DC bosses James Gunn and Peter Safran confirm new Batman and Superman movies

The new era of DC has begun.

By Justin Harp and Ian Sandwell

31 Jan 2023

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New DC bosses James Gunn and Peter Safran have officially unveiled the new slate of the DC Universe.

As promised when they started on the job last autumn, Gunn and Safran have unveiled new projects featuring some of the most well-loved heroes from the Worlds of DC. This is only the first batch from the new slate, but it's a promising start.

Among them is Superman: Legacy which we already knew that Gunn was writing, although he may not direct, which now has a release date of July 11, 2025. "It focuses on Superman balancing his Kryptonian heritage with his human upbringing," Safran explained (via The Hollywood Reporter).

There's also a new Batman movie in the form of The Brave and the Bold which Gunn called the "introduction of the DCU Batman", with the movie confirmed to also introduce his favourite Robin, Damian Wayne.

Other movies include The Authority, based on the superhero team from the late 1990s, a new Supergirl movie called Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, based on the Tom King-written miniseries, and Swamp Thing which will close out the first chapter of the new DCU.

The Batman sequel will also be a part of this first set of releases and is officially titled The Batman Part II. It will be released on October 3, 2025. It's been confirmed to be separate to the main timeline, and will form part of DC Elseworlds.

The first part of the new unified DC Universe is called Chapter 1: Gods and Monsters, and also features the following TV shows: Creature Commandos, Peacemaker spin-off Waller, Lanterns, Paradise Lost and Booster Gold.

Paradise Lost will take place on the all-female island of Themyscira, but will take place before the events of the Wonder Woman movies.

"One of our strategies is to take our diamond characters, which is Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, and we use them to prop up other characters that people don't know," Gunn explained.

Here are just a few of our plans. Up, up, and away! #DCStudios #DCU @DCComics pic.twitter.com/8XNDNLUEPq
— James Gunn (@JamesGunn) January 31, 2023

It was officially announced in October that James Gunn and Peter Safran would become the co-CEOs of DC Studios following the merger between Discovery and Warner Bros.

Even before this slate announcement, there were some major DC announcements, including Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins walking away from the franchise, the exit of Superman actor Henry Cavill and the cancellation of Black Adam 2.

Dwayne Johnson hasn't entirely ruled out a return as the anti-hero though: "DC and Seven Bucks have agreed to continue exploring the most valuable ways Black Adam can be utilized in future DC multiverse chapters."

Warner Bros.

This overhaul of the DC Universe has led to some backlash from fans, with Gunn having to speak out about the abuse he received on social media.

"We were aware there would be a period of turbulence when we took this gig, and we knew we would sometimes have to make difficult and not-so-obvious choices, especially in the wake of the fractious nature of what came before us," he wrote.

"But this means little to us in comparison to our jobs as artists and custodians in helping to create a wide and wonderful future for DC."