black Adam, it's tough to imagine anyone would complain.

[related article: Why the Shazam Movie is Important]

June 14th, 2019 - Justice League Part Two

This one is a bit of a surprise. Justice League prologue Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice hasn't counted a single dollar of ticket sales yet, and here we are, staring at a release date for Justice League 2. All we know at the moment is that Zack Snyder will be back as director on this one. We have our suspicions about that villain, though. Please note that the above image doesn't reflect any potential lineup, but it's ridiculously crowded and felt appropriate for this piece...

April 3rd, 2020 - Cyborg

And this one is the biggest surprise of them all. Ray Fisher will make his first appearance as Vic Stone/Cyborg in Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, and will clearly have a crucial role to play in both Justice League films if they're grooming him for a solo film. No other details are presently available, but there's no change this one will be an origin story, so that's refreshing.

June 19th, 2020 - Green Lantern

Fairly or unfairly, Green Lantern has the most working against him. The 2011 film failed to kickstart the DC Universe as planned, and received a lukewarm (at best) critical and box-office reception. There are, of course, ways around this. For starters, if the cinematic Green Lantern is John Stewart and not Hal Jordan (as he was in the aborted George Miller Justice League movie from 2007), that already provides a litte distance between the new Green Lantern and the failed Ryan Reynolds version.

We've heard bits and pieces indicating that Green Lantern won't even show up until the end of Justice League, or possibly even Justice League 2. By the time 2020 rolls around, a decade will have passed, and by then the character won't be considered so radioactive by studio execs. Here's hoping they get him right this time.

[related article: Complete Marvel Movie Release Calendar]

And then there are the missing pieces...

Sandman

Sandmanisn't a superhero movie, so the fact that he wasn't involved in an announcement that primarily focused on high-profile franchises (along with the superhero slate, Warner Bros. focused on Lego movies and Harry Potter spinoffs). It isn't a DC Universe movie that will have any bearing on future Justice League films. But it is one of the most successful, enduring comics of all time. 

That being said, this one is in such active development that we would expect an announcement regarding a release date sooner than later. The Sandmanmovie has a producer (and potential star and director!) in Joseph Gordon-Levitt, with Jack Thorne writing. Neil Gaiman and David Goyer are also involved in the process, which Gordon-Levitt admits is a "complicated" one.

[related article: Sandman - The Essential Horror Comic of the '90s]

Dark Universe

Dark Universe might be more familiar to comic book fans under its comic name, Justice League Dark. Guillermo del Toro is directing this one, which will feature the supernatural characters from the DC Universe. Characters like Swamp Thing, Demon, Deadman, Zatanna, and possibly even John Constantine. This one has been in development for some time, but del Toro recently confirmed that the script is finished, has been turned into Warner Bros., and may share some space in the DC Cinematic Universe! 

The Batman

Warner Bros. promised that their superhero schedule didn't include Batman or Superman solo films. This particular title comes to us via Latino Review, who claim that Warner Bros. are planning a solo Batman film for 2019, with a possible working title of The Batman.

While it's difficult to imagine Ben Affleck committing to more Batman time than he strictly has to (especially when he'll be fifty by the time this alleged movie roles around), it's even more difficult to imagine Warner Bros. not wanting to go back to the Batcave as often as possible, as the Dark Knight remains the character they have the most faith in. 

Legion of Super-Heroes

This one came as a big surprise when the rumor surfaced via Latino Review. The word is that Warner Bros., perhaps inspired by the runaway success of Guardians of the Galaxy, is looking to put together their own superheroic space opera.

Nobody has been hired. Warner Bros. have simply placed this one on the table as a DC property potentially worth developing, and are inviting writers to make pitches. To be fair, it's likely that nearly every major DC property is open for something like this, but this is the first rumbling we've ever heard about a Legion of Super-Heroes movie. It's worth paying attention to, but it's tough to imagine, even under the best of circumstances, that we'll see this before 2018...assuming it's true at all.

That being said, if it were true, it's hard to imagine a cooler way to cement the WB/DC Cinematic Universe than with a 31st Century space-opera. While Marvel-esque crossovers probably aren't going to be the order of the day with these movies, the concept of showing how the Justice League (and specifically, Superman) influenced society 1,000 years in the future is plenty unique, and adds immediate gravitas to the other superhero movies on the calendar.

Let's just say, we really hope this one is true.

Metal Men

Perhaps the longest of the long-shots, the Metal Men movie is something that's been in discussion as far back as 2007. It's the most bizarre concept of the bunch, involving a mad scientist and his group of sentient elemental robots, but like Suicide Squadand Legion of Super-Heroes, perhaps that uniqueness is what makes this one so appealing. Warner Bros. can't be seen to copy the Marvel model too closely, so veering away from solo outings for traditional heroes and into this kind of territory might be the very best thing they can do for the brand.

The Metal Men have also just received a New 52 facelift at the hands of writer Geoff Johns, executive producer of Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justiceand The Flash TV series. If they're a favorite of DC Entertainment's Chief Creative Officer, it would be wrong to count the Metal Men out, even if there's been no public movement on this project in recent memory.

It's worth noting that the same Wall Street Journal article where WB officially announced the Justice League movie also mentioned Shazam(at a time when everyone thought the project was dead and buried) and...Metal Men. Don't sleep on this one, even though it wasn't mentioned this time arund.

The Rest

Keep in mind that the door is still open for a proper Man of Steel 2, and we expect that somewhere between now and 2020 we'll see at least a handful of Superman and Batman solo films. It's also possible that Warner Bros. will get cold feet on some of these based on how folks react to Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice. We'll know soon enough...

Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter for all news updates related to the world of geek. And Google+, if that's your thing!