Well, it’s been a bombshell night in the world of DC Studios and the DC Universe. After telling fans, “we know we are not going to make every single person happy every step of the way,” in response to rumors that “Wonder Woman 3” was being killed and “Man Of Steel 2” may not happen, DC Studios co-chief James Gunn revealed dropped some of his plans and dropped the hammer. He announced he is writing a new Superman film and Henry Cavill would not return as the character as he was going to explore a younger version of the character (but it won’t be an origin film, according to Gunn).
READ MORE: James Gunn Writing New ‘Superman’ Film, Henry Cavill Won’t Return As ‘Man Of Steel’
There’s already a rumored DC reboot and reset in the works—Jason Momoa has been rumored to be leaving the Aquaman movie and taking the character Lobo instead— Patty Jenkins has left as the director of “Wonder Woman 3,” and all of this combined certainly sets the stage for a major reboot of the universe from Gunn and DC Studios co-chief Peter Safran.
But there’s more. The ever-transparent James Gunn on Twitter also revealed that he has met with Ben Affleck and they are trying to find him a DC Studios film to direct. Many people are wondering about the fate of Affleck as Batman in the DC Universe. We already know that the character is in the upcoming “The Flash” film and Affleck himself billed it as a goodbye (Michael Keaton’s supposed to step in as Batman for him).
But at this point, if everything’s been rebooted—and it sure sounds like it is, or they have certainly paved the way for it— does any of that really matter? That said, Affleck is in his ‘50s now and wants to get back to directing, so the actor as Batman again seems unlikely since he only agreed to return in “The Flash” so he could end his tenure as the character (the rumored plan was that he would eventually return in a Crisis On Infinite Earths film, but that was under Walter Hamada, the ex-DC Studios chief and now totally moot and obsolete).
Affleck isn’t the only director who has met with DC Studios. Recently, the trades revealed that James Mangold (“Logan,” “Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny”) and Andy Muschietti (director of “The Flash”) met with some of the folks at DC and expressed interest in joining the fold (or in Muschietti’s case, doing more)
The last bit of news in all this that seemed unlikely but apparently true, is that J.J. Abrams/Ta-Nehisi Coates‘ Superman concept and screenplay, based on a Black Superman, is still in active development (according to Variety). No one has heard from that project for years, and many of Abrams/Bad Robots DC film projects like Zatanna, Constantine, and Madame X were all recently killed by Warner Bros. Discovery’s David Zaslav’s cost-cutting measures. So to hear that Coates’ Black Superman film wasn’t killed is a bit of a surprise, to be honest.
That reads like Gunn and Safran have read the pitch, concept, and treatment, like it, and think it has potential. And like Matt Reeves’ “The Batman” and Todd Phillips’ “The Joker,” that storyline could still live on in its own alternative universe.
