Your Complete Guide To All 16 DC Extended Universe Movies Currently In The Works

Whatever you think of the three films released in the DC Extended Universe thus far - that's Man of Steel, Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice and Suicide Squad, for those with short memories - you have to admit there's a huge amount of potential in the idea of a sprawling movie franchise based on the DC comic book world. While Warner Bros. have had mixed success so far in delivering movies that manage a solid critical reception, what they are good at is coming up with ideas for their projects. All three of those previous films were terrific ideas, even if the execution of each could have been pulled off a lot better. Still, the studio is clearly not letting the critical kicking get them down, as they plan to play out this franchise to its completion. And that's definitely a good thing. As we've argued recently on WGTC, there's still a lot of life in the DCEU yet. This year, we're getting both Wonder Woman and Justice League - they arrive in cinemas in June and November, respectively - and assuming those movies do well, you can be sure that this will be just the tip of the iceberg, as the studio have a hefty number of future projects on the slate. There are, in fact, a whopping 16 films based off DC comics coming are way in the next few years - or at least, they're in development. From The Batman to Booster Gold, read on for your handy guide to every upcoming DC movie that's currently in the works. Aquaman Unfortunately, Aquaman looks to be the only upcoming DC film whose production is going smoothly. From Furious 7 director James Wan and scriptwriter Will Beall, this solo movie for the King of Atlantis is currently in pre-production and is set to start filming in a few months. Jason Mamoa leads, with a strong supporting cast including Amber Heard (Queen Mera), Nicole Kidman (Atlanna), Willem Dafoe (Vulko) and Temuera Morrison (Thomas Curry). The villains will be Patrick Wilson's Prince Orm AKA Ocean Master, Aquaman's ambitious half-brother, and Yahya Abdul-Matteen II as Black Manta. Beall has claimed that the movie will be "really, really fun" and might just "blow people's minds." I guess we'll find out for sure when it swims into theaters on October 5th, 2018. The Batman Unlike the aforementioned film, pre-production on The Batman has definitely not been smooth. After Ben Affleck decided to only star in the picture and not direct, Matt Reeves (Cloverfield, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes) is now at the helm of this latest Batman solo adventure. Aside from starring, Affleck also co-wrote the original script with Geoff Johns, which has since been given a polish by Chris Terrio (Batman V Superman, Justice League). The actor has previously said that the movie will be an original story, but drawn from aspects of various different comics. Unfortunately, we don't have much more to go on than that, and who knows how much will change now that Reeves is calling the shots. Initially, The Batman was set to open on July 27th 2018, but due to the changing directors and ongoing script rewrites, that's unlikely to happen now. The Flash Another movie that likely won't make its original 2018 release date is The Flash. Starring Ezra Miller, the speedster's solo film has seen both Seth Grahame-Smith and Rick Famuyiwa vacate the director's chair (as well as losing the involvement of Han Solo's Phil Lord and Chris Miller). The latest word is that King Arthur: Legend of the Sword's Joby Harold is penning a new page-one rewrite of the script in a bid to hook a new director. Kiersey Clemons and Billy Crudup are still signed up in the supporting roles of love interest Iris West and the Flash's father Henry Allen, respectively, while Ray Fisher's Cyborg is also said to appear in some form. Shazam Dwayne Johnson has been attached to the Shazam movie since it was first announced back in 2014 as the villain/anti-hero Black Adam, but so far he's the only name officially announced to be connected to the project. However, it's recently been reported that horror director David F. Sandberg is in talks to helm. Despite the lack of momentum on this one at the moment, Shazam still has a lot of time left to make its planned release date of April 5th, 2019. It just may be a while before we hear anything more on it. Black Adam If the Shazam movie hits a hiccup, at least DC have the Black Adam solo movie to fall back on instead. This one would see Shazam's nemesis in the lead role, which would be a much better fit for a star of Johnson's stature, let's face it. The actor has often spoken about how he sees Adam as a hero, particularly due to his sympathetic backstory of being a slave, so it's likely that a Black Adam movie would deal with the character's origin story. No release date has currently been set for the film, but stay tuned for more. Justice League 2 Originally, it was announced the Justice League movie would be split into two parts. At some point, however, this plan was changed and Justice League 2 became a straight-up sequel. All we can say about the movie at this point is conjecture, but we imagine that the core six Justice Leaguers of the first film will return (assuming, that is, that Ben Affleck doesn't ditch the Batman role, as is rumoured). There's also a good chance of Darkseid making an appearance as the big bad, after his general Steppenwolf features in the first JL movie. Zack Snyder is confirmed to direct - his fourth entry in the DCEU - and it's earmarked for a June 14th, 2019 release. Man Of Steel 2 Henry Cavill's Superman will finally get the Man of Steel sequel that BvS replaced in the near future. Apparently, the project is a "top priority" at Warner Bros, though we have no idea about who the director, the villain of the movie or indeed what the story will be. However, many fans are hoping that it will return the hero to his usual optimistic, more hopeful demeanour. WB have booked a November 1st, 2019 release for an untitled DC film, which is most likely where Man of Steel 2 will arrive, but that's still not confirmed yet. Cyborg A Cyborg solo movie has been on the cards since the initial release schedule for the DCEU was announced back in 2014. Seeing as the character's creation was very quickly surmised in BvS, and he'll have prominent roles in both Justice League and The Flash, we would expect that the movie will not be the traditional origins story. Ray Fisher is the only name attached to Cyborg right now, with no word on a prospective director or screenwriter at this time. It's set for a April 3rd, 2020 release, though. Green Lantern Corps After 2011's Green Lantern fumbled the Emerald Knight's big-screen debut, DC are trying again with Green Lantern Corps. As the title suggests, the film will reportedly include multiple Lanterns and will functionally be a buddy cop movie in space. It's generally assumed that Corps will focus on Hal Jordan and John Stewart, with one of them perhaps featuring in a cameo part in Justice League. Actors being considered to play Jordan include Tom Cruise, Ryan Reynolds, James Marsden, Jake Gyllenhaal, Armie Hammer, Bradley Cooper and Joel McHale. Green Lantern Corps is pencilled in for July 24th, 2020. Suicide Squad 2 It might not have been a critical darling, but Suicide Squad's huge box office return has resulted in a sequel being put into production. Recently, a list of potential directors was reported, including Jonathan Levine, Ruben Fleischer, Daniel Espinosa and the one that's getting the most attention, Mel Gibson. It's unknown which of the original cast will return, but we would imagine that we'll see more of the likes of Viola Davis, Jai Courtney and Joel Kinnaman. It's likely that Margot Robbie and Will Smith will reprise their roles, as well. Even if they're busy enough with their own spinoff movies... Gotham City Sirens Robbie's Harley Quinn will star in her own feature quite soon, called Gotham City Sirens. Based on a fairly obscure comic series, it will pair the Queen of Gotham with Poison Ivy and Catwoman. Suicide Squad director David Ayer will jump ship with his star to helm, while Christian Hodson and Geneva Robertson-Dworet will provide the script. Going off hints from the director, the central villain of the film looks set to be ghoulish crime boss Black Mask. There's been no word yet on who will play Harley's new pals or when the movie will be released, but you can be sure that Jared Leto's Joker will make some kind of appearance here. Deadshot The second Suicide Squad spinoff will star Will Smith as the world's number one assassin, Deadshot. And... that's pretty much all we know about it right now. On the one hand, Smith is such a big star that it makes sense for his character lead his own movie, but it also begs the question of if there's enough to Deadshot once you take away the Squad? Maybe this could be DC's answer to Deadpool - an irreverent, hard R-rated, anti-superhero movie? Given that Smith and David Ayer have worked together three times previously, we can see Deadshot being Ayer's next project after Gotham City Sirens, but don't hold us to that. Needless to say, we don't know when to expect this one on our screens. Nightwing The most recent addition to the DCEU's slate is a Nightwing solo movie, following Batman's former sidekick Dick Grayson - the first Robin - as he goes it alone. Interestingly, The LEGO Batman Movie's Chris McKay is attached to direct, marking his first live-action work and - assuming that Nightwing is treated seriously - his first job outside of comedy. The Accountant's Bill Dubuque is providing the screenplay. No news yet on who's playing Grayson, but that hasn't stopped half the internet from guessing. Lobo A movie based around DC's indestructible, motorcycle-riding extra-terrestrial bounty hunter Lobo has been in the works for a while. Back in 2010, for instance, Guy Ritchie was attached to make the film. Since then, a number of cast and crew have come and gone - including Dwayne Johnson. Last year, the project seemed to be finally back on track as Jason Fuchs was revealed to be writing the screenplay. We would imagine DC are looking for this one to capture some of Guardians of the Galaxy's outer-space magic, but don't expect to see it come to fruition until next decade. Dark Universe Here's another that's been long in the works. Hellboy's Guillermo del Toro completed a script for a DCEU movie about the Justice League Dark - the JLA's supernatural counterpart - back in 2014. A year later, however, Del Toro left the project, presumably taking his script with him. Since then, Edge of Tomorrow's Doug Liman has been snapped up as director (he left Fox's Gambit movie to take hold of the project) with Michael Gilio writing the new screenplay. Now renamed Dark Universe, the movie is set to feature such characters as John Constantine, Swamp Thing, Zatann, The Spectre and Deadman. Booster Gold And now for something slightly different. The DCEU has up to now been known for its grim tone, but the upcoming Booster Gold film will apparently be more comedic - being touted as a "superhero buddy cop movie." It's assumed, but not confirmed, that Booster Gold's frequent crime-fighting partner Blue Beetle will also feature. DC TV supremo Greg Berlanti is on producing and possibly directing duties, with his Flash screenwriter Zack Stentz doing the script. Interestingly, the Booster Gold movie will apparently have no "connective tissue" with the DC Extended Universe, suggesting that it'll take place in its own continuity, instead.