DC Universe Chapter One Plans Revealed With Superman: Legacy, Batman & Robin Movie, Film & TV Projects

James Gunn and Peter Safran have revealed Chapter One of the new DC Universe, with 10 projects across film and TV including Superman: Legacy and more. Gunn and Safran announced the first 10 projects in the rebooted DC Universe that include characters from across the DC Comics spectrum within film and television.

Variety reports that Chapter One is titled “Gods and Monsters” and will release between 2025 and 2027 with five films and five television shows. The films are Superman: Legacy, a Batman & Robin movie titled The Brave and the Bold that will introduce Damian Wayne to live action, a Swamp Thing film, Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, and The Authority.

The television shows, meanwhile, are Peacemaker spinoff Waller with Viola Davis reprising her role as the titular character, a Green Lanterns series with Hal Jordan and John Stewart, Booster Gold, the animated series Creature Commandos, and Paradise Lost which is set on Themyscira.

At this time, there are no directors or actors attached to any project except Davis. Gunn is writing Superman Legacy and built out the plans for the DC Universe via a writer’s room that includes Drew Goddard (Cabin in the Woods, Daredevil), Jeremy Slater (Moon Knight), Christina Hobson (The Flash), Christal Henry (Watchmen) and Tom King, the comics writer who has had seminal runs on Batman and Mister Miracle. Henry will be the showrunner for Waller and others are expected to work on DC Universe projects moving forward.

Gunn and Safran said that the plan was for about two films and shows per year, but emphasized that they will not sacrifice quality to meet deadlings and films won’t go into production until the scripts are locked in. The only release dates set are Superman: Legacy and The Batman Part II, which is an Elseworlds (alternate continuity) project. Superman: Legacy arrives on July 11th, 2025 and will start the DC Universe, while The Batman: Part II arrives on October 3rd, 2025.

The DC Universe projects break down as follows:

Films

* Superman: Legacy (July 11th, 2025)

Safran said that this film, which Gunn is writing, “focuses on Superman balancing his Kryptonian heritage with his human upbringing. He is the embodiment of truth, justice and the American way. He is kindness in a world that thinks of kindness as old-fashioned.” He noted that this film is not an origin story, and that he hopes Gunn ends up directing it. It was also noted that the separate Superman film written by Ta-Nehisi Coates is still in development as an Elseworlds project.

* The Authority

Superman: Legacy will lead into this film, which will focus on the Wildstorm characters who were brought into DC continuity with the New 52. The film is described as “an ensemble movie about superhumans who have a less-than-idealistic approach to saving the world.”

Gunn said of the film, “It isn’t just a story of heroes and villains, and not every movie and TV show is going to be about good guy versus bad guy. There are people that are very questionable, like the Authority, who basically believe that you can’t fix the world in an easy manner, and they take things into their own hands.” The film is being written, though the writer was not named.

* The Brave and the Bold

The DC Universe version of Batman will be introduced here, along with Robin. This Robin will be Damian Wayne, Bruce’s son with Talia al-Ghul who Bruce was unaware of until Damian was an adolescent. Gunn said of the film, “It’s a very strange sort of father-son story about the two of them.”

* Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow

This Supergirl film is based on Tom King’s comics run that ran from 2021 and 2022, and will introduce Kara Zor-El, “a very different type of Supergirl” in Gunn’s words.

* Swamp Thing

This film will be a horror project and will “investigate the dark origins of Swamp Thing,” according to Safran.

TV Series

* Creature Commandos

An animated series set up at HBO Max, this was written by Gunn and is already in production. The monster-featured film is based on the team in the comics with Frankenstein’s monster, a werewolf, a vampire and a gorgon joining forces to fight the Nazis in World War II, though Gunn’s version will feature The Suicide Squad’s Weasel and Rick Flag’s father. Gunn noted that the actors who voice the characters will also play the roles later in live action.

* Waller

For now, James Gunn will not be producing a second season of Peacemaker as he’s focused on Superman: Legacy. Peacemaker season two is thus on hold and the team will appear beside Viola Davis in Waller, which will be a continuation of that series. Christal Henry is showrunning the series and executive produces alongside Jeremy Carver, who created Doom Patrol.

Both Creature Commandos and Waller are expected to premiere before Superman: Legacy.

* Lanterns

The Green Lantern TV series was described by Safran as “very much in the vein of True Detective” and will focus on Hal Jordan and John Stewart as they investigate a mystery that, according to Safran, “plays a really big role leading us into the main story that we’re telling across our film and television.” Safran said the series is a “terrestrial-based investigation story.”

* Paradise Lost

Described as a “Game of Thrones-ish story” by Safran, this series is set on Themyscira before the birth of Wonder Woman. Safran called it a “political intrigue” story about the all-women society, with Gunn noting, “How did that come about? What’s the origin of an island of all women? What are the beautiful truths and the ugly truths behind all of that? And what’s the scheming like between the different power players in that society?”

* Booster Gold

Gunn described the fan-favorite protagonist of this series as “imposter syndrome as a superhero.” The series is an outright comedy show, with Safran referencing the character as “a loser from the future who uses basic future technology to come back to today and pretend to be a superhero.”