WBD’s plans for the DCU continue to draw more attention with DC Studios head James Gunn & Peter Safran mapping out their 10-year plan for the CBM franchise. In fact, on Tuesday, Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav addressed the ongoing progress of their rebranded connected universe design, which will stretch across feature films, tv shows and animation projects. In addition, he also spoke about the four different iterations of Batman.
The wheels are in motion for DCU under Warner Bros. films’ new leadership and from the looks of it, the DC Film chief is already teasing live-action projects for characters like Deadman, Lobo and recently, Mr. Terrific. While Gunn announced that he and Safran are actively working with other writers to map out their plan, it should be noted that Matt Reeves’ The Batman universe and Todd Philips’ Joker Folie à Deux will not be overseen by DC Studios rather chairpersons Michael De Luca and Pam Abdy are in charge.
While the Reevesverse and Philips’ Elseworld-Esque DC project have raked in millions at the box office – they may not be part of Zaslav’s long future plans. Speaking at RBC’s 2022 Global TIMT Conference in New York, the WBD chief first assured that James Gunn and Safran’s 10-year plan is “coming close to the end”, indicating the team will soon have the DCU’s decade design ready to implement.
Could James Gunn introduce a new Batman for DCU in his 10-year plan?
Zaslav then went on to suggest James Gunn and Peter Safran have the fandom excited and soon that feeling would also transpire to the rest. “I think over the next few years, you’re going to see a lot of growth and opportunity around DC; there’s not going to be four Batmans,” Zaslav said (via Comicbook). “And so part of our strategy is, drive the hell out of DC, which James and Peter are going to do. I think they’ve thrilled the fans. I think they’re going to thrill you over a period of time.”
It’s unclear which Batman would be phased out since Reeves’ version of the caped crusader has earned the studio $770 million at the global box office. Meanwhile, there remains a strong fan following and support for Zack Snyder’s iteration of Batman played by Ben Affleck. The character will return in Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom and in The Flash.
It’s safe to say the TV series iteration of Bruce Wayne by Iain Glen could be canceled since the show’s season 5 renewal is itself in limbo. But what about Michael Keaton’s Dark Knight? So far, his presence in the speedster film has attracted much controversy and backlash since the earlier regime planned on replacing Batfleck with the Burtonverse Batman. But execs and creatives currently steering the ship have so far indicated no signs of canning Snyder’s Batman.
— James Gunn (@JamesGunn) November 15, 2022
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