He made us wait as long as possible, but James Gunn has finally made good on his word. For the past month, the newly appointed co-CEO of DC Studios, working alongside producer partner Peter Safran, had been promising fans that the first wave of announcements for the rebooted DC franchise would be coming this January. With February almost upon us, Gunn has now fulfilled his promise and unleashed the full slate for what’s officially called DCU Chapter One.
Right on time, Gunn released a five-minute video breaking down the 11 new projects. While the already known The Batman sequel exists on its own turf, the other 10 are all part of the interconnected franchise.
These 10 projects are Superman: Legacy, Lanterns, Swamp Thing, Booster Gold, The Brave and the Bold, Waller, Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, Creature Commandos, Paradise Lost, and The Authority.
Gunn’s recalibrated comic book universe has a lot of work cut out for it in restoring the reputation of DC to its former glory, following the implosion of so many previous attempts to frame the franchise as a real rival to the MCU, from the aborted Snyderverse to the embarrassing failure of Black Adam. And Zachary Levi’s surprising antivax views in the run-up to Shazam! Fury of the Gods certainly isn’t helping any either.
We still have a handful of hangover movies from before Gunn’s time to come over the course of this year — after the aforementioned Shazam! 2, there’s also The Flash and Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom — so it’ll be a while before his changes really take effect. Nevertheless, Gunn’s former boss, Marvel President Kevin Feige, might want to start viewing DC as more of a threat than perhaps he previously has done.
