DCU Chapter 1 unveiled by James Gunn consisting of 10 projects

After a long long wait for the revelation of the new and upcoming DC Universe slate promised by the CEOs of DC Studios, James Gunn and Peter Safran. Finally, in the early morning of 31st January 2023, James Gunn presents the DC Universe slate for the upcoming 5 years.

James Gunn straight up addresses the movies coming up this year – Shazam: Fury of the Gods, The Flash, Blue Beetle, along with Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom. And as I discussed in my previous blogs related to DC Universe, I mentioned that it appears that Flash will be the point that reset the entire DC Universe as the events that take place in the movie are future, multiverse, and various other subjects that will redefine the entire timeline of DC Universe.
Other movies like Matt Reves‘ Batman, Todd Philips‘ Joker will be labeled under DC Else World, which will have no connection in the DC Universe.
Although the announcement video seemed really weak and unpleasant as it had so many big issues and announcements to be shared. The presentation could have been a lot better and could have been made to attract the audience that has been disappointed for a long time now. As we see for the Marvel Studios done by Kevin Feige, he is usually in a big hall where the screen behind him is gigantic and shows off the things that are coming up in the future. Still, the plans discussed and revealed by James Gunn were good enough to be excited about.

As Marvel Cinematic Universe divides the slates and timeline in “Sagas”, DC Universe will be dividing its timelines into “Chapters” The first ever chapter of DC Universe is named – “Gods and Monsters”, where we will get to see various origin stories of various characters, as well as some stories continued like Peacemaker and Amanda Waller (played by Viola Davis). The exceptions of characters connecting to the new DC Universe will be Blue Beetle and Aquaman. Also, to complete and cover the stories of the DC storyline, James Gunn confirms that some stories will be continued further in the animated projects, with the same characters and mostly with the same actors voicing their respective characters.

DC Universe
Chapter 1: Gods and Monsters

1) Creature Commandos – Series (Animated)

The first project is going to be Creature Commandos which is going to be an animated series, which will release on HBO Max. Similar to Howling Commandos in the Marvel Universe, the Creature Commandos operated in the era of World War 2 where we see them fighting against the Nazis. But instead of humans in Marvel, the Creature Commandos consists of Supernatural beings. Led by the father of Rick Flag, Richard Flag is the leader of Commandos. The team of Commandos consists of beings like Werewolf, Frankenstein, Vampires, and many such beings.
As the show is already in production, we know that the show will directly connect to the next project of the DC Universe – Waller. There will total of 7 episodes in the series where we will even see the actors voicing the characters in animated projects appearing and playing their characters in the live-action projects as well.

2) Waller – Series (Live-Action)

Viola Davis continues to portray her character of Amanda Waller from Zack Snyder‘s Universe to James Gunn’s. Also, the team of Suicide Squad (directed by James Gunn) and Peacemaker will continue to remain a part of the new and upcoming DC Universe as well. The series will focus on Amanda Waller and will be getting the support of members of Peacemaker. And with the announcement of Waller series, it is confirmed that Peacemaker Season 2 will be delayed and Waller be a filler between Peacemaker Season 1 and 2.

3) Superman Legacy – Film/Movie (Live-Action) – 11 July 2025

The real kick-off to the new DC Universe will be with Superman Legacy. It won’t focus on the origin of Superman/Kal-El/Clark Kent, which is being written by James Gunn himself. The movie will focus on Superman in his early days and balancing his Kryptonian powers on the planet Earth.
And as we covered, Henry Cavill will not be coming back to play his role again. There will be a new actor who will be cast for the role of Superman and will be fairly young in age.

4) Lanterns – Series (Live-Action)

Lanterns will be having Jon Stewart and Hal Jordan as the two Green Lanterns playing the role of two space detectives who will be on a journey where they will be discovering some dark mysteries in space which will directly connect and affect our heroes on Earth.
The series is said to be built in a True Detective Season 1 manner, where we saw the character of Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson search for clues and mysteries and solve them.

5) The Authority – Film/Movie

James Gunn also announces the movie of the superhero team, The Authority. It is a team of superheroes who will do anything to be righteous heroes no matter what the consequences their surrounding has to bear for their heroism. The team consists of Apollo, Midnighter, Doctor, and many such heroes who have previously been a part of The Authority.
There are some rumors out there that suggest that the ending of ‘Superman Legacy’ will lead to ‘The Authority’. And for now, it is going to be really interesting to see if there’s a clash between Authority and Superman.

6) Paradise Lost – Series (Live-Action)

Paradise Lost will be focusing on the island of ‘Themyscira‘, the birthplace of Wonder Woman and the home of the Amazons. But the series will focus on the time before the birth of Wonder Woman. The series will talk about the events that took place which became the cause of only women living on that entire island. Also, James Gunn has said the series will be made in the style of Game of Thrones, where we will get to see things revolve around the kingdom, its safety, and leadership.

7) The Brave and the Bold – Film/Movie

And now, one of the most interesting announcements was the of ‘The Brave and The Bold’. The movie will be focusing on the relationship between Batman (Bruce Wayne) and Robin (Damian Wayne). Damian Wayne is the son of Bruce Wayne, so I don’t think we will be getting any origin stories of Bruce Wayne, as there have been plenty of origin stories of Batman in the past few decades, and has been portrayed by many actors. Also, it is confirmed by James Gunn that we will be getting an introduction to the Bat Family in this movie.
I think it would have been much better if would have got to see Robin from the start, as the first Robin in the comics was Dick Grayson then Jason Todd, Tim Drake, Stephanie Brown, and then Damian Wayne. But I will hope to get a backstory later in the future, maybe in a live-action adaptation or even the animated version.
The character of Batman/Bruce Wayne will be recast as Ben Affleck won’t be coming back to play the character.

8) Booster Gold – Series

The next series will be of Michael Carter, aka Booster Gold. The man from the future who has been a loser in his time but uses his futuristic technology to become a hero in the past. So as he is from the future, he is aware of the facts that are going to occur and he uses that to his advantage to become rich. Also in the comics, Booster Gold has been a really good friend of Blue Beetle, and as of now we know that the upcoming film of Blue Beetle could be a cannon to the James Gunn Universe, so we could expect the two friends to interact and share the screen in the future.

9) SuperGirl: Woman of Tomorrow (Movie)

The next movie announced was – Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, which will be inspired from the comics of the same name. The movie will focus on Kara Zor-El/Supergirl who got stuck on the planet of Krypton when it was being destroyed. Although Kal-El/Superman left for the Earth, Kara saw the devastation of people getting brutally killed on her planet. So it causes Kara to be brutal, mature, and unemotional and eventually, Kara is not like Kal-El who is emotional and has a sense of belonging to the people of Earth and is dangerous to the people around her.

10) Swamp Thing – Movie

And the last announcement was of the Swamp Thing movie. Although James Gunn has confirmed that the Swamp Thing will not directly connect to the DC Universe but will later rejoin with the main universe.

Currently, it seems like DC Studios is focusing on releasing two movies and two series every year, which can be a good idea and will not exhaust their viewers as there are too many comic book adaptations going around everywhere.
Soon there will be many announcements made for the future of the universe that is being built. Most probably, we can expect most of the news related to the DC Universe in Comic-Con 2023.