In January 2023, DC Studios co-chief Peter Safran and his co-chief James Gunn presented the inaugural slate for the newly relaunched DC Universe to a small group of journalists in this same room.
Just over two years later, the duo returned to deliver their first official update about the slate to (roughly) the same group.
“Whoa, déjà vu,” exclaimed Safran as he stepped inside a modest screening room on the Warner Bros. studio lot in Burbank.
“It’s weird sitting here, because it does feel like no time has passed and yet so much has happened,” Gunn said.
“We look so much older,” Safran added. “That’s the biggest difference.”
“Yeah,” Gunn said. “You really do.”
A lot has happened with DC in just two years. Gunn is deep in post-production on “Superman,” the first DC Studios movie, which he wrote and directed, while simultaneously working on post on Season 2 of the Max series “Peacemaker.”
Director Craig Gillespie is halfway through production on the summer 2026 film “Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow” with Milly Alcock.
Production has started on the Green Lantern HBO series “Lanterns” with stars Kyle Chandler and Aaron Pierre, which is aiming to debut in early 2026.
Along with those updates, over the course of an hour, Gunn and Safran held forth on several topics, including the status of their initial slate of five films (including “Batman: The Brave and the Bold” and “The Authority”) and five TV series (including “Waller” and “Booster Gold”), as well as confirmation about a handful of other projects, including a film about the Batman villain Clayface, a prospective live-action movie about the Teen Titans, an animated series about Blue Beetle, and the future of the Sgt. Rock movie now that Daniel Craig has withdrawn from consideration for the title role.
Safran noted that DC Studios is ultimately aiming to release two live-action films and one animated film per year, and two live-action and two animated TV series per year. But the executives also reiterated the overall philosophy guiding their creative choices — namely, that no project will get a greenlight until Gunn and Safran are satisfied with a completed screenplay.
“It is hard enough making a good movie with a good script,” Gunn said. “It’s almost impossible making a movie with a script that you’re writing on the run.” This is why, for example, they greenlit “Clayface” on the strength of Mike Flanagan’s screenplay even though, as Gunn said, “we had no plans on making a Clayface movie.”
This approach stands in pointed contrast with DC Studios’ obvious counterpart, Marvel Studios, which has quite famously announced many movies and their release dates without anything close to a finished script. But this is an issue that Gunn and Safran first raised in their 2023 presentation, and Gunn has repeated it several times since on social media.
In general, the overall presentation on Friday, while informative and insightful, lacked a sense of immediate urgency: There weren’t any major announcements, even as Gunn and Safran alluded to other, unnamed DC projects that they’re excited to talk more about at some future date.
The genial informality of the gathering, however, was another way in which Gunn and Safran are setting DC Studios apart from Marvel — and how just about every other major studio manages information about their marquee movie franchises.
Gunn and Safran gamely fielded questions about everything from tax credits for production in California (they’re for them, provided it makes overall sense for each individual project) to the role of superheroes in Trump’s America, something other film executives at their level effectively never do on the record like this. If anything, rather than a stage-managed, momentous presentation at San Diego Comic-Con, the event most resembled an old-school executive session during the Television Critics Association press tour. (And speaking of Comic-Con, Safran said DC Studios will not have “a significant presence” this year, because Gunn’s “Superman” will have already opened in theaters.)
While not quite radical transparency, the update did loosen the rigid strictures that have surrounded top-tier franchises for the last 20 years. Here are the highlights.
Two “Batman” Movies, “Clayface,” and “The Penguin” Season 2
Given that Batman has remained the most consistently successful DC character in film and TV for decades, it perhaps should not be a surprise that Gunn and Safran spent considerable time on updates about DC Studios’ expansive intentions for the Caped Crusader.
First up, “Clayface”: Safran confirmed that British director James Watkins (“Speak No Evil”) is in talks to direct what he characterized as a “body horror film” and Gunn said they hope it “works as a pure horror movie for somebody who doesn’t care at all about DC.”
They plan to start shooting this summer and have also started the casting process. Gunn has said that actors who voice a role in an animated project will also play them in live action.
While Alan Tudyk has voiced Clayface in two DC animated series — as a buffoon in “Harley Quinn” and as a ruthless assassin in “Creature Commandos” — Gunn said that he won’t play the role in the feature film since that wasn’t a “primary role” for Tudyk (who also plays Doctor Phosphorus on “Creature Commandos”).
Safran offered a brief update of sorts on “The Batman Part II,” saying that writer-director Matt Reeves has “yet to turn in a full script, but what we have read so far is incredibly encouraging.” (Warner Bros. recently pushed the movie from 2026 to 2027.)
They had even less to say about the possibility of a second season of the spin-off series “The Penguin” with Colin Farrell following the release of “Part II.” “We don’t know,” Safran said. “There are a lot of moving pieces — probably most important Colin himself.”
“And 800 pounds of makeup,” Gunn added, alluding to the extensive prosthetics Farrell must wear for the role.
DC Studios also remains in “active development,” Safran said, on “Batman: The Brave and the Bold,” the film meant to bring the Dark Knight into the main DCU. (Reeves’ Gotham-verse exists in its own timeline.)
“That story is coming together nicely,” Safran said, and Gunn added that he has been especially focused on the project given that “everybody knows I love Batman.”
Unfortunately, Gunn said it was “very unlikely” that “The Batman” star Robert Pattinson would reprise the role for “The Brave and the Bold.”
However, he did not foreclose the possibility that the DCU version of the character could show up before his titular film.
“I wouldn’t rule anything out,” Gunn said. “He could show up in something else. But the actor doesn’t exist [yet].”
“Dynamic Duo,” “Blue Beetle” and Three New TV Series
As first reported in October, DC Studios is in pre-production on the animated feature film “Dynamic Duo,” Safran said, about the two Robins who fought alongside Batman, Dick Grayson and Jason Todd. “It provides a kind of perfect on-ramp for family audiences into the world of Gotham,” Safran said.
The studio is also still in active development on an animated series about “Blue Beetle” that would continue the events from the 2023 feature film — which was one of the last titles made under the old DC regime.
Safran said he expects the executive producers Angel Manuel Soto (who directed the film) and Gareth Dunnet-Alcocer (who wrote the screenplay) to present the project for a possible greenlight “pretty soon.” (Miguel Puga is directing the series, and Cristian Martinez is writing.)
He also announced that they’ve greenlit three “younger-skewing” animated series, all overseen by executive producer Sam Register and produced by Warner Bros. Animation and DC Studios.
“My Adventures with Green Lantern,” will follow high school student Jessica Cruz who has her life upended when, according to an official logline, “a Green Lantern Power Ring falls from the sky” and chooses Cruz “to be its champion.” Things get even worse “when more debris from the Lanterns’ ancient space war arrives – along with their alien foes.” Jake Wyatt is executive producing, and Stephanie Gonzaga is a co-executive producer.
“DC Super Powers” takes place at the Alliance School for Heroes and focuses on new students Lightning, Flash, Plastic Man, Aquagirl, Green Lantern and Terra who “level up their powers under the supervision of Principal Martian Manhunter, in the hopes of one day graduating and becoming the next generation of Earth’s defenders.”
Matt Beans is executive producing, and Michael Chang is a supervising producer.
Finally, “Starfire” serves as the origin story for the fan favorite title character, perhaps best known as part of the Teen Titans.
The show follows her adventures after she uses “an ancient spaceship” she discovers on her home planet of Tamaran to escape her planet and explore the stars. Along the way, she’ll meet “space biker Crush, plant-loving Fern, and the magical Princess Amethyst of Gemworld” and together, they will “uncover the deepest reaches of the DC universe, save Space Dolphins, surf technicolor nebulas, and boldly soar into the unknown.”
Josie Campbell is executive producing, and Brianne Drouhard is co-executive producing.
“Sgt. Rock,” “Teen Titans,” and Other Projects
Gunn and Safran engaged in some of their most telling exchanges whenever they were asked about DC projects they had not yet officially announced.
Safran, for instance, pointed out that Daniel Craig “was never attached” to a “Sgt. Rock” movie; the actor had been floated for the role due to his creative relationship with the film’s prospective director, Luca Guadagnino, who directed Craig in 2024’s “Queer.” “But, you know, we never met with Daniel,” Safran said. “He was just an idea.”
“Well, we never really even announced ‘Sgt. Rock,’” Gunn added.
Later, a reporter asked about the status of a screenplay about the Teen Titans — a group of young superheroes including Nightwing, Cyborg and the aforementioned Starfire — written by Ana Nogueira, who also wrote “Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow.”
“The script’s not ready yet,” Safran said. “I mean, I think we said that Ana Nogueira is writing it.”
“We haven’t said that,” Gunn said.
“No, I think it was out there,” Safran said. “I think it was out there.”
“It’s out there,” Gunn said, the implication being they’d never officially confirmed it until now. “It was something that Ana was really impassioned about, and she turned over an amazing script for us,” he continued. “She’s fiddling with that now, but it’s definitely not a finished script.”
The reporter followed up by asking about a prospective Deathstroke/Bane script written by Matthew Orton (“Operation Finale,” “Moon Knight”).
“You say that like we’ve said that there’s a Deathstroke/Bane script,” Safran replied with a smile. He confirmed that Orton is working on a script for DC Studios, which Gunn said is “something kind of like” a Deathstroke/Bane story.
These exchanges made plain one of the challenges of running a superhero studio: Even the possibility of a new movie or a TV show featuring one of these characters — as a development projects that may never come to pass for a host of reasons — is enough to unleash a torrent of headlines.
Gunn and Safran have clearly decided that it’s worth the trouble to maintain an ongoing, open dialogue with the media and with fans about what they’re doing. But it was also evident that their decision still comes with its share of headaches.
After fielding the question about Pattinson playing Batman in “The Brave and the Bold,” for example, Gunn sighed in exasperation. “These questions become headlines because they say, ‘Have you ever talked about this?’” he said. “We’ve talked about literally every permutation on the way to come into this job, in terms of how were we going to handle it, what actors were going to continue over, what were we going to merge. We’ve talked about everything. Have we ever talked about Grant Gustin [star of the CW series ‘The Flash’]? Yeah. Have we ever talked about Robert Pattinson? Yeah. We’ve talked about all those things. But serious conversations? No.”
“Booster Gold,” “Paradise Lost,” “Swamp Thing,” “Waller” and “The Authority”
Gunn and Safran also briefed reporters about the status of some other projects they’d first announced in 2023.
They remain in development on the “Wonder Woman” prequel series “Paradise Lost,” and they’re also moving forward on developing the superhero comedy series “Booster Gold,” after waiting on a “particular showrunner/creator” who had expressed interest in the show but ultimately moved on.
Three other titles don’t quite have as much wind in their sails. The horror film “Swamp Thing” has been stuck in limbo while director James Mangold focused on his Oscar nominated Bob Dylan biopic “A Complete Unknown.”
The “Peacemaker” spinoff series “Waller” with Viola Davis has had what Gunn called “a bumpy road” struggling to land the right script. The show, which was meant to precede Season 2 of “Peacemaker,” also had to be re-conceived after “Peacemaker” wound up going into production first.
The project that’s suffered the most, it seems, is “The Authority.” In the 2023 presentation, Gunn spoke at length about the movie, which he said would follow the events of “Superman” as it tracked a team of superheroes who adopt a more unsparing, ends-justify-the-means philosophy than the Man of Steel.
In the intervening two years, however, “The Authority” has moved to the back burner.
“It’s a very, very big movie, if you’re going to do ‘The Authority’ properly,” Safran said. “And some story elements perhaps that are in ‘Superman’ and some of the other films that we’ve fast tracked step a little bit on ‘The Authority.’”
Gunn added that the script “also had a harder time coming along” so the film “hasn’t been as much of a priority because it has been subsumed” by everything from “The Brave and the Bold” to “Paradise Lost.”
That Zack Snyder Photo
Gunn still does occasionally post to his Bluesky, Instagram and Twitter/X accounts; most recently, a photo of him with Zack Snyder — the filmmaker whose past tenure at the helm of DC’s live-action films generated a fiercely passionate online fanbase — went instantly viral.
Asked if the photo meant that they’ve discussed a possible creative collaboration, Gunn said that he and Snyder, who’ve known each since Snyder directed Gunn’s script for 2004’s “Dawn of the Dead,” “sometimes talk about different things.” But they took the picture specifically because they knew it would melt the internet.
“We knew that people have this view that somehow we have been pitted against each other,” Gunn said. “It’s odd to have someone who you’re friendly with in real life be the guy that is positioned as your Lex Luthor, or I’m his Lex Luthor. It’s just such a weird dynamic that’s been created between factions online.”
The Wider DCU Story
There were times when it sounded like the creative mandates Gunn and Safran had set for the larger DC Universe were somewhat at cross-purposes. On the one hand, Gunn said that they “remain steadfast in making sure that each of these projects works as a standalone project, so that you can go see ‘Superman’ and you can watch ‘Lanterns’ without having to see both of them.”
On the other hand, Safran said that the entire reason they’re relaunching DC Studios as an endeavor unifying all DC projects across film, TV, animation and video games is that “people want to see these iconic characters interacting.”
To that end, Gunn said that he has mapped out a roughly six year plan to tell a wider story that would result in a culminating project akin to Marvel’s “Avengers” movies, though he still insists that “each individual project works as its own thing.”
“It isn’t like they’re chapters of an overall story,” he continued. “They’re characters that are part of an overall story.”
That may seem like a distinction without a difference, but Gunn is clear that he knows where that overall story is heading. “I’m intimately involved in all that,” he said.
Superheroes in Trump’s America
With Gunn’s “Superman” film due to open in July, six months into the second Trump administration, the director was asked what about his version of Superman is right for the current cultural moment.
“In some ways, I would say it’s the right Superman because I don’t think he’s a part of the cultural moment,” Gunn replied. “He’s a character that stands for something that is solid, for basic human morals, basic human integrity, the basic belief in protecting others the weak and being good to people and being honest. He stands for what I think of as the rules that don’t change.”
Another reporter then brought up how skittish studios have become around questions of diversity, equity and inclusion, in the wake of President Trump’s relentless campaign to rid not just the federal government, but much of American public life of DEI initiatives specifically and women and people of color in positions of power generally.
It was a natural question to ask, but a precarious one, given how any public comments defending diversity could be commandeered by Trump’s supporters to derail the “Superman” marketing campaign before it’s even started.
Gunn’s response proposed a different strategy: Plead ignorance. “I know what you’re saying,” he said to the reporter. “I understand your words, but I’ve been off working on stories for three years, and I just try to tell the best stories I possibly can, and that’s all I care about.”
He added that he doesn’t read the news anymore or spend nearly as much time on social media as he used to, in part for his own mental health, but mostly because running a studio while also working directly on “Superman” and “Peacemaker” means he doesn’t have the time.
“We’re just off trying to make the best movies we can in the best way we can,” he said. “No matter who is telling me who I’m supposed to put in my movie, for whatever reason, I don’t give a shit. I was always about creating the best story possible with the best characters possible. It was that way, you know, five years ago, and it’s that way today.”
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