DC Studios kicked off last year by revealing the "Chapter 1: Gods and Monsters" DCU slate. The downside was it told people that 2023's DCEU movies didn't matter and, for the most part, they ended up flopping.
Reviews also weren't overly kind and the DC brand is now very nearly damaged beyond repair (even Joker: Folie à Deux looks set to underperform at the box office this weekend). As a result, it's up to James Gunn and Peter Safran to turn things around.
However, as the DCU slate continues to expand - without a single one of their movies playing in theaters - it's time to look back at how "Gods and Monsters" has evolved. There are good and bad elements and a great many unanswered questions.
You can read through this in-depth breakdown of where things stand with DC Studios by clicking the "Next"/"View List" buttons below.
5. What Fans Want...Or What James Gunn Wants?
You will find no James Gunn hate here. The filmmaker is an immense talent behind the camera, with the Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy (and Holiday Special) and Peacemaker among the best comic book adaptations we've ever seen on screen.
However, with Gunn now calling the shots at DC Studios, it feels like much of what we're seeing from the studio is what he wants and not necessarily the stories fans have spent years waiting for. Peacemaker season 2 and Waller, featuring characters heavily featured in Gunn's DCEU work, have been made a bigger priority than countless other movies and TV shows.
Creature Commandos is being made in the same vein as The Suicide Squad and it appears Gunn will take another crack at that concept with a Secret Six movie featuring Bane and Deathstroke.
Now, there's Dynamic Duo, an animated project featuring a unique animation style that's arguably more suited to the filmmaker's tastes than what DC fans want to see from Dick Grayson and Jason Todd in theaters. In contrast, it feels like Marvel Studios is focused more on fans (instead of telling stories based on a very specific era of comics).
4. Too Much, Too Soon
At the end of January last year, DC Studios announced a slate of 10 movies and TV shows for "Chapter 1: Gods and Monsters." We've heard pretty much nothing about that title since and only Creature Commandos and Superman are in post-production.
To be fair, last year's strikes played a role in that and Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow and Lanterns are now gearing up. However, Waller was pushed back in favour of Peacemaker, and The Authority, The Brave and the Bold, Swamp Thing, Booster Gold, and Paradise Lost haven't really made any progress (at least not as far as we've heard beyond some short-lived Booster Gold casting rumours).
The slate reveal felt a lot like Warner Bros.' ill-fated DCEU announcement and DC Studios is already taking on an awful lot more than they might be able to handle. In the past year, Teen Titans, Bane/Deathstroke, and Robin movies have been added to the slate, as has a TV show revolving around Blue Beetle.
To be fair, Gunn did say he and Peter Safran had mapped out a decade's worth of stories and those may be part of that...this just feels a little like Kevin Feige planning Captain Marvel and Black Panther while Marvel Studios was still making Iron Man!
3. Batman And Wonder Woman M.I.A.
It's easy enough to see why Gunn wanted to prioritise Superman. For starters, he wrote and directed the movie, and the Man of Tomorrow is in desperate need of a reboot after Zack Snyder and Henry Cavill's moody take on the iconic superhero.
Still, as we near two years since the DCU slate was first announced, there's been no word on Batman or Wonder Woman. Shortly before The Flash was released in theaters, Andy Muschietti was announced as The Brave and the Bold's director, a baffling move which immediately left fans questioning Gunn's decision-making.
The Flash was a box office bomb and, while reviews skewed more positive than negative, Muschietti's direction - including appalling CG sequences and creepy cameos - was not well-received. Perhaps it's for the best then that Batman hasn't been cast, particularly when the DCU's Caped Crusader will need to compete with what Matt Reeves and Robert Pattinson are doing.
As for Wonder Woman, Gunn has avoided any and all questions about Diana Prince, particularly in the wake of Gal Gadot claiming she'll return as the Amazon. Paradise Lost is meant to be a prequel set on Themyscira so it seems she'll be M.I.A. for the foreseeable future.
2. The "Gods And Monsters" Slate
We touched on this earlier but DC Studios' first major misstep might have been announcing a slate of projects without filmmakers attached. Now, they need to deliver on those or face being compared to Warner Bros.' slate of DC titles that never materialised ('member Cyborg?).
Bouncing back from a terrible 2023 isn't going to be easy for the brand but The Authority? Swamp Thing? Waller? Paradise Lost? These don't feel like movies and TV shows capable of restoring DC's good name and increasing interest in a superhero franchise that's in as bad a state as Sony's Marvel Universe thanks to the DCEU.
Even those newly announced projects do little to inspire confidence. Teen Titans after the disappointing streaming series? Is Bane & Deathstroke just meant to capitalise on Deadpool & Wolverine's success with an odd-couple pairing? Casting an actor who will be in his 60s to play Hal Jordan has also upset many fans.
The DCEU did little to help characters like Aquaman, Batman, Wonder Woman, and The Flash, so moving on from them - for now - does make sense. Still, when the reaction to your slate is more "Huh?" than "Wow!" you might be in trouble...
1. No Clear Direction...Yet
It's important to note that DC Studios has so far enlisted a lot of phenomenal talents both behind and in front of the camera. Superman's costume design is admittedly questionable and Gunn has cast many of his friends but it does feel like he's trying to do right by these characters.
Ultimately, with over a year and a half having passed since DC Studios was revealed to us, it would just be nice to have a better sense of where the DCU is heading.
While it's true that we didn't know Marvel Studios was aiming for The Avengers until Iron Man's post-credits scene, there's no team-up project on the DCU slate and it instead appears the Justice League International will already exist and be a corporate team sponsored by Maxwell Lord.
Not every superhero franchise needs a big crossover event but the MCU has made that the expectation for casual and hardcore fans alike. Right now, we don't know where the DCU is headed and, until we get some insights into that, it's a little hard to care about what feels like a slate consisting of ideas thrown at the wall to see what sticks.