During a recent earnings call with Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders, WB CEO David Zaslav celebrated the successful release of DC Studios first feature film, Superman, and teased “an ambitious, 10-year plan of interconnected sequels and spinoffs,” for the all-new, all-different DCU.
“The DC vision is clear, the momentum is real. I couldn’t be more excited for what’s ahead,” said Zaslav, before teasing one of those “interconnected spinoffs,” that he called the “next movie in the Super-Family,” which he confirmed would be written and directed by DC Studios co-chair James Gunn.
Gunn has teased the project on social media for some time, revealing it would star David Corenswet while never referring to it as a “true” sequel. Zaslav’s comments sparked a wave of theories about what the film might ultimately be but now a behind-the-scenes featurette, Adventures in the Making of Superman, may have given away the film’s co-star and villain.
At the 2:17 mark of the featurette, a storyboard for an unused scene comes into view for a couple of seconds as Gunn describes his love for “the Superman family comics.” The storyboard features Superman, Supergirl and Krypto flying but a closer look at the bottom corner reveals the head of one of the House of El’s greatest enemies: Brainiac.
That scene clearly never made it into Superman nor did Brainiac; however, it’s entirely possible that the idea from what was likely an earlier draft of the film was removed and has been developed by Gunn for the “Super(man)-Family” film Zaslav mentioned. Gunn had previously revealed that the villain “was considered” for Superman and with Supergirl hitting theaters in 2026, it wouldn’t take much to give some background to Brainiac’s fascination with Kryptonions and reveal that he visited Krypton before it was destroyed and shrunk and stole the capital city of Kandor.
Of course, there’s some chance it could have been a random inclusion but by letting it linger on screen while discussing the House of El, it certainly seems like an intentional tease.
The first teaser for DC Studios’ Superman garnered over 250 million views in its first day, making it, according to DC Studios’ co-chair and the film’s director James Gunn, the most viewed trailer in the history of DC and its parent company, Warner Bros. Given the latter’s century-long history of producing some of Hollywood’s biggest movies, that’s an incredible accomplishment.
The teaser provided the first look at David Corenswet‘s Man of Steel and the all-new DCU and it looks as though there will be a lot going on both in Metropolis and around the globe. In fact, it’s possible that at least a few of those 250 million views came from fans checking out the trailer multiple times while trying to uncover some clues about a mysterious figure seen on the front page of The Daily Planet.
Visible in several different scenes, the front page story of the paper boasts the headline “Hammer of Boravia Creates Havoc Downtown” next to a photo of said Hammer. Without a clear look at the photo, fans began to theorize about who the character may be with classic DC villain and Legion of Doom member Gorilla Grodd a popular pick. The character does, after all, appear in Creature Commandos and the blurry image does contain a pretty bulky figure. However, a high-res copy of the paper obtained by Twitter user DCU Updates reveals exactly who the chaos causer is and some very intriguing details that add context to the teaser.
Here is the high res version of the paper and below is the article, written by Clark Kent of course pic.twitter.com/WiXhUtFEza
It turns out the mysterious “Hammer of Boravia” is actually just the Hammer of Boravia, a character it seems that Gunn created for the movie rather than someone drawn from DC Comics’ lore. And he’s made the front page The Daily Planet because he came to town looking to tangle with Superman after the Man of Steel took it upon himself to end Boravia’s invasion of its neighboring country, Jarhanpur.
Metropolis was targeted by a superpowered mystery man on Sunday, resulting in over 20 million dollars in damage to the city. The self-titled “Hammer of Boravia” attacked Downtown Metropolis claiming it was retribution for the recent political interventions in Boravia by Superman. This vengeful expedition turned into a terrorist assault on American soil, hospitalizing 22 Metropolis citizens. Boravia has been the source of numerous headlines worldwide in recent weeks as it invaded its neighboring country Jarhanpur, only for the brief war to be swiftly ended by the Superman. The President of Boravia, Vasil Glarkos(?), maintains the Hammer of Boravia is not a representative of the national government, but rather an independent vigilante.
As theorized here, Superman seems to have taken inspiration from one of the character’s earliest comic book adventures which saw him single-handedly put a stop to a civil war raging in Boravia. It remains to be seen what stake, if any, LuthorCorps has in the Boravian invasion of Jarhanpur and if that’s how Superman ends up in the sights of Nicholas Hoult ‘s Lex Luthor.
When addressing the political ramifications of his actions, Superman said, “While critics thousands of miles away from this conflict continue to argue if what I did was right or wrong, the bottom line is peoples lives were threatened. I had to act.”
The notion of Superman inserting himself into global geopolitics isn’t novel, having played a major role in the character’s DC Comics history, with the character once having renounced his U.S. citizenship in Action Comics #900. “I’m tired of having my actions construed as instruments of U.S. policy,” the hero said, adding “Truth, justice and the American way – it’s not enough anymore. The world’s too small. Too connected” And that certainly seems to be the vibe Gunn was after by having the character involved in the invasion of Jarhanpur.
After a nearly decade at Marvel Studios in which he built the foundation for the MCU’s Cosmic corner, James Gunn has now endeavored to build something far more massive. As the co-CEO of DC Studios, Gunn seeks to find the sweet spot that allows for DC Comics rich stable of characters and stories to carve out its own space in the spotlight while also providing a way to ensure the fledgling shared universe has the same kind of staying power Marvel Studios has managed to display.
Gunn’s experience at as a filmmaker Marvel, where he directed three films and one special presentation in the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise, certainly wasn’t entirely positive. While Guardians of the Galaxy was nearly universally beloved, each of its sequels presented their own unique challenges, including, according to Gunn, some of his own making and one in particular that he’s eager to avoid as he builds the base of the DCU.
While talking to Phase Hero about DC Studios’ first theatrical project, Superman, Gunn was asked if the film would feature any end credits scenes, a tradition fans of superhero projects have grown accustomed to thanks to Marvel Studios. Gunn‘s response indicated that his ideas on the popular scenes have evolved over time.
“Sort of,” said Gunn when asked by Brandon Davis is Superman would have a credits scene. Before explaining what his plans were, he explained what they are not.
“If you look at my credits scene on the Marvel movies, the one time I fucked myself was when I put Adam Warlock inbecause then I’m like, ‘Oh shit, now I gotta put Adam Warlock in the next movie,’ which actually was a pain in the ass.”
-James Gunn
Admitting to having painted himself into a corner by having to work Adam Warlock into Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 isn’t all that surprising both because Gunn has always been incredibly introspective and because it was fairly obvious to anyone who watched the film that the character wasn’t a great fit for the story. Gunn’s awareness that Marvel’s credits scene tradition, which began as fun, well-intended source of “water cooler conversation”, has developed into an issue for the studio is refreshing. The scenes have distracted from the films, aren’t always followed up and have dipped in quality over the years; in short, it’s time for them to go, or at least become less important. And it sounds as though that’s what Gunn has in mind for whatever credit scenes he has cooked up for Superman.
“SoI’m not gonna set up whole universes with end credits scenes,” Gunn told Savis. “I love giving audiences who sit through all of the credits end credits scenes but I’d rather it be something that’s fun for fans and not necessarily ‘Hey, we’re setting up the whole next part of the universe.” So while Nathan Fillion‘s Guy Gardner, who will debut in Superman, will have a role in the streaming series Lanterns, maybe don’t expect a scene that sets the stage for his role in the series… because that scene can just be included in the first episode of Lanterns and allow Superman to tell Superman’s story.
As if Gunn’s pragmatic, experience-based reasoning isn’t enough, there’s also the fact that developing superhero projects has proven to be a very fluid process, something of which he’s keenly aware as DC Studios gets up, up and away. As he’s made clear, being in development and being in production are two very different ideas at DC Studios.
Projects which seemed to be close to being realized when the DCU slate was first revealed in January 2024 have moved down the list while others have been bumped up. Gunn recently stated that Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow was not initially intended to be the DCU’s second film and Clayface, which will go into production early next year, wasn’t even part of the original list of Chapter One projects. So, as Gunn points out, why add something important to the end of a project when so much can change.”Because I know how it goes and I know what it’s like,” said Gunn of why the credits scenes shouldn’t carry so much importance. “You think of the best credits scene, but then you gotta adhere to that down the road.”
While Alexander Joseph Luthor is inarguably one of the greatest comic book villains of all time, he may also be one of the greatest comic book characters… period. For over 80 years, Lex Luthor has proven himself over and over again as a worth archenemy of Superman and capable of challenging the combined might of DC Comics’ greatest heroes, often defeated only by his own imperiousness and humanity.
As DC Studios launches an all-new cinematic universe, Luthor will rightly find himself front and center in Superman, the DCU’s first theatrical offering. Given the task of bringing Luthor into the DCU and immediately establishing him as a true threat is Nicholas Hoult (Juror #2), who, among others, follows Gene Hackman, Michael Rosenbaum and, most recently, Jesse Eisenberg as the power-hungry genius. Following the release of the first trailer for Superman, DC Studios lifted a standing embargo on interviews with the cast, including one in which Hoult explained how he hoped to carve out his own spade among the many iterations of Luthor across multiple mediums.
According to Hoult, part of what will make this Luthor different–perhaps a big part–is that he exists in a world full of heroes. Having learned to thrive in a world full of metahuman characters would certainly be a departure from previous iterations in which Luthor dealt only with Superman or was just coming into his own. “The thing about this Lex, I think that was most exciting to me was being in a James Gunn universe,” said Hoult. “Like you said, so emotionally raw and powerful, but huge in the scope of the world and what he’s creating.” For Hoult’s Luthor, that means leaning heavily into his ingenuity and ability to think ahead.
He’s smart and ruthless and he has to outmaneuver Superman on certain levels because he can’t match him in others.
-Nicholas Hoult on Lex Luthor in Superman
While Gunn is adamant that Superman exists only to tell this story and not to set up the next several DC Studios’ projects. At the same time, he’s also made it clear that the future of the DCU is indeed riding on the success of Superman. Should it succeed, it’s nearly impossible to imagine a passionate comic book fan like Gunn would utilize Luthor as a one-and-done villain, allowing Hoult the opportunity to take on Superman again or, possibly, emerge as an even larger threat as part of the Legion of Doom. If that’s to happen, Hoult’s Luthor would need to be the type of villain that is both hateable and relatable, an idea of which the actor is keenly aware.
“But there’s also something about this character, hopefully from my standpoint, where even though you perhaps don’t agree with his process, there’s an element where you can understand on some levels where he’s coming from and why perhaps what he’s pushing as his ideology is perhaps better for humanity,” explained Hoult. As with Marvel Studios Loki or Thanos, villains whose motoves the audience can at least partially understand make for wonderful cinema because they offer a true challenge to the hero. While this isn’t the type of Luthor that’s often been presented in animated or live-action Superman adaptations, it looks to be the goal here and given the character’s status, it’s well-deserved and well past time that Superman’s greatest for can offer more than some snide remarks and Kryptonite traps.
Following weeks of speculation over the release of the first teaser trailer for DC Studios’ Superman, director and DC Studios’ co-chair James Gunn has put an end to what’s been a growing online debate.
Through a pair of social media releases, fans now know when the teaser will be released to the public, have their first look at an incredible new motion poster featuring David Corenswet‘s Kal-El and a glimpse at the official logo.
Following the debut of the trailer to press on December 16th, the trailer will be released online on Thursday, December 19th, at 9:00 AM EST/6:00 AM PST.
The nostalgia-driven motion poster calls on fans to “Look Up” as it brings to mind 1978’s Superman: The Movie by playing an altered version of John Williams’ iconic “Superman March” while Kal-El defies gravity.
DC Studios’ first theatrical entry in the all-new DCU, Superman will soar into theaters on July 11, 2025.
Beginning in 2024, James Gunn and Peter Safran’s DC Studios will launch the DC Universe. In an effort to make more cohesive shared universe, the DCU will connect streaming series, video games and films through narrative threads. Though Gunn and Safran are building a new, interconnected continuity, there will still be DC projects produced outside of this continuity (such as Matt Reeves Batman Epic Crime Saga) under the Elseworlds banner.
What’s next for DC Studios? Who’s recently joined the cast of your most anticipated series or film? Where can you find the teasers and trailers? Look no further, true believers. Everything you need to know about the future of the DCU has been collected for you here. Click on each logo to learn what we currently know about the upcoming DCU projects.
Chapter One: Gods and Monsters
Elseworlds
Projects set outside of the main DCU continuity, the Elseworld projects allow artists to tell stories without attempting to weave them into the DCU’s narrative tapestry.
With Creature Commandos having made its debut on Max, the all-new DCU is officially underway. As DC Studios’ co-CEO James Gunn has said, however, the animated series is designed to be an appetizer, a way “for people to just take a little nibble [of the all-new DCU] and see what it tastes like.” In that metaphor, the main course becomes Superman, written and directed by Gunn, which is set to hit theaters on July 11, 2025.
To date, fans haven’t truly been able to get a good idea for the feel of the upcoming film but that’s all about to change with the debut of the film’s first teaser trailer expected before Christmas. Trailers for superhero films alwyas find themselves under intense scrutiny but it’s reasonable to assume that for a multitude of reasons, the first look at DC Studios’ Superman is facing a challenge worthy of the Man of Steel himself. With so many live-action iterations of the character already having made their way to screens big and small, everyone has a favorite Superman which means David Corenswet‘s version of Kal-El will be compared to all of them.
To that end, Gunn, who has loved Superman since seeing Richard Donner‘s 1978 film in theaters, has smartly taken measures to set Corenswet’s Kal-El apart from those that came before him. In an interview with Josh Horowitz, Gunn has explained that the biggest difference is that his inspiration for the character came from DC Comics’ Silver Age, in which Superman was a nigh invulnerable powerhouse.
“I don’t think we’ve ever seen the big science fiction Silver Age Superman aspects that we have in our movie,” said Gunn. “We’ve never seen…you’ll see when the movie comes out, but we’ve never seen this specific part of Superman’s life.” It’s not entirely clear to what Gunn is referring in the second quote, however, the Silver Age Superman came to Earth as an older child complete with memories of Krypton and began a superhero career as Superboy during his time in Smallville making him a known quantity much earlier than Henry Cavill’s Snyderverse version.
Whatever it is Gunn has planned for Superman, it’s clear that it will involve his comic book archenemy antagonizing him in a much different way than has been shown onscreen so far.
“I don’t think we’ve ever seen the Lex that [Nicolas Hoult] is,” explained Gunn.”Nic is imposing. You go, ‘Oh, fuck, poor Superman.’ That’s the thing we never see, not in film,” Gunn added. And, of course, he is not wrong. While Gene Hackman‘s Luthor may well be iconic, he was nowhere near as fully developed as many iterations of Lex have been in the comics, which seem to be serving as a waypoint for Hoult’s Luthor.
“Sometimes in the comics you go, ‘Oh, Superman is fucked because Lex is so smart and so good at what he’s doing’,” said Gunn, ” but in the movies, you’re going, ‘Lex is about to get fucked.’” From what we’ve seen from set photos, it does indeed seem that Luthor will gain a significant advantage over Kal-El in Superman.
Fans are about to get their first look at the all-new DCU when the seven-episode animated series Creature Commandos debuts on Max in December 5th. Written by DC Studios co-chair James Gunn, the series “tracks a secret team of incarcerated monsters recruited for missions deemed too dangerous for humans” and will introduce the world to a shared universe already populated with heroes and villains.
Announced by Gunn and co-chair Peter Safran as part of the initial DC Studios’ slate reveal in January 2023, Creature Commandos kept pace during production to meet its intended target date as the DCU’s first project. Superman, starring David Corenswet as the new Man of Steel, was always meant to follow Creature Commandos and is on track to do so. However, following that, the release order of the rest of the slate was always a bit murky, though it has started to take shape over the past several months.
As always, Gunn has been active in social media and shared updates on the work taking place behind the scenes to get the DCU up and running. As part of those updates, the co-chair revealed that some projects that were part of the original slate reveal are taking longer to develop while others that were not announced are moving ahead. Now, in an interview with IGN, Gunn laid out exactly what fans can expect over the next two years, including the first hint at when Lanterns will hit HBO.
“It’s really Creature Commandos, Superman, Peacemaker, Lanterns, Supergirl,” said Gunn. “And then some things people don’t know,” he teased. Asked to clarify if Lanterns would stream ahead of the June 26, 2026 release of Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, Gunn replied “we’ll see when it comes out, but they’re around the same time.” Spring/Summer 2026 it is!
December 5, 2024-Creature Commandos (streaming on Max)
July 11, 2025-Superman (in theaters)
August 2025-Peacemaker, Season 2 (streaming on Max)
Spring/Summer 2026-Lanterns (streaming on Max)
June 26, 2026-Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow (in theaters)
With Gunn providing a glimpse of what to expect over the next two years, it may be a while before fans learn the identities of the unknown projects he teased. With no updates on announced projects such The Brave and The Bold, The Authority, Booster Gold and more, it’s clear that expectations should be for only a couple of DC Studios’ releases per year for the foreseeable future.
In nearly every way imaginable, DC Studios’ Superman may be the most pivotal comic book movie since 2008. By choosing to write and direct the project and have it lead off the studio’s all-new, all-different DCU, DC Studios’ co-chair James Gunn went all in on making the Man of Steel a priority for the fledgling shared universe. In this way, Gunn’s vision for the character will be the audience’s first true impression and likely define whether or not the DCU ultimately takes off.
The good news there is that Gunn’s love for the character and the incredible mythology that’s been built up around him over the last 86 years is well known. And while that doesn’t guarantee Superman will be a success, photos from the set and reports from screenings have given fans reason to hope, which is what the character is all about. Some of those set photos seemed to tease the inclusion of one of Superman’s most loveable supporting characters, Krypto. Now, Gunn has not only confirmed the inclusion of the Superdog but also shared a first look at the powerful pup!
Krypto arrives on screens in Superman this summer. Krypto was inspired by our dog Ozu, who we adopted shortly after I started writing Superman. Ozu, who came from a hoarding situation in a backyard with 60 other dogs & never knew human beings, was problematic to say the least. He… pic.twitter.com/zw8rVqv0n0
A well-known animal lover, Gunn also shared a touching story about how his own dog, Ozu, whoche and his wife rescued from an unfortunate situation. From the sounds of the story, Krypto will be both an integral part of the story and also cause some chaos!
Principal photography on DC Studios Superman is nearing an end but after a revealing few weeks in Cleveland, it seems as though fans may yet be treated to more set photos before the film wraps.
As filming in Cleveland was coming to an end, crews were spotted preparing for a shoot in Cincinnati at the city’s Union Terminal. After opening in 1933, Union Terminal was built as an Intercity railroad hub. The unique architecture of the building caught the eye of one of Hanna-Barbera’s background artists and served as the inspiration of the Hall of Justice which first appeared in 1973’s animated series Super Friends.
The Cincinnati Union Terminal is gearing up to presumably become the Hall of Justice in "SUPERMAN"
While it hasn’t been made official quite yet, it certainly seems as though director James Gunn plans to use the exterior of Union Terminal, which remains and active train station as well as a museum, as the entrance to the DCU’s Hall of Justice.
Looks like Mister Terrific has entered into the Cincinnati Union Terminal
Prior photos from the set of Superman have revealed that heroes Mister Terrific (who was spotted on the Cincinnati set), Green Lantern Guy Gardner and Hawkgirl are working together, presumably as the Justice League sponsored by Maxwell Lord. With that dynamic in play, it wouldn’t be surprising for the team to have an HQ and given Gunn’s respect for each and every prior iteration of all things DC, it makes sense he’d go right to the source of inspiration for the Hall of Justice and make it canon in the new shared universe.
Cookie Consent
We use cookies to improve your experience on our site. By using our site, you consent to cookies.
This website uses cookies
Websites store cookies to enhance functionality and personalise your experience. You can manage your preferences, but blocking some cookies may impact site performance and services.
Essential cookies enable basic functions and are necessary for the proper function of the website.
Name
Description
Duration
Cookie Preferences
This cookie is used to store the user's cookie consent preferences.
30 days
These cookies are needed for adding comments on this website.
Name
Description
Duration
comment_author_email
Used to track the user across multiple sessions.
Session
comment_author_url
Used to track the user across multiple sessions.
Session
comment_author
Used to track the user across multiple sessions.
Session
Statistics cookies collect information anonymously. This information helps us understand how visitors use our website.
Google Analytics is a powerful tool that tracks and analyzes website traffic for informed marketing decisions.
Contains information related to marketing campaigns of the user. These are shared with Google AdWords / Google Ads when the Google Ads and Google Analytics accounts are linked together.
90 days
__utma
ID used to identify users and sessions
2 years after last activity
__utmt
Used to monitor number of Google Analytics server requests
10 minutes
__utmb
Used to distinguish new sessions and visits. This cookie is set when the GA.js javascript library is loaded and there is no existing __utmb cookie. The cookie is updated every time data is sent to the Google Analytics server.
30 minutes after last activity
__utmc
Used only with old Urchin versions of Google Analytics and not with GA.js. Was used to distinguish between new sessions and visits at the end of a session.
End of session (browser)
__utmz
Contains information about the traffic source or campaign that directed user to the website. The cookie is set when the GA.js javascript is loaded and updated when data is sent to the Google Anaytics server
6 months after last activity
__utmv
Contains custom information set by the web developer via the _setCustomVar method in Google Analytics. This cookie is updated every time new data is sent to the Google Analytics server.
2 years after last activity
__utmx
Used to determine whether a user is included in an A / B or Multivariate test.
18 months
_ga
ID used to identify users
2 years
_gali
Used by Google Analytics to determine which links on a page are being clicked
30 seconds
_ga_
ID used to identify users
2 years
_gid
ID used to identify users for 24 hours after last activity
24 hours
_gat
Used to monitor number of Google Analytics server requests when using Google Tag Manager
1 minute
Marketing cookies are used to follow visitors to websites. The intention is to show ads that are relevant and engaging to the individual user.
Pinterest Tag is a web analytics service that tracks and reports website traffic.
