At this point, Warner Bros. has delivered more bad DC Comics movies than good ones, and the studio has gained a reputation for letting fans down. That was certainly the case at Comic-Con a couple of weeks ago, when the studio rocked up to Hall H with only a minute-long Black Adam teaser and the, admittedly, very good first trailer for Shazam! Fury of the Gods.
Batgirl being scrapped explains why we didn't get anything else, as that DC slate is clearly in flux again.
Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom and The Flash being pushed into 2023 has already caused chaos and was likely a contributing factor to Batgirl's cancellation. Between that movie's Christmas setting and Michael Keaton's role as Batman, it would have been a great title to drop on HBO Max over the holidays, but that was no longer possible when The Flash raced to next summer.
Now, The Hollywood Reporter has revealed that ahead of Warner Bros. Discovery's earnings call today, there are rumblings that the studio plans to delay Shazam! Fury of the Gods and Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom.
The former is set to go head-to-head with Avatar: The Way of Water in theaters this Christmas, while the Aquaman sequel has been slated for March 17 next year (where it has little to no competition). No reason is given for the possible delays, but this isn't news fans are likely to be happy about.
In the case of Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, we know Keaton was set to appear, only for him to be replaced by Ben Affleck during recent reshoots. If the movie is now pushed further down the calendar and released after The Flash (minus Keaton, but with Affleck), then we'll know plans for the Dark Knight at Warner Bros. have changed significantly.
Hopefully, we'll get a little more clarity during that earnings call. Stay tuned.