Dead Boy Detectives has had a strange path to the small screen. The TV series was originally set to be part of the DC Universe, but co-CEOs James Gunn and Peter Safran decided that it didn’t match with their revamped vision of the franchise, and dropped it. The series then shifted from Max to Netflix, where it’s set to premiere on April 25, 2024. Dead Boy Detectives‘ unusual rollout has little to do with its quality, however, as fans are anticipating great things for the uniquely-toned teenage series.

As with any series, however, there’s speculation over the future. Dead Boy Detectives may be a brand new show, but it has drummed up so much anticipation among superhero fans and those who read the comic books that there’s a desire to find out whether it’s been renewed for another season. Will Dead Boy Detectives receive the green light from Netflix or will it go down as a one season wonder? Let’s discuss.

Dead Boy Detectives has not yet been renewed by Netflix

So far, Netflix has not announced plans to renew Dead Boy Detectives. To be fair, the streaming platform typically waits until a show premieres, and popularity can be gauged, before giving the green light on future seasons. This approach makes a particular amount of sense when applied to Dead Boy Detectives and its touch-and-go production.

Co-showrunner Steve Yockey told The Wrap that he’s relieved to have the hard work that went into season one pay off, given that the plug was pulled on the show while production was still going on. “It wasn’t like we were in danger of suddenly getting the hammer dropped on us,” Yockey assured readers. “It’s unfortunate that we had to leave them, but I also think it’s worked out best for the show.”

The co-showrunner is not wrong. Had Dead Boy Detectives stayed on Max, and premiered on the platform, there would be little to no chance of the show getting a second season. The fact that the show was retooled for Netflix and tied in with the critically acclaimed Sandman series means that it will have a much better chance at connecting with a wide audience.

Showrunners have plans for the shared Sandman universe

While the official future of Dead Boy Detectives remains unclear, the showrunners have made it known that they have plans for where the show could eventually go. Both Steve Yockey and Beth Schwartz were eager to set Dead Boy Detectives within the framework of the Sandman universe, and they would love an opportunity to strengthen the connections between characters in both shows.

Yockey and Schwartz told Screen Rant that Netflix approached them with the idea of setting the show within the world of The Sandman, and the duo responded enthusiastically. They worked in a couple of Easter Eggs to the parent series in season 1, but they made it clear to the outlet that they have bigger plans in store should Dead Boy Detectives get picked up for additional seasons. Yockey maintained that crossovers would benefit both shows as long they made sense for the story:

What I foresee and what’s going to happen are not always the same thing. I think Beth and I agree that further crossover would be really cool. But the thing is that it needs to be specific.

Are you enjoying Dead Boy Detectives so far? Do you think it will help raise the profile of Netflix’s burgeoning Sandman universe? And lastly, do you want to see it come back for season 2?

After two years in distribution hell, The People’s Joker is finally available in theaters. It’s no wonder the movie took so long to release, as DC and Warner Bros. Discovery aren’t happy at all about this unofficial trans parody of Batman.

The People’s Joker began its development journey as a re-edit of Todd Phillips’ Joker, commissioned by Bri LeRose to Vera Drew after the director complained about “woke culture” destroying comedy. While working on the re-edit Drew began to imagine how the project could look if it were expanded as a trans coming-of-age story. So, Drew and LeRose partnered up to write the script for a parody movie about gender, sexuality, and figuring out who you are. Drew also directed the project and starred as the lead character, Joker the Harlequin.

The People’s Joker was put together during the pandemic, a period in which we all reflected on our identity and the importance of human connection. After that, Drew and the team behind the crowd-funded movie decided to take the project to film festivals. The People’s Joker‘s first stop was 2022’s Toronto International Film Festival, where the movie was scheduled for multiple screenings. However, after its premiere, The People’s Joker was pulled from the festival due to “rights issues.” The movie also disappeared from other festivals’ programs, which many thought could be the end of the parody. However, Drew kept working behind the scenes to give her semi-autobiographical story a commercial distribution, which finally happened in 2024.

Did The People’s Joker infringe on DC IP rights?

According to Drew, before The People’s Joker premiere at TIFF, she received an “angry letter” from “a media conglomerate that shall remain nameless,” trying to pressure her not to show her movie. Warner Bros. Discovery never commented on the matter, but it’s hard to imagine any other company would have issues with someone using DC characters without their authorization.

It’s worth remembering that Warner prohibited the raunchy animated Harley Quin from depicting Batman going down on Catwoman because “heroes don’t do that.” Warner Bros. Discovery also locked Batgirl in a vault for a few tax dollars, a nearly complete movie featuring Ivory Aquino, a trans star, as the DCEU’s first trans character.

While there’s no official information about the legal battle behind closed doors, Warner Bros. Discovery couldn’t prevent The People’s Joker from eventually appearing on the silver screen. Drew’s movie is protected by U.S. copyright legislation, which allows fair use of protected IPs. Since The People’s Joker warns the public it is a parody and takes every precaution to respect the law, there’s absolutely no way a studio can do more than delay its release. 

So, in July 2023, The People’s Joker had its American premiere as part of Los Angeles’ Outfest film festival. A limited release in the U.S. followed on April 5, 2024. So far, the movie has been a hit, with distributor Altered Innocence expanding its theatrical run towards more cities and theaters. That means instead of killing the project, the “unnamed media conglomerate” just gave The People’s Joker more publicity, to the point where it became viral.

The People’s Joker is currently screening in select theaters.

For the past decade, Warner Bros. Discovery failed to create a cinematic universe that lived up to DC’s beloved comic book characters. That will change with James Gunn and Peter Safran’s new DCU. 

Gunn and Safran were given complete control over DC Studios in 2022 and tasked with creating a decade-long storyline spawning movies, TV shows, and even video games. So far, Gunn and Safran have been keeping the new DCU under an absolute veil of secrecy, and no one can tell what their ambitious storyline will look like. However, we already have an extensive list of movies and TV shows currently in development.

Gunn and Safran revealed that their decade-long storyline will be split into two chapters. The first chapter, aptly named “Gods and Monsters,” comprises five theatrical releases and five TV shows. In addition, DC Studios has confirmed that one more movie and two full seasons will be added to this packed schedule. Here’s every DCU project Gunn and Safran are currently developing.

Creature Commandos

• Release date: Late 2024
• Showrunner: James Gunn

Creature Commandos is based on an obscure DC superteam made entirely of classic monsters. Gunn wrote the script for all seven episodes, and has already proven that he’s the master of using relatively unknown characters to create deeply emotional stories, a feat he managed with both the Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy and The Suicide Squad. It’s only fair to assume that he’ll manage to make us also fall in love with the Creature Commandos. 

Although their series will be animated, Gunn and Safran have already decided that whoever voices a DCU character will play the same role in any live-action project reusing the same heroes and villains. Considering that Commandos has a star-studded voice cast, the show will give fans an appetizer of exciting things to come. 

Notable voice talent includes Sean Gunn as G.I. Robot/Weasel, Frank Grillo as Rick Flag Sr., Maria Bakalova as Princess Ilana Rostovic, Alan Tudyk as Dr. Phosphorus, and David Harbour as Eric Frankenstein. Additionally, Steve Agee will appear as John Economos, and Viola Davis will return as Amanda Waller. Since these characters were part of The Suicide Squad, Gunn’s first DC movie will probably be incorporated into the new DCU.

Superman

• Release date: July 11, 2025
• Writer/Director: James Gunn

If Creature Commandos is the new DCU appetizer, Superman is the main dish. Previously known as Superman: Legacy, the next cinematic adaptation of the Man of Steel will set the tone for the whole DCU and potentially show Warner Bros. Discovery that Gunn and Safran can pull off a massive box office haul. Or the movie will flop, and the new DCU might be buried right as it starts. The stakes have rarely been higher for a single cinematic project, so Gunn himself took the task of penning the script and directing the movie.

Instead of a new origin story, Superman takes place years after the Son of Krypton revealed his existence to the world. That explains why the movie will star multiple heroes and villains, including Nathan Fillion as Guy Gardner, Isabela Merced as Hawkgirl, Edi Gathegi as Mister Terrific, Anthony Carrigan as Metamorpho, María Gabriela de Faría as The Engineer, Sean Gunn as Maxwell Lord, and Milly Alcock as Supergirl.

As for the titular character, David Corenswet was chosen as the DCU’s Man of Steel, with Rachel Brosnahan playing Lois Lane. Nicholas Hoult will portray the villainous Lex Luthor.

Peacemaker (Season 2)

• Release date: TBA
• Showrunner: James Gunn

While the first season of Peacemaker was aired before the DCU reboot, Gunn has already written the script for the eight episodes of Season 2. That means Peacemaker will be absorbed into the new DCU, a smart movie from DC Studios. Peacemaker is a direct spinoff of Gunn’s The Suicide Squad, starring John Cena as the titular vigilante. The first season balanced comedy and character growth perfectly, so it would be a shame if the story went to the trashcan after the DCU reboot. 

Since Steve Agee’s John Economos and Viola Davis’ Amanda Waller are coming to Creature Commandos after appearing in The Suicide Squad and Peacemaker, we expect Season 2 of Peacemaker to be more entangled with the general DCU. Furthermore, since the episodes have been drafted, Gunn should tackle Season 2 of Peacemaker as soon as he’s done shooting Superman.

The Authority

• Release date: TBA

In 1992, comic book legend Jim Lee created the WildStorm universe to write superhero stories outside the constraints of Marvel/DC. DC eventually bought the WildStorm universe, using the Multiverse as an excuse to incorporate some characters into their main line of comic books. That’s precisely what happened with The Authority, a superteam getting their own movie in the new DCU.

The members of the Authority believe that the ends justify the means when pursuing world peace, which leads them to take villainous actions against crime, such as killing certain social groups or depositing elected leaders. So, while the Authority thinks of itself as a team of heroes, they are often portrayed as antagonists to the Justice League. The Engineer is one of the core members of the Authority, and she will appear in the Superman movie, played by María Gabriela de Faría. That means even before The Authority hits theaters, Gunn will already use its characters in other stories.

Waller

• Release date: TBA
• Showrunner: Christal Henry & Jeremy Carver

Waller will give Viola Davis her own TV show as the ruthless Amanda Waller, after many years of playing the character in multiple DC projects. The series will follow the titular character after the events of Peacemaker Season 1, when Amanda Waller’s dark deeds were exposed to the whole world.

Waller was initially planned to hit Max before the second season of Peacemaker. However, the series got pushed back due to the writer’s strike of 2023. Now, Waller is expected to premiere after Season 2 of Peacemaker, meaning both stories must be tweaked to become coherent parts of the larger DCU.

The Brave and The Bold

• Release date: TBA
• Director: Andy Muschietti

The Brave and the Bold will introduce a new Batman to the DCU, accompanied by the Damian Wayne iteration of Robin. For those needing a reminder, Damian is the biological son of Bruce Wayne, who was initially trained by the League of Shadows before being rescued and turned into a hero by his father.

The Brave and the Bold will focus on the extended Bat Family and draw inspiration from Grant Morrison’s 2006-2013 run of the Batman comic books. After directing The Flash, Andy Muschietti was chosen to helm The Brave and the Bold. While that might concern fans, since The Flash is horrible, Muschietti deserves the benefit of the doubt. The disastrous result of The Flash was due to many years of development hell and the constant meddling of Warner Bros. Discovery executives. Nevertheless, Muschietti proved to be a good soldier and took the blame for the movie. So, he deserves the chance to show what he can do when granted creative freedom.

Lanterns

• Release date: TBA

According to Gunn and Safran, Lanterns will work as a detective story in which the Green Lanterns investigate a cosmic mystery on Earth. Instead of focusing on a specific iteration of the hero, the TV show will feature Hal Jordan and John Stweart. Hal Jordan is the original comic book Green Lantern, while John Stweart became famous thanks to the fan-favorite animated Justice League animated series. Since Nathan Fillion will appear as Guy Gardner in Superman, he will likely reprise this Green Lantern in the series, too.

While Gunn and Safran have been playing coy about the new DCU, they revealed Lanterns is one of the main projects they are developing. That’s because the mystery the Lanterns will investigate in the show is connected to the overarching threat that will spread throughout the DCU.

Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow

• Release date: TBA
• Writer: Ana Nogueira

Inspired by the comic book miniseries of the same name by King and Bilquis Evely, Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow will follow the tragic story of Milly Alcock as Kara Zor-El, Superman’s cousin. While Superman was sent to Earth to be raised by a loving family, Kara grew up in a fragment of Krypton, watching everyone she loved die while she floated through space. The movie will tell this story and explain the different personalities of the two Kryptonians.

Gunn and Safran described Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow as a “sci-fi epic,” which means the movie will most likely take place in space and explore Kara’s journey. Since Kara already appears in Superman, Supergirl:Woman of Tomorrow might be a prequel.

Paradise Lost

• Release date: TBA

Paradise Lost takes place in Themyschera, the all-female island where Wonder Woman is born. Set before the birth of Diana, the series promises to deliver a gripping political drama not unlike Game of Thrones. The TV show’s title seems to reference Paradise Island Lost, a comic book story by Phil Jimenez and George Pérez that deals with a civil war on the fabled island.

Since Wonder Woman is canonically hundreds of years old, Paradise Lost will take place in the DCU’s far past. The choice to go back in time so much allows Gunn and Safran to create a healthy distance from Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman, who will not be back in the new DCU after Wonder Woman 3 got canceled. So, the new DCU can explore Themyschera’s history and mythology while taking the time to find Gadot’s replacement.

Swamp Thing

• Release date: TBA
• Writer/Director: James Mangold

Swamp Thing explores the origins of one of DC’s most beloved horror characters. The movie will be written and directed by James Mangold, the man behind the fan-favorite Marvel adaptation Logan. 

Swamp Thing is mainly inspired by Alan Moore’s The Saga of the Swamp Thing comic book run, an unsettling body horror story that could result in the scariest DC movie ever. Thanks to Alan Moore, Swamp Thing became a fan-favorite character, so Mangold has the massive weight of expectations over his shoulders. However, according to Gunn, Swamp Thing is a pet project for the director, which is always good to hear. Superhero movies are better when they are made by people who care about the property they’re adapting.

Booster Gold

• Release date: TBA

Booster Gold is the last DCU series in the “God of Monsters” story arc. In DC Comics, Booster Gold is a disgraced football star from the 25th century who travels back in time to gain fame as a superhero. Thanks to the advanced technology he brings back in time, Booster Gold has the power to face supervillains and team up with other superheroes. However, he lacks the know-how of the superhero business, which often leads to comedic situations.

It’s worth noting that Booster Gold frequently teams up with Blue Beetle in the comic books. No one knows if Xolo Maridueña’s version of Blue Bettle will be incorporated into the DCU, but the Booster Gold TV show is an excellent vehicle to bring the hero back.

Teen Titans

• Release date: TBA
• Writer: Ana Nogueira

Even if Gunn and Safran laid out their whole plan for the “Gods and Monsters” arc, a Teen Titans movie is also being developed by DC Studios. That means it might be a while before Teen Titans hit theaters. Even so, the project already has a writer attached to it, Ana Nogueira, who’s also penning the Supergirl movie.

The Teen Titans are a supergroup classically formed by the sidekicks of DC’s greatest heroes and other young crimefighters. While there’s a popular animated series about the team currently airing, Teen Titans Go!, the grounded nature of the DCU indicates the live-action movie should draw inspiration from adaptations such as Young Justice.

Arkham Asylum series

• Release date: TBA
• Showrunner: Antonio Campos

After the success of Matt Reeves’ The Batman, the filmmaker signed a multi-year deal with Warner Bros. Discovery to keep developing his Bat-verse. Reeves is currently working on a spinoff series about the Penguin and two The Batman sequels. At some point, he was also on top of a project about the Gotham Police Department and Arkham Asylum. 

Last we heard about this project, the series had been taken over by showrunner Antonio Campos and refurbished as a DCU project. That means the Arkham Asylum TV show will be set in the central DCU instead of the Elseworlds universe Reeves has been building.

While we have yet to see the first project of James Gunn and Peter Safran’s new DCU, the ambitious reboot of DC’s cinematic universe keeps adding new movies and TV shows to its packed slate. More recently, we learned that the Teen Titans are getting a live-action film.

The idea of a Teen Titans live-action movie is definitely exciting for DC fans. So, of course, the question remains of what previous version of the team will be used as inspiration for the upcoming movie. As it turns out, Gunn already has the perfect blueprint for the Teen Titans movie, and it’s not the one you think.

Who are the Teen Titans?

Created by Bob Haney and Bruno Premiani in 1964, the Teen Titans were initially the sidekicks of some of DC’s biggest heroes, such as Batman and Aquaman. The team didn’t have much success, which led to a long cycle of cancelation of their comic books and revivals. 

The Teen Titans became a staple in DC Comics after a relaunch led by Marv Wolfman and George Perez in 1980. This version of the team not only used DC sidekicks, but also incorporated Beast Boy and created brand-new characters, such as Cyborg, Raven, and Starfire. Wolfman and Perez’s Teen Titans run was a huge success, turning the team into a fan-favorite for comic book readers.

The Teen Titans took another step on the path to stardom with one of the best animated series developed by Cartoon Network. The Teen Titans animated series helped the team to become wildly known and helped all its main characters establish themselves as major DC players. The Teen Titans show was so successful that Cyborg would even go on to become part of the Justice League in the comic books and, later on, Zack Snyder’s DCEU movies.

Thanks to the Teen Titans’ first animated series, the team became mainstream. A second animated series, Teen Titans Go!, is still running after seven seasons and almost 400 episodes. The team also got a live-action series, Titans, set in the same universe as the wonderful Doom Patrol TV show. There are plenty of material the upcoming project can use to see which ideas get better received by the fans. Yet, the Teen Titans DCU movie should actually be based on Young Justice.

The Teen Titans movie should draw inspiration from Young Justice

Young Justice is unanimously acclaimed as one of the best – if not the best – animated adaptations of DC storylines. Expanding beyond the scope of the Teen Titans, the Young Justice team includes dozens of young heroes working together in covert missions for the Justice League. The idea is to let young heroes hone their skills while remaining outside the public eye so that they do not have to worry about the media-facing side of the business and the frequent retaliation by supervillains.

While the original Teen Titans animated series also puts character growth above everything else, Young Justice has a few obvious advantages. For starters, Teen Titans focused on the team independently of a bigger superhero universe. In Young Justice, however, the young heroes are constantly dealing with the senior members of the Justice League, which helps to establish their place in the larger DC universe. Since Gunn and Safran are now working on an interconnected universe that will tell a single story, the Teen Titans movie also needs to position the young team as a piece of the larger DC puzzle.

In addition, since the members of the Young Justice team have to answer to the Justice League in the animated series, the show successfully depicts the differences between the two teams. What changes between the Justice League and the Young Justice are not only the people and powers, but also the level of accountability and the consequences of their mistakes. From projects such as The Suicide Squad and Peacemaker, we can tell Gunn is determined to tell stories grounded in real-world problems and complex characters. Young Justice perfectly captures this tone.

Finally, Young Justice has one more advantage over Teen Titans: it allows its characters to get older and take on new roles in the DC universe. Each new season of Young Justice introduces new young heroes, while the previous team members join the Justice League, retire, or decide to brave their own crimefighting path. Young Justice perfectly balances bringing new people into the fold, and giving old favorites different stories to tell, which is precisely what Gunn needs to do to keep the DCU alive for many years to come.

It’s too soon to know which direction the upcoming Teen Titans movie will take. Still, Gunn is committed to creating a cohesive cinematic universe with a select group of artists he trusts. That’s why Teen Titans will be written by Ana Nogueira, who’s already penning the script for Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow. The first DCU project we’ll watch is the animated series Creature Commandos, expected to hit Max by the end of 2024. The first movie of the cinematic universe, however, is Superman, currently scheduled for July 11, 2025.

You might think that in 2024, which marks an incredible 85 years since his comic book debut, every single type of Batman story going has already been told.

Batman if he looked like the guy from American Psycho? They’ve done it. Batman teaming up with two Ezra Millers to talk about spaghetti? For some reason, they’ve done that too. And yet here comes Batman Azteca: Choque De Imperios to prove us wrong and make apparent that there are still fresh takes on the Dark Knight to be explored after all these decades.

A wholly unique DC animated movie, Batman Azteca will move the Caped Crusader out of modern-day Gotham City for once and drop him down into Mesoamerica. With DC Studios co-CEOs James Gunn and Peter Safran credited as executive producers, the film is believed to be the first of Gunn’s much-touted “Elseworlds” titles, those releases that fall outside of the continuity of the burgeoning DCU to tell self-contained stories set in their own, very different universes.

And Batman Azteca is certainly very different from any other screen iteration of the hero we’ve had so far. Here’s all you need to know about the Central American Batman you never knew you needed.

What is Batman Azteca: Choque De Imperios about?

English title Aztec Batman: Clash of Empires, the animated movie was announced back in June 2022, along with the release of some gorgeous promo art which unveiled our first look at the titular twist on the iconic character. As you would expect, Aztec Batman will be a wholly original interpretation of the Bat-Mythos, drawing from both historical events and characters and Mesoamerican mythology to bring its world to life. As the synopsis reads:

“In the time of the Aztec Empire, Yohualli Coatl — a young Aztec boy — experiences tragedy when his father and village leader, Toltecatzin, is murdered by Spanish Conquistadors. Yohualli escapes to Tenochtitlan to warn King Moctezuma and his high priest, Yoka, of imminent danger. Using the temple of Tzinacan, the bat god, as a lair, Yohualli trains with his mentor and assistant, Acatzin, developing equipment and weaponry to confront the Spaniard invasion, protect Moctezuma’s temple, and avenge his father’s death.”

Who is in Batman Azteca: Choque De Imperios?

The full cast for Batman Azteca has yet to be revealed at the time of writing, but nonetheless we know who’s playing the titular version of the flying rodent-themed vigilante. Narcos: Mexico star Horacio Garcia Rojas takes the lead as Yohualli while Omar Chaparro (Detective Pikachu) voices Yoka — a character that something tells us is this universe’s variant of the Joker. Álvaro Morte (Money Heist) portrays Two-Face aka real-life figure Hernán Cortés. José Carlos Illanes, meanwhile, voices another actual Spanish conquistador, Pedro de Alvarado (he’ll presumably turn out to be a Batman villain too).

We’re not yet aware who’s voicing Yohualli’s right-hand man, Acatzin, although it’s clear he’s the Aztec answer to Alfred. We also know that the movie will feature the likes of Forest Ivy (Poison Ivy) and Jaguar Woman (Catwoman), but their voice performers have likewise yet to be announced. By the looks of things, though, the film promises to end up with an all-Mexican cast.

Where and when could Batman Azteca: Choque De Imperios release?

Although it is typical for Warner Bros, to release its DC animated movies straight to digital and DVD, Batman Azteca is not a typical animated movie so it is actually being pitched as a streaming exclusive that is on its way to Max. While we don’t yet know exactly when it could arrive, the fact that HBO Max Latin America debuted a first-look image from the film (see the pic at the top of the page) indicates that the most unlikely Batman movie of the year — somehow even more so than dark musical Joker Folie à Deux — could hit streaming sometime in the first half of 2024.

Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League was supposed to herald in a new era for Rocksteady Games and the beloved Arkham-verse. Instead, it’s looking like it may achieve what the Joker and Brainiac never could – wiping out this iteration of the DC universe forever and leaving no survivors. After a troubled development period marked by delays, disastrous previews, and slippery interviews in which developers insisted that this live service game was not a live service game, the full product emerged earlier this month to underwhelming reviews.

Many suspected the game had flopped, but now we have the confirmation from Warner Bros. themselves. In a financial call, Warner Bros. Discovery’s chief financial officer Gunnar Wiedenfels has admitted that Suicide Squad has “fallen short of our expectations”.

How short? Let’s look at what data we have. First up, the game debuted at #19 on the Xbox charts, which is far lower than Warner Bros. would have liked. It then proceeded to quickly crash out of the top 50 most-played games. The numbers are less opaque over on Steam, where the ever-useful SteamDB gives us precise player numbers at any given time.

As you may have surmised from the headline, as of writing 579 people are playing the game on Steam right now. If you would like to imagine what this means in real terms, you could almost certainly fit 579 people in one decently sized multiplex screening, so Warner Bros.’ multimillion-dollar nine-year development investment is currently entertaining the same number of people as a single sold-out screening of Madame Web.

By way of comparison to another live service game, the recently released Helldivers 2 currently has 215,419 players in-game. What all this means is that Suicide Squad is flatlining and we’d be astonished if the promised multi-season roadmap is completed. Sure, we’ll get the Joker DLC coming in March, but beyond that we suspect it’s game over for Suicide Squad. Let’s just hope the offline mode gets patched in before then.

1999’s Batman Beyond is still wholly unique in the long history of screen media based on DC’s Dark Knight as it’s the only major incarnation of the franchise to move the story beyond Bruce Wayne’s time in the cape and cowl. In the beloved cyberpunk-flavored series, an elderly Bruce Wayne trains up cocky high school kid Terry McGinnis to be the new Batman and to take down a whole host of new threats to what is now called Neo-Gotham/

Honestly, even more so than getting audiences to care about a Batman who wasn’t Bruce, the biggest challenge Beyond faced was in building up a brand-new robust rogues gallery that could measure up to what is one of the absolute finest in both comics and pop culture at large. The genius move taken by the showrunners was to borrow from another iconic rogues gallery instead. With Terry possessing many similarities to Peter Parker, so do many of his villains mirror memorable Spider-Man foes.

Across three seasons of 52 episodes, Batman Beyond was a fountain of creativity and cool ideas, one that has stubbornly refused to spawn a big-screen spinoff — despite how epic one would be. So how about we set one of these 10 terrific villains from the show’s run on Warner Bros. execs until they finally give us a movie?

10. Robert Vance

Don’t be fooled by his lack of a supervillain alias, Robert Vance is one of the most dangerous and inhuman foes Terry McGinnis ever faced. Once the brilliant CEO of a tech company, Vance was diagnosed with an incurable brain disorder that led him to digitize his mind. His hunger for power grew, however, and he manipulated his grandson, Terry’s schoolmate Bobby, into hooking him up to the net. His most impressive feat, though? Taking control of the batsuit itself, leaving Terry to fight it with just his bare knuckles and wits.

9. Royal Flush Gang

Batman Beyond introduced a new incarnation of classic DC supervillain group the Royal Flush Gang, reimagining them as a family of crooks with hi-tech gadgets. Flying around on hoverboards shaped like playing cards, the Gang consisted of King, Queen, Jack, their android Ace, and Ten. Ten, aka Melanie Walker, is what really lifts the Royal Flush Gang. Very much Terry’s counterpart to Catwoman — or Black Cat, in Spider-Man terns — Terry and Melanie were very attracted to each other despite existing on opposite sides of the law.

8. Shriek

Sometimes Batman Beyond didn’t even try to hide its Spider-Man influences. Marvel fans will be familiar with Shocker, the Spidey baddie who uses sonic tech to commit crimes. Well, meet Shriek, the Batman Beyond baddie who… uses sonic tech to commit crimes. What he lacks in originality, though, Shriek makes up for with his nifty design and the exploration of tech corrupting human nature being one of the series’ key themes.

7. Dee Dee (and the Jokerz)

By the time of Batman Beyond, the Joker has become an unlikely icon for the next generation and the biggest gang of criminal youths operating in the city are the Jokerz. The two most memorable Jokerz are Dee Dee, a pair of mischievous, acrobatic twins who serve as henchwomen for the various Jokerz gang leaders. In Return of the Joker, we find out it runs in the family — Dee Dee are actually the granddaughters of Harley Quinn!

6. Curaré

Ra’s al-Ghul and his League (or Society) of Assassins returned for Batman Beyond, so he almost earned a spot on this list, but let’s give the placement to the show’s original Society of Assassins creation instead — Curaré, a strikingly designed and conceived character. A mute, blue-skinned woman who covers her unseen but apparently horrific face behind a niqab, the Spider-Man villain Curaré is inspired by takes a moment to figure out — as her mission is to hunt and kill Batman, she is Terry’s answer to Kraven.

5. Spellbinder

Not all Terry’s foes match Peter Parker’s, though. Sometimes they are very much proxies for the villains faced by his own mentor, Bruce. Spellbinder, for example, feels like the successor to the mantle of Jonathan Crane aka Scarecrow, only with more monetary goals in mind. An embittered psychiatrist working at Terry’s high school, he uses his knowledge of the mind (and sometimes VR tech) to hypnotize the schoolkids to steal from their parents.

4. Starro

Seeing as Starro the Conqueror was the very first villain the Justice League faced in the comics, it was a stroke of genius to make Starro the villain of the Justice League’s first story in the DCAU. In season 2’s “The Call,” Batman Beyond finally joins the Justice League Unlimited but discovers a terrible secret — for the past 10 years, Superman and the League have been controlled by the psychic squid who has been stealthily invading the planet! Yes, Batman Beyond proved how sinister Starro could be long before The Suicide Squad.

3. Inque

A seductive femme fatale whose body is made up of an inky, gloopy substance, Inque is what happens if you blend together Poison Ivy and Marvel’s Venom. A mercenary who submitted to an experiment to give her shapeshifting abilities, Inque is one of Terry’s most mysterious and troublesome foes, who even got some much-needed nuance when her daughter, Deanna, was introduced. Inque has to be the single most popular Batman Beyond villain when it comes to fan art.

2. Joker 2

You can’t have any incarnation of Batman without the Joker, so on the face of it the spinoff movie Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker seems like a lazy cash-in. However, the film might just be Beyond‘s finest hour as it introduces a unique, tragic, and truly dark incarnation of the Crown Prince of Crime. Decades after his death, the Joker somehow returns to terrorize Gotham. How? To say any more would be to spoil a movie so mature and shocking it was heavily edited before releasing (the original version is now widely available, however).

1. Blight

If Terry McGinnis is the Spider-Man of Batmen then who should his arch-nemesis be? Why, his own answer to the Green Goblin, obviously. Enter Derek Powers AKA Blight, a very Norman Osborn-alike business magnate who has taken over Wayne Enterprises. In a twist on the Goblin character, though, the handsome Powers is just a mask for his true ghoulish, radioactive form. Blight served as the main antagonist of the show’s first season and has proved so popular he’s crossed over into the comics. If there ever was a Batman Beyond movie, expect the villain to be him.

You would think anyone attached to Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and Across the Spider-Verse would have studios jumping at the opportunity to work with them, but it turns out even that kind of resumé may fall short in Hollywood. Spider-Verse producer and production designer Yuhki Demers has asked X for help getting his latest pitch — a Batman Beyond animated movie — to James Gunn after five months of pitching across Warner Bros. ranks.

What is the Batman Beyond movie?

Not so much a movie as it is a concept at this point, the Batman Beyond animated feature is Demers and writer/director artist Patrick Harpin’s “baby.” The two developed an outline and concept art for the movie, which they took to Warner Bros. in the hopes of reaching DC Studios’ head James Gunn.

According to Demers’ account, posted on his X profile, they were told there was “no way” this movie could get done. However, the “never” turned into a “maybe” after the duo presented their package. The art, which features the Bruce Wayne successor from the Batman Beyond animated series, Terry McGinnis, in a fight against resident villain Inque, is strikingly reminiscent of the vibrant animation of the Spider-Verse movies, with a distinct noir Gotham feel. The combination has captivated fans, who are now adamant about getting the pitch to Gunn.

What is Batman Beyond?

Batman Beyond is a popular animated superhero television series based in the DC Universe that aired between 1999 and 2001 on Kids’ WB (The WB’s children’s programming block). Created by Paul Dini, Bruce Timm, and Alan Burnett, it imagined a future where an older Bruce Wayne is forced to retire due to his decaying health, enlisting and mentoring teenager Terry McGinnis to replace him.

The show’s futuristic, cyberpunk style paired with darker themes earned praise and a cult following, going on to win two Annie Awards in 1999 and 2001. It lasted for three seasons, with the latter two being generally considered weaker than their predecessor. In 2000, Warner Bros. Animation released a direct-to-video feature film based on the show called Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker, featuring Mark Hamill as the voice of the Clown Prince of Crime. Multiple comic book series were also developed after the show.

Will the Batman Beyond animated movie happen?

A live-action movie was reportedly in development years ago before the DC Extended Universe came crashing down. In 2023, when James Gunn took over the rebranded DC Studios there were also rumors Walter Hamada had hired Daniel Casey (F9, Kin) to write a Batman Beyond animated movie that would have allegedly been “DC’s answer to Into the Spider-Verse.“

James Gunn has promised a slate of animated endeavors as part of his interconnected multimedia universe which could only benefit from a project as stylish as the one Demers and Harpin appear to be cooking up. The critical and cultural acclaim Spider-Verse has gathered as well as the buzz Demers’ post is already generating on social media (a space Gunn is famously active in) could very well get this passion project all the way to the finish line.

How has DC managed to drop the ball so much with an IP as rich and ripe with potential as Green Lantern? Following 2011’s Ryan Reynolds-starring flop, Warner Bros. never managed to get another version of the GL Corps on our screens, but not for lack of trying. Thankfully, after movies and TV shows helmed by everyone from Christopher McQuarrie to Seth Grahame-Smith came and went, James Gunn is finally giving us a Lanterns TV series, on its way to Max, as part of his shiny, new DCU.

Not much is known about the show to date, but we know it will focus on legendary Green Lanterns Hal Jordan and John Stewart. It’s anyone’s guess who could replace Reynolds as Jordan, but one fan-favorite contender has thrown their name into the ring to play Stewart. Here’s the thing, though: if Marvel wants to unleash its inner Sinestro and steal a sneaky win from its rebooted rival, then the MCU should swoop in and cast this guy as its own answer to Green Lantern. Namely, Nova.

Aldis Hodge wants to be James Gunn’s Green Lantern, but he should be the MCU’s instead

Yes, Black Adam star Aldis Hodge is unlikely to get the chance to reprise his role as Hawkman again, as Dwayne Johnson’s corner of the defunct DCEU will definitely not be folded into Gunn’s plans, but he has made it known that he’s very up for playing Stewart instead. While speaking to ComicBook.com, Hodge reminded us that he’s been portraying the part in animation for years now, voicing the character since 2022’s Green Lantern: Beware My Power movie. So to hop over to live-action would be a literal dream come true. “I mean, that was one of my dreams growing up was to be John Stewart in live action. So yeah,” he admitted.

Unfortunately for Hodge, Gunn seems to be averse to doubling up on those already playing DC heroes in animation. For example, Hodge’s co-star in the animated Tomorrowverse, Meg Donnelly, came close to landing the live-action Supergirl but ultimately lost out to Milly Alcock. So maybe the star should be open to switching multiverses and helping Marvel out with its most plagued upcoming streaming project. The hook? Nova would basically be the MCU’s own Green Lantern.

Richard Rider’s origins, as a regular human who is chosen by the Nova Force and becomes a cosmic policeman, is pretty much beat for beat a match for DC’s GL. Unfortunately, the Green Lantern curse seems to have spread to Marvel, too, as a Nova project has been on the back-burner at the House of Ideas for years now. Rumors abound that there’s either a miniseries or special stuck in development hell. Maybe Hodge could be the one to help it finally break free and onto Disney Plus.

Hodge might be mostly a DC boy, but this is the guy who started a campaign to play Black Panther way back in 2012. Something tells me he wouldn’t take too much tempting to come over to the Marvel side. Kevin Feige, do us all a favor and give this man a (power) ring.

It’d be so much simpler if Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League was a complete disaster. If this game were a buggy, ugly, mess populated by unlikeable characters and riddled from top to bottom with predatory microtransactions writing a review would be easy. But, frustratingly, there’s just enough of the Rocksteady Studios I knew and loved in this game to make its mediocrity that much more painful.

After a nine-year wait, Suicide Squad is the long-in-development sequel to Rocksteady Studios’ beloved Arkham games. Some years after 2015’s Arkham Knight, Brainiac has invaded Metropolis and now threatens the world. You play as Harley Quinn, Deadshot, Captain Boomerang and King Shark, sprung from Arkham Asylum to blast their way through his army of alien invaders and save the day. The wrinkle? Brainiac has corrupted the Justice League and, as you may have guessed by the title, it’s murderin’ time.

Let’s get into the good stuff first. Since Arkham Asylum Rocksteady’s character design team has been one of the best in the industry and they’re firing on all cylinders here. Each of the four playable characters is impeccably detailed and enormously expressive – seeing their faces in close-up (particularly their eyes) is a graphical marvel.

Voice acting is also outstanding, which is fortunate as nobody ever shuts up. Battles are crammed with chirpy dialogue between squad members and exploration is done to a hum of radio chatter from allies and enemies. This is also the final (maybe) Batman performance from the legendary and much-missed Kevin Conroy and while it’s icky that his post-mortem performance comes in a game in which you’re out to kill him, he’s clearly having fun chewing scenery in villain mode.

The story is also mostly well-told. From the off everyone acknowledges that a woman with a baseball bat, a boomerang guy, a sharpshooter and a shark-man have little chance of being able to take down any member of the Justice League, let alone Superman himself. But everyone loves an underdog story and James Gunn has provided a rock-solid template on how to make them work with the Guardians of the Galaxy movies, with Suicide Squad cribbing his notes to the point where King Shark pretty much is Drax with a fin on his head.

There’s also an admirable focus on keeping the story moving forward, though pace comes at the expense of gravitas. Yes, you will kill the most famous superheroes in popular culture, but literal seconds after their death the camera pans away from their bodies and the story moves on without pausing for reflection. Arguably this feeds into the irreverent nature of this team, but you’d think even these amoral characters would pause for breath after executing apparently invincible and beloved cultural icons they each have a complicated personal history with.

Over the nine hours it took me to reach the credits, I kept pushing on to see what happened next in the story. Sadly, the closer you get to the end, the more things fall apart. As you head into the final act the game attempts to ease you into the ‘endgame’, trying weakly to justify an endless series of generic missions to keep players engaged (i.e. spending money). The upshot is that the story doesn’t so much end as fizzle out. Perhaps a proper ending will come in future updates, but I can only review what’s in front of me rather than a vague promise of what might one day arrive.

At least the core combat is relatively engaging. There’s nothing groundbreaking about it and it’s a missed opportunity to have these four different characters play similarly to one another, but shots land with a weighty thump, wiping out a group of enemies with a cluster grenade is satisfying, and I always enjoy games that encourage aggression to regain health. There are also several crafting/affliction systems but, at least on normal difficulty, it wasn’t necessary to engage with them at all. Picking the guns with the highest damage output is all you’ll need to see the credits without much fuss.

Though the combat is competent the same can’t be said for the mission design: being asked to defend a slow-moving truck ambling through Metropolis isn’t fun the first time, let alone the fifth or sixth time, to say nothing of bland tasks like defending a plant or feeding tokens into a nav point. These feel like the first drafts of mission template and all ultimately boil down to blasting glowing purple weak spots on objects or enemies. During the campaign, you have the carrot of the ongoing narrative dangled in front of you. After the credits that’s gone and I can’t fathom why anyone would stick around for progress as fulfilling as running on a hamster wheel.

That’s compounded by there being almost no variation in what you’re asked to do. In Arkham Knight you had hand-to-hand combat, stealth sections, detective work, environmental traversal, batmobile races, and puzzle rooms. The vast majority of Suicide Squad is blasting generic enemies on rooftops, with only the brief vestigial Riddler challenges echoing back to Rocksteady at their best.

Suicide Squad also botches the promise of its title. As you can predict, the boss fights take place against the Justice League. Rocksteady has pedigree here, with Arkham City‘s Mr. Freeze fight considered one of the greatest bosses ever. Any game designer worth their salt should relish the challenge of creating a blockbuster throwdown against the Justice League, and Insomniac’s recent Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 shows how dazzling a superpowered throwdown on modern hardware can be.

So it gives me no great pleasure to report that every single boss is underwhelming: they zip around a large arena as you wait for a counter prompt, after which you shoot them until they flop onto the ground dead. Sure, the plot establishes why a machine gun can harm Superman, but what should be epic and emotional nail-biter boss fights against gods among men are all damp squibs. And don’t even get me started on the ludicrous Batman boss…

There’s some mitigation for Rocksteady here. The co-op focus means that every boss encounter needs to be designed around four players, and when your combat verbs are shooting, tossing grenades, and flying about, the options for designing an imaginative boss encounter rapidly contract into… well, the dull Suicide Squad bosses.

As the hours ticked by, you sense the tension between Rocksteady’s design talents and the limitations of the games-as-a-service online template. At first, I kept matchmaking set to public, letting any other player leap into my game to help me out. But to anyone here for the story this quickly proves a bad idea: firstly the random players I matched with were much less helpful than the bots and secondly, nothing ruins a cutscene quicker than a large reminder in the corner of the screen that the people you’re matched with have skipped it and are impatiently waiting for you to return.

I gave up on that, turned off matchmaking altogether and the game proved more fun as a solo experience. Though this makes a mockery that, at launch at least, there’s no way to play Suicide Squad without being online. Mindboggling.

I just feel bad for Rocksteady. The Suicide Squad team boasts some of the most talented artists in the industry and for many, this was clearly a labor of love. But while there are enjoyable elements, the design foundations of the game are rotten and the longer you play the shallower the experience becomes.

I desperately hope Rocksteady can bounce back from this and get back to a focused single-player adventure, though given the modern realities of the gaming industry I can only feel pessimistic about their immediate future.

This review is based on the PlayStation 5 version of the game. A copy was provided to us for review by Warner Bros. Games.

The DCU is big enough for two Kryptonians, apparently. Although it took the old DCEU a full decade to follow-up Henry Cavill’s Superman with Sasha Calle’s Kara Zor-El, James Gunn’s universe is wasting no time in introducing the cousin to David Corenswet’s Kal-El in Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow.

Before Superman: Legacy even begnis shooting in spring 2024, pre-production on Woman of Tomorrow was already knee-deep. A script from writer Ana Nogueira, based on writer Tom King and artist Bilquis Evely’s comic book of the same name, is complete and the title role has already been cast (more on that in a moment). In a surprising move, all signs are pointing to the film being the second cinematic entry in the DCU, ahead of the Batman movie The Brave and the Bold.

Although the Girl of Steel just returned to the big screen in 2023’s The Flash, this is the first time Supergirl has helmed her own theatrically released film since 1984 — that’s a whopping 40 years for those struggling to do the math. Needless to say, the hype among DC die-hards is real. Although much about the production is still a mystery, we can still use our X-ray vision to uncover some of what’s in store in Woman of Tomorrow.

Who stars in Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow?

Beating out the likes of Meg Donnelly (Zombies) and Emilia Jones (CODA), House of the Dragon star Milly Alcock has been cast as Kara in Woman of Tomorrow. This makes her only the second leading DCU actor to be found to date. With a director yet to be attached to the project, however, there have been no other casting updates at the time of writing.

Still, it’s easy to speculate that David Corenswet could drop by for at least a cameo as Clark Kent. Neither Supergirl ’84 or The Flash (outside of the eerie Slater/Reeve cameo) found room to feature Superman and Supergirl sharing the screen, which is an egregious oversight given the defining familial relationship between the two heroes. So hopefully Gunn and the film’s team will put that right this time around.

What is Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow about?

From everything we’ve heard, Woman of Tomorrow will be a very faithful adaptation of the original comic. In short, it’s a cosmic quest narrative telling a self-contained storyline in which Kara accompanies a young alien woman, Ruthye Marye Knoll, as they journey across the stars in search of the evil assassin, Krem of the Yellow Hills, who killed Ruthye’s father.

Without many familiar DC characters involved — although Kara is joined by her animal sidekicks, Krypto and Comet the horse — Woman of Tomorrow will be pretty much the opposite of The Flash in terms of showcasing Supergirl’s character without any kind of wider franchise or crossover distractions. According to Gunn, the protagonist will be “much more hardcore and not the Supergirl we’re used to.”

This fits with the depiction of Supergirl in the comics too. The story begins with Supergirl travelling to another planet on her 21st birthday to let off some steam, as she’s feeling stuck under the shadow of her more famous cousin on Earth. A Supergirl who’s resentful of Clark and less squeaky-clean is certainly an intriguing prospect. As is the notion that being away from Earth’s sun means Kara has no powers, therefore she won’t be defined by her abilities in the film but by her personality.

When could Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow release?

At this point, Legacy is the only film on the DCU’s slate to have a firm release date, but comments Gunn has made about Woman of Tomorrow mean we can make a rough guess at when it will hit cinemas.

In January 2023, Gunn came clean to DC.com about when he expects the film to be released in conjunction with Legacy. “We’ll have a Superman com[ing] out. And then two years later, we have Supergirl coming out,” he admitted. At the same time, he teased that there could be a game in development that takes place between the two movies and could even star Krypto, so that’s something for fans to watch out for.

So what does this “two years later” comment mean? Well, Legacy arrives in theaters on July 11, 2025. So clearly the aim is for Supergirl to follow sometime in 2027. Perhaps even July 2027, if Gunn’s time frame is accurate to the month. It’s currently unclear if it will be the second DCU film released or if another could get moving to drop in 2026.

Those used to the speed with which Marvel makes its movies may be surprised by how far away Supergirl is coming, but this is just part and parcel of Gunn’s “quality over quantity” mantra. As he once told Variety, “I’m a writer at my heart, and we’re not going to be making movies before the screenplay is finished.” It might seem like a long wait but, honestly, we’ll thank him in the long run.

The Multiverse Saga sure is doing a real number on MCU continuity, isn’t it? Sorry for those who don’t care about the nuts and bolts of Marvel canon, but honestly, if you’re here reading this then you probably do.

Loki has torn apart the Sacred Timeline and rebuilt it anew, first we were told the Defenders Saga wasn’t canon but then we were told that it was, and let’s not even get started on She-Hulk punching holes through the fourth wall. Speaking of, things are bound to get even more canon-crazy when Deadpool 3 releases this July. And the proof is already here…

New Deadpool 3 synopsis confirms Wade and Wolverine are about to tear up the MCU

You’d better believe Deadpool 3 is going to be Marvel’s first R-rated movie — even its synopses are for mature eyes only. A new Japanese plot summary for the threequel deploys the shocking bombshell that it will see the “f***ing irresponsible hero Deadpool change the history of the MCU with Wolverine.” Excuse me, he’ll what now? Does Kevin Feige know about this? If Deadpool 3 repeats the ending of The Flash and has George Clooney turn up as Iron Man in the final frame, it had better make all the money. If anyone can erase Marvel’s box office troubles from the timeline, it’s Deadpool.

Captain America: Brave New World‘s new suit for Sam Cap gives up its secrets too soon

Ah, merch: both Marvel’s greatest money-maker and its biggest bane. Thanks to a rogue snap that’s made its way online, we’ve now got our first look at the new superhero suit worn by Anthony Mackie’s Sam Wilson in Captain America: Brave New World. As you’d expect, reactions are split down the middle, like Steve Rogers’ shield after Thanos had a go at it. Partly that’s because Sam only got to wear his last one for just five minutes at the end of Falcon and the Winter Soldier and we all liked it. Sure, it’s a brave new world but we would’ve been fine with a familiar old suit.

Guardians 3‘s James Gunn and Zoe Saldaña seem all but confirmed to reunite in the DCU

The one shining light of Marvel’s misshapen 2023 was Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, which earned a whopping $845 million at the box office. The only problem is that writer/director James Gunn has since hopped to DC, and it looks like he’s taking his Guardians with him. Gamora herself Zoe Saldaña has admitted she would love to work with Gunn again on a new superhero project, while Gunn has similarly admitted that he’s already got some roles for her in mind. Add in Sean “Kraglin” Gunn playing Maxwell Lord and persistent rumors Chris Pratt could be Booster Gold, and it seems likely that the entire Guardians team could reassemble one day… Just not in the MCU. Oh well, if it does happen, blame Deadpool for messing with the timeline.