The first phase of the DCU, the next attempt by Warner Bros. Discovery to make an interconnected DC Comics cinematic universe, will begin in 2025 with yet another “Superman” reboot and a sequel to “The Batman.”
The new Superman movie — titled “Superman: Legacy” — will debut theatrically on July 11, 2025, while “The Batman Part II” will open in theaters on Oct. 3, 2025.
James Gunn and Peter Safran announced release dates for both films during a DCU presentation for TheWrap and a small group of reporters. The Gunn-penned reboot of the Man of Steel is a non-origin story intended to reintroduce Clark Kent and his costumed alter-ego to moviegoers, while Matt Reeves’ follow-up to the Robert Pattinson-starring “The Batman” will see the filmmaker writing and directing and Pattinson starring.
They will be preceded by four DC flicks the preceded Gunn and Safran’s tenure releasing in 2023: “Shazam: Fury of the Gods,” “The Flash,” “Blue Beetle” and “Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom.”
The first DCU projects to be released will be an animated “Creature Commandos” series written by Gunn, and an HBO Max series starring Viola Davis’ Amanda Waller, both of which were described as an “apertif” to Gunn and Safran’s grand DCU plans.
Safran described the next Superman flick, the third would-be reboot since “Superman Returns” in 2006 and “Man of Steel” in 2013, noting that it “focuses on Superman balancing his Kryptonian heritage with his human upbringing.” He noted that Superman would struggle with being kind “in a world that thinks of kindness as old-fashioned.”
As for the follow-up to “The Batman,” it will remain separate from the otherwise interconnected DC Studios continuity. Gunn noted that such darker, more adult-skewing side-stories, like Todd Phillips’ “Joker” or – as he joked — “Teen Titans GO!” — would be explicitly labeled as a DC Elseworld.
Gunn and Safran also revealed that there would be an upcoming movie which would introduce yet another live-action Batman while also introducing Damian Wayne who is Wayne’s son and eventually a Robin.
That new Batman will not be played by Ben Affleck, although the star of “Batman v. Superman” and director of “Argo” has expressed an interest in participating behind the camera.
“The Batman 2” will open in the early October slot that has been a boon to WB at least since “Demolition Man” in 1993, with strong openings for films like “Gravity” in 2013, “Annabelle” in 2014, “A Star Is Born” in 2018 and “Joker” in 2019. “Joker: Folie à Deux,” co-starring Joquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga, will open on this same weekend in 2024. It was also the second planned release date, in 2021, for “The Batman” before additional COVID complications sent the film to March 3, 2022.
The untitled “Superman” film will ironically open almost ten years to the weekend when the “Man of Steel 2” was scheduled, before it was delayed to March 25, 2016 and eventually retooled into what would become “Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice.” It is now one of the first movies explicitly dated for summer 2025, alongside Marvel’s “Avengers: The Kang Dynasty” in early May.
Warner Bros. Discovery is attempting to reignite its DC franchise yet again as Marvel’s fifth phase and second saga, “The Multiverse Saga,” enters a new gear.
The good news is that Gunn — whose “Guardians of the Galaxy” helped make MCU more than just “Iron Man and the Avengers” — and Safran – who worked with James Wan and Walter Hamada to build “The Conjuring Universe” into the only successful post-Marvel cinematic universe — have a record of accomplishment.
Moreover, implicit promises of two movies and two HBO Max shows per year imply that A) Zaslav and friends will not overdose on DC for the sake of endless multi-platform content and B) there will be plenty of room for a variety of other Warner Bros. Discovery films and shows.
The bad news is that Walter Hamada is good at what he does too. He was doing well with hits like “Aquaman,” “Shazam” and “Joker” before COVID and two changes in corporate leadership over three years made mincemeat out of any broader strategies or forward momentum.
Sure, there is always a potential for so-called superhero fatigue and/or audiences not being thrilled at yet another DC cinematic universe being launched a decade after the last one. But, come what may, the biggest obstacle for Gunn and Safran will be whether whoever owns Warner Bros. at any given time will let them do whatever it is they want to do.
