DC movies release date calendar

As Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice bashes its way through the box office, it’s actually clearing a path for at least 10 other movies.

DC Entertainment and Warner Bros. intend to keep at least two superhero films coming each year through 2020, with Wonder Woman, The Flash, Aquaman and (maybe, eventually) Green Lantern headlining their own titles.

Though all the films have been confirmed, not all of them have been officially dated, but the information was verified from insider sources at the studio. The further off we get, the more nebulous the plans become, but here’s the plan as it stands now.

Suicide Squad – Aug. 5, 2016

Writer and director: David Ayer (End of Watch, Fury)

Starring: Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn, Will Smith as Deadshot, Jared Leto as The Joker, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje as Killer Croc, Cara Delevingne as Enchantress, Viola Davis as Amanda Waller.

Storyline: A team of the world’s most dangerous, incarcerated super villains, are armed by the government and sent on a mission to defeat an enigmatic enemy. But they discover they weren’t picked to succeed but chosen for their culpability when the mission inevitably fails.

Inside Info: Suicide Squad takes place several months after the events in Batman v Superman, and The Joker has already had many battles with Batman over the previous years. When EW asked Ben Affleck’s if his Batman would turn up in the movie, he said: “You should keep your eyes peeled for sure.”

Wonder Woman – June 2, 2017

Director: Patty Jenkins (Monster)

Writer: Jason Fuchs (Pan)

Starring: Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman, Chris Pine as Steve Trevor, Connie Nielsen as Queen Hippolyta, Lisa Loven Kongsli as Menalippe and Robin Wright as General Antiope.

Storyline: The story will explore the character’s origin, tracking the immortal Princess Diana’s rise as a warrior on the mythic island of Themyscira – and her eventual quest beyond its boundaries to the realm of ordinary men, where she will fight for this outside world amid the backdrop of World War I.

Inside Info: Hints of the movie are foreshadowed in Batman v Superman, and the Wonder Woman film will include a modern framing story set after the events of that clash of heroes, according to producer Charles Roven.

Justice League – Part One – Nov. 17, 2017

Director: Zack Snyder (Man of Steel, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice)

Writer: Chris Terrio (Argo, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice)

Starring: Ben Affleck as Batman, Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman, Henry Cavill as Superman, Ray Fisher as Cyborg, Ezra Miller as The Flash, Jason Momoa as Aquaman.

Storyline: DC’s most iconic heroes join forces to save the world from a threat to its very existence. In Batman v Superman, that threat was teased as an invasion by the galactic dictator Darkseid and his army of gargoyle-like Parademons. Although the movie begins film in just a few weeks, no specific details have been released so far.

Inside Info: Don’t expect Green Lantern to show up as a founding member of the group. Roven says we may not see Hal Jordan, John Stewart, or any incarnation of Green Lantern until Justice League – Part Two. “For now, we felt that we were introducing enough characters that the best possible place we could put Green Lantern is some introduction in Justice League 2, or barring that, a movie after,” he says.

The Flash – March 16, 2018

Writer and Director: Seth Grahame-Smith (writer of the novel Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter and Tim Burton’s Dark Shadows.)

Starring: Ezra Miller as The Flash.

Storyline: The plot of this film is still under wraps, but it will focus on the character Barry Allen and his ability to break the laws of physics with his body, which allows him to move lightning fast – among other abilities.

Inside Info: Miller appears in Batman v Superman in two sequences – one of them appearing as a vision to Bruce Wayne, delivering a cryptic message to the Dark Knight. Snyder says the sequence was meant to suggest the kinetic hero is breaking through time and space to change the past. “We had such a straightforward narrative, on one hand, I wanted this other layer of the movie to be complicated and bizarre,” he says.

Aquaman – July 27, 2018

Director: James Wan (Furious 7, The Conjuring)

Writers: Wan and Kurt Johnstad (300, Act of Valor.)

Starring: Jason Momoa as Aquaman, and Amber Heard as Mera.

Storyline: The King of the Seven Seas is committed to protecting the entire world, but finds himself trapped between a surface realm that is constantly polluting and destroying the oceans and fellow Atlanteans looking to lash out in revolt.

Inside info: Momoa told EW’s Jeff Labrecque: “There’s so many things to tell, and there’s a whole backstory that’s just amazing. He’s been cast aside [in the past]. But, um [laughs] times are going to change now, buddy…”

Shazam! – April 5, 2019

Director: Unknown.

Writers: Darren Lemke (Jack the Giant Slayer)

Starring: Dwayne Johnson as Black Adam.

Storyline: There are more unknowns about this movie than any other DC-related movie, including: Is it still happening? Although Johnson has been announced as the villain Black Adam, but there’s still no word on who will direct or who will play the almighty title hero — not to mention his teenage secret identity, Billy Batson.

Inside Info: It’s being produced by Warner Bros. subsidiary New Line, so it’s unclear what it’s connection will be to the studio’s other DC movies. Sources close to the primary DC projects tell EW that if Shazam! is referenced, it will be more as an Easter egg or a nod to that other movie and will probably not be entwined with the universe’s larger narrative.

Justice League – Part Two – June 14, 2019

Director: Zack Snyder

Writer: Chris Terrio (Justice League – Part One, Argo)

Starring: Ben Affleck as Batman, Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman, Henry Cavill as Superman, Ray Fisher as Cyborg, Ezra Miller as The Flash, Jason Momoa as Aquaman.

Storyline: Since we don’t yet know the plot of the first Justice League, there’s not much to go on with this one — except that it will once again join the forces of DC Comics’ top-tier heroes. Only this time there’s a chance Green Lantern will be alongside them — at least in a small role.

Inside Info: Most of the major behind-the-scenes players say this movie is still taking form. Very likely, Warner Bros. will be reading the audience to see which characters resonate from the first Justice League and other films before locking in a story.

Cyborg – April 3, 2020

Director: Unknown.

Writers: Unknown.

Starring: Ray Fisher as Cyborg, Joe Morton as his father, Dr. Silas Stone.

Storyline: With no filmmakers yet attached, we don’t know where the plot of this film will go, but it’s unlikely to delve back into Cyborg’s evolution from young football star Victor Stone to half-mechanized superhero. For those craving an origin story, we catch a glimpse of the character’s rebirth at the hands of his grieving, desperate father in Batman v Superman.

Inside Info: Fisher described Cyborg as a “technopath” in a recent TV special about DC’s expanding movie universe. “He can just interface seamlessly with anything technological. His greatest weakness is actually trying not to succumb to the technology, trying to stay human.”

Green Lantern Corps – June 19, 2020

Director: Unknown.

Writers: Unknown.

Starring: Unknown.

Storyline: The title that Warner Bros. announced for this project suggests the focus will be less on Earth (a.k.a. Sector 2184) and more galactic in scale. Whichever version of the hero they decide to explore (Hal Jordan, John Stewart, Guy Gardner, Kyle Raynor) it will still be an ensemble, focused on the police squad that patrols the universe using the power of their green rings.

Inside Info: Tyrese Gibson has been campaigning for the role and recently told Larry King he had met with Warner Bros. about the part. One reason the studio has pushed this title so far down the line is because they recognize that moviegoers disliked the 2011 version, which has since become a punching bag for star Ryan Reynolds’s other superhero franchise: Deadpool. (“Don’t make the super suit green! … Or animated!”)

Untitled Batman Project — Date TBD

Director: Ben Affleck

Writers: Affleck, Chris Terrio (Argo, Justice League)

Starring: Affleck as Batman.

Storyline: Since the Batman we meet in Batman v Superman has been fighting the good fight on the streets of Gotham for decades, there’s a strong possibility this film could be a flashback to some of those early battles. For instance, BvS features a Robin uniform covered with Joker graffiti, which implies the Boy Wonder has been killed by the Clown Prince of Crime in a previous story. Geoff Johns, chief creative officer for DC Entertainment, who has consulted on the full slate of movies, says the Robin suit is another example of groundwork BvS is laying for future stories. “We’ll be exploring that,” says Johns. “No one says specifically the name of which Robin that is.”

Inside Info: Warner Bros. has made no secret that it wants Affleck to direct this movie, but he says he will make a decision after finishing his thriller Live By Night, which is also set up at the studio and comes out in October 2017. Affleck said he’s considering it. “I tend to be a one movie at a time guy,” he tells EW. “So, when I’m finished with this movie, I’ll then focus on my next movie and figure out what that will be.”

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That’s the full slate of DC projects headed to screens in the near future. Other titles Warner Bros. is currently developing for the years beyond include a Lobo film, a sequel to Suicide Squad, and perhaps a Superman-centric follow-up to Man of Steel — although those are clearly in the possibility phase.

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