In light of the strong response to Ben Affleck’s Batman and Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, WB has decided to completely revamp their DC slate.
When monitoring social media and online activity around the release of Batman v Superman, WB noticed that most of the positive buzz about the movie was about the two newest super additions to Zack Snyder’s DC Universe. In fact, the buzz about Wonder Woman and Batman completely eclipsed that of Superman.
These two characters’ popularity, as well as the quieter-than-expected fan reaction to the other “metahumans” introduced in Batman v Superman, prompted WB to go back to the drawing board and reconsider their entire DC slate (as well as their decision to give Zack Snyder control of the DC movie universe).
“Kicking off our official DC Universe is going to be our studio’s biggest adventure yet, and so we’ve decided to give the fans what they really want,” explains a representative from WB. “More Wonder Woman, more Batman, and way less of everyone else, including Superman. In fact, we regret making the dirt on his casket shake at the very end of Dawn of Justice — don’t expect to see that on the Blu-ray.”
DC has scrapped their plans for Flash, Aquaman, Shazam, Cyborg, and Green Lantern movies, replacing them with Batman and Wonder Woman titles (both solo adventures as well as team-ups). In fact, the only previously-announced film that isn’t being changed is next year’s Wonder Woman.
Here’s the new DC slate:
- 2016: Suicide Squad: Batman and Wonder Woman Take a Vacation
- 2017: Wonder Woman
- 2017: Justice League, Part 1: Batman + Wonder Woman
- 2018: Batman: The Robin Years
- 2019: Wonder Woman 2: Rise of the Amazons
- 2019: Justice League, Part 2: Superhero Boot Camp
- 2020: Batman 2: The Darkness Darkens
- 2020: DC Bombshells
This revamped DC Universe movie slate promises not only origin and character-building stories, but also super-powered team-ups and lots of action. One of the most surprising and exciting movies in the works is DC Bombshells, a film based off of the increasingly popular DC comic series of the same name.
Created by Marguerite Bennett and Marguerite Sauvage and inspired by the art of Ant Lucia, DC Bombshells is a reimagining of WWII where women were the first superheroes. The series brings together some of the greatest DC ladies, including Supergirl, Stargirl, and Batwoman. Given that the first Wonder Woman film takes place during WWI (not WWII) and that Mera has already been cast for the DC Universe, DC Bombshells should fit in nicely with the universe WB is trying to create. Plus, this film gives DC the leg-up on Marvel because Marvel has yet to announce a female super hero team-up movie.
Interestingly, the revised DC slate also includes a new title for the upcoming Suicide Squad film. Though Suicide Squad finished principal filming and will be released later this year, WB recently announced that Suicide Squad was going into reshoots to add more humor. However, today’s announcement exposes that the reshoots are necessary in order to add sizable Batman and Wonder Woman features (which may or may not be funny).
Though the other heroes’ solo movies have been scrapped, their characters will still appear in the DC Universe movies. They’ll just have significantly reduced roles.
We hope that Ben Affleck and Gal Gadot love playing their respective super heroes and don’t have any other important roles lined up because it looks like they’ll be eating, sleeping, and breathing Batman and Wonder Woman for the next four years straight.
Are you excited about the changes to WB’s DC slate?
April fools!