Warner Bros. has finally set in stone what we all knew was coming. Speaking to the Wall Street Journal, Warner Bros. president of worldwide production, Greg Silverman has finally confirmed that a crossover Justice League movie is set to immediately follow 2016’s sequel to Man of Steel. Zack Snyder is now officially set to return and direct the untitled DC superhero crossover movie as well.
While Warner Bros. and DC have previously announced intent to have Man of Steel and its follow-ups lead into a Justice League movie, it was up in the air as to how the DC Cinematic Universe would unfold leading up to said crossover flick. There was even speculation that The CW’s highly successful Green Arrow-starring TV series, Arrow, along with its impending spin-off, The Flash, could be incorporated into the same DC Cinematic Universe eventually. Warner Bros. has denied that there are plans for this merger of film and television at this point however.
Obviously, it would seem that DC wants their ensemble movie off of the ground sooner rather than later, particularly given that Marvel will have lapped them with next year’s release of a sequel to their own mega-successful crossover movie, The Avengers: Age of Ultron by 2016.
Silverman stated in the same interview that Henry Cavill, Ben Affleck, and Gal Gadot are all set to return for the untitled Justice League movie, as Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman respectively. It’s also pretty well a certainty that Ray Fisher, who was recently cast in the Man of Steel sequel as fellow founding superhero, Cyborg, will also reprise his role.
Those holding out for Gal Gadot to play the role of Wonder Woman in a solo spin-off received some hope from Warner Bros. president of worldwide marketing, Sue Kroll as well, who stated that the studio is warming to the idea, and that the world is ready for a dedicated Wonder Woman movie. The studio is currently waiting for the right script however, so if such a movie is to be made, it will follow the Justice League movie, not precede it.
Kroll also notes that Warner Bros. is currently giving priority to adaptations of comic book properties from DC’s subsidiary imprint, Vertigo, namely 100 Bullets and Fables. Fables is a hot commodity now especially, thanks to the success of Telltale’s episodic video game prequel, The Wolf Among Us. Kroll also let slip that Warner Bros. is attempting to fast-track movies surrounding DC superheroes, Shazam and the Metal Men, both of whom could be incorporated into the DC Cinematic Universe as well.
A script for Justice League is already in development according to Silverman, likely with Zack Snyder overseeing the initial draft in-house at this point, with a rewrite likely to be scheduled with some other writer later.
It was originally stated that the Justice League movie may not hit theatres until 2018 at the earliest, which is speculated to be the release window for an untitled third Avengers movie from Marvel Studios, but The Hollywood Reporter has spoken to a Warner Bros. source, one that claims that the studio is kicking around the idea of shooting the Justice League movie back-to-back with the Man of Steel sequel. This could possibly net it a release in 2017, if all goes well, and if this claim is true.
Officially however, no release window has been set by Warner Bros. for the Justice League movie. Other founding members of the superhero ensemble, including The Flash, Green Lantern and Aquaman, potentially among others, also have yet to be cast, with their current involvement in the DC Cinematic Universe unknown.
In the meantime however, the DC Cinematic Universe will rapidly expand with the Man of Steel sequel, set to hit theatres on May 6th, 2016. It will center on a meeting and subsequent conflict between Henry Cavill’s Superman and Ben Affleck’s Batman, and will feature Jesse Eisenberg’s Lex Luthor as a primary villain.
Eggplante is continuing to fly you your updates on the DC Cinematic Universe, as they swoop to us.