It hasn’t been an easy year for DC movie fans. First, Batgirl was permanently shelved, putting the kibosh not only on a Barbara Gordon solo film but also on Michael Keaton’s much-ballyhooed return to the Batsuit. Then the plug got pulled on DC Animated Universe architect Bruce Timm’s new Batman animated series. And now, perhaps as could be expected, DC fan expo DC FanDome is, As Victor Fries would say, “on ice.”
DC FanDome, established in 2020 as a virtual alternative to live convention announcements, has served as Warner Bros.’s prime platform for DC comics and DCEU TV, Movie, and Gaming announcements for the past two years, but it has now been confirmed the online event will not be repeating, at least not this year.
The news will come as little to no surprise to hardcore fans, given the absolute lack of any hype surrounding a 2022 Fandome, not to mention the extensive announcements made at this year’s San Diego Comic Convention regarding Black Adam and other (hopefully anyway) upcoming DC properties have left little doubt that the pendulum has swung back to live and “in person” announcements in the supposedly post COVID era. DC is expected to have panels at the upcoming New York Comic Con next month, and any forthcoming announcement about upcoming projects — which are, frankly, a bit thin on the ground at moment for reasons discussed below — will likely emerge from that source.
The real six hundred-pound Gorilla Grodd in the room is the fallout, real or imagined, resulting in the recent merger of DC’s parent company into the new Warner Bros. Discovery. Current chief David Zaslav is on the hook to slash billions of dollars from the new company’s bottom line for the benefit of its shareholders, a goal that has resulted in the slashing of 14 percent of the staff at HBO Max and the shelving of multiple projects and already existing series, particularly in the services animation division.
Zaslav has stated that “DC is top of the list for us,” according to Popverse. Despite some evidence to the contrary, the studio is still apparently committed to releasing The Flash, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, and Blue Beetle at some point between now and 2023. That apparently doesn’t cover Fandome, but it seems likely that the studio is pursuing a “business as usual” approach to future announcements and that the future of DCEU announcements and other DC properties is heading back to the convention halls. At least for Warner Discovery’s foreseeable if hazy future.