Superman: Legacy First Look

[ThaOGDreamWeaver]

Yup. Blue Beetle was the last official film released in the "DC Extended Universe".

The Flash was supposed to be the actual canonical "Flashpoint" type reboot event. But given flaccid commercial performance and other events around the movie, it's more of a full stop than a place to carry over from.

 

James Gunn & Peter Safran (producer) started the new DC Universe with Phase... sorry, Chapter 1, "Gods And Monsters". Which is a nice classic movie reference (Bride Of Frankenstein) as well as one of the better DC animated movies.

 

There are a few odds and ends with a foot in both worlds - Peacemaker was DCEU and will continue into DCU, with several guests from the DCU showing up (Grillo as Flagg Sr., Sean Gunn as Maxwell Lord, Fillion again, and Isabella Merced as Hawkgirl.) There may or may not be some kind of soft-reboot event in-series that marks the change. Xolo from Blue Beetle may come back as Gunn liked the movie and his performance, but nothing booked yet.

 

The Batman, Penguin and The Batman 2 will continue as a separate Elseworld.

(Quite happy about that, as it means Gunn and Safran aren't fussy about doing off-kilter projects. Still hoping for Gotham By Gaslight.)

 

First five announced DCUc1 films are:

• Superman (fka Superman: Legacy) - final post & polish. 11 July 2025.
• Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow - in production. 26 June 2026. Shooting at Leavesden using some of the Superman sets, and on location in Scotland and Iceland. Milly Alcock will make a guest shot in Superman.
• The Authority - script development. Angela Spica María Gabriela de Faría may reprise The Engineer if the script calls for her.
• The Brave and the Bold - script development. Despite the name, apparently goes to the Morrison era and will feature a lot of the Bat-family: so Batman & Son sounds like good core material. Worryingly, Flash's Andy Muschietti currently attached to direct. Hopefully he can do a better job with better suits and a new, less troublesome cast.
• Swamp Thing - development hell - James Gunn's other dream project since the Troma days, possibly with James Mangold on board.
   

TV and Animation:

• Creature Commandos - on release - and featuring The Bride as a core character, which is nice. Note that Grillo and Davis continue their characters in/from animation.
• Waller - in development - spinoff of Peacemaker, and Viola Davis should reprise if available.
• Lanterns - in development, expected 2026 - Kyle Chandler and Aaron Pierre booked as Hal Jordan and John Stewart, plus Fillion gets to suffer that haircut and makeup again as Guy. Kelly MacDonald joins as a civilian. Apparently inspired by True Detective. 
• Paradise Lost (WW prequel series) - in development - all-girl(?) Game Of Thrones on Themiscyra. 
• Booster Gold - in development  - not much detail out there at this time.

Edited Monday at 02:37 PM by ThaOGDreamWeaver

[Excraft]

19 hours ago, El D said:

A one word review from ten years ago for a move released twenty-five years ago is not remotely equivalent to the context of modern internet 'reaction critics' whose entire personas and ad marketability are built around culture war nonsense.

 

You've misunderstood.  This isn't what I was suggesting.  The comment was regarding video titles and such of these YouTubers immediately being negative and "poisoning the well".  This was just one example from another source including immediately negative words or sentences from a full review.  That's all.  There are plenty of others there for modern films as well.  It was not meant to say modern internet critics are right and everything they say is true or to validate their cultural beliefs and other nonsense they promote.  That's all.

[Excraft]

3 hours ago, ThaOGDreamWeaver said:

• Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow - in production. 26 June 2026. Shooting at Leavesden using some of the Superman sets, and on location in Scotland and Iceland. Milly Alcock will make a guest shot in Superman.
• Lanterns - in development, expected 2026 - Kyle Chandler and Aaron Pierre booked as Hal Jordan and John Stewart, plus Fillion gets to suffer that haircut and makeup again as Guy. Kelly MacDonald joins as a civilian. Apparently inspired by True Detective.

 

I'm looking forward to these.  Lanterns especially I think is a great setting for a sci-fi series. 

[TTRPGWhiz]

4 hours ago, ThaOGDreamWeaver said:

The Authority - script development. Angela Spica may reprise The Engineer if the script calls for her.

Angela Spica is The Engineer's 'secret identity'; the actor is María Gabriela de Faría.

Have there been updates to the status of The Authority? Last time Gunn talked about it, he did not seem optimistic.

[Techwright]

16 hours ago, El D said:

 

It's almost entirely a new universe, yeah. There's a handful of characters carrying over from the tail-end of the former DC cinematic universe - Blue Beetle has the same actor and James Gunn's prior DC projects with The Suicide Squad and the Peacemaker series have carried over - but all the prior mainline films (Man of Steel, Batman v Superman, Justice League, Aquaman 1/2, Wonder Woman 1/2, The Flash, etc.) have all been nixed. The CW shows (Arrowverse) were all basically off on their own continuity for the most part and ended before the DC film universe proper did AFAIK.

 

So it's mostly a fresh start, with a bit of 'the MCU integrating Netflix' business thrown in.

 

Which all actually makes sense in that, with a comic book multi-verse, some things change, some things remain the same between two close universes.  It might actually be fun to have a couple of the previous actors "return" to this universe, but as different characters, much like the Arrow-verse had a bit of fun with that in their multi-verse crossovers and had Brandon Routh playing both The Atom and one of the Supermen.  I do hope one of the changes, though, is that this universe's Flash does not perceive himself as a speed skater.

[ThaOGDreamWeaver]

2 hours ago, TTRPGWhiz said:

Angela Spica is The Engineer's 'secret identity'; the actor is María Gabriela de Faría.

Have there been updates to the status of The Authority? Last time Gunn talked about it, he did not seem optimistic.

Gah. Fixed that. Thanks.

 

As to your question: not much beyond rumour at this point. I'm not found of the "studio insider said" clickbait at the best of times, but the one small thing I've found sounds sensible.

 

To do The Authority justice, you'd need to chuck $150m+ at an R- or at least 15-rated script. 

Deadpool pulled that off in spades, raking in $780m off a $58m budget and racking up a slew of awards.

 

But it's a big gamble. I would bet, with everything else going on, it's not going into production until after the bucks from Superman are banked. Then we'll know if there's still an audience and distributor appetite for cape flicks, and DC Studios will have proved themselves (or not.)

Edited Monday at 03:35 PM by ThaOGDreamWeaver

[El D]

1 hour ago, Techwright said:

 

Which all actually makes sense in that, with a comic book multi-verse, some things change, some things remain the same between two close universes.  It might actually be fun to have a couple of the previous actors "return" to this universe, but as different characters, much like the Arrow-verse had a bit of fun with that in their multi-verse crossovers and had Brandon Routh playing both The Atom and one of the Supermen.  I do hope one of the changes, though, is that this universe's Flash does not perceive himself as a speed skater.

 

Certainly true! Also that reminded me of another instance I somehow forgot - Jason Momoa is coming back as Lobo for the Supergirl movie. Which seems a much more natural fit for him rather than Aquaman, much as I enjoyed his take on Arthur. Dude is just made to be the Main Man. Agreed on the superspeed thing. I get the 'untethered to normal physics' vibe they were aiming at but that really doesn't sell fast movement, just comes across as really warped, uncontrolled momentum. Portraying it all in slow motion never helped either. IMO the best portrayal of the Flash's style of movement from mainstream movies has been the Sonic films (which is a Hell of a sentence). If the new DC films present Supes racing Flash or any speedster fights like that? It'll be comic-accurate and look good.

[TTRPGWhiz]

A small but relevant FYI on the topic of fake quotes:

https://thatparkplace.com/lois-lane-actress-rachel-brosnahan-never-said-superman-is-not-for-everyone/

A Superman For All Seasons.

Edited Monday at 09:05 PM by TTRPGWhiz

[ThaOGDreamWeaver]

20 hours ago, Excraft said:

Lanterns especially I think is a great setting for a sci-fi series. 

Sci-fi detective procedural series. I'm not sure how the True Detective rumour plays into this, as with Fillion kicking around too, it could go very Supernatural-silly very quickly.

Not like that's a bad thing.

 

Given McDonald's character is a proper supporting role and listed as a Sheriff, I'm guessing small rural American town has something/someone quite nasty hiding in it. And navigating intricate local politics to find clues and fight crime will be involved.

(Gives a whole new meaning to y'ain't from arouuuund heeeerrrre, are ya boys?)

[Excraft]

4 hours ago, ThaOGDreamWeaver said:

Sci-fi detective procedural series. I'm not sure how the True Detective rumour plays into this, as with Fillion kicking around too, it could go very Supernatural-silly very quickly.

Not like that's a bad thing.

 

Given McDonald's character is a proper supporting role and listed as a Sheriff, I'm guessing small rural American town has something/someone quite nasty hiding in it. And navigating intricate local politics to find clues and fight crime will be involved.

(Gives a whole new meaning to y'ain't from arouuuund heeeerrrre, are ya boys?)

 

Wow.  Is that really the direction they're going with the Lanterns series?  I don't know that intergalactic cops hanging about in rural America solving a mystery as a setting appeals to me.  I mean, they're the Lantern Corps.  They're history and setting is the universe itself.  There has to be plenty of stories for them to do in that setting.  Wait and see I guess.  I was just hoping for something more space/sci-fi. 

[VPrime]

Why are people ok with Batman not having the underwear look, but need Superman to still have it? 

 

Make it make sense!

[battlewraith]

11 minutes ago, VPrime said:

Why are people ok with Batman not having the underwear look, but need Superman to still have it? 

 

Make it make sense!

It's because he's the man of steel. He can deflect bullets and withstand savage roastings of his dorky outfit. Krypto has a cape too. The point is to get high on nostalgia I think. 

[BrandX]

18 minutes ago, VPrime said:

Why are people ok with Batman not having the underwear look, but need Superman to still have it? 

 

Make it make sense!

 

I think it comes down to style of the outfit.  Not sure I'm keen on this Superman's outfit.  Batman TAS had the underwear look and it looked good, but it may not look as good in live action.

 

Superman with colors instead of black/greys, can make it look better.

[Troo]

2 hours ago, VPrime said:

Make it make sense

 

I was gonna go with 

 

but.. maybe you're like

..and I dont want to be insensitive.

[El D]

2 hours ago, VPrime said:

Why are people ok with Batman not having the underwear look, but need Superman to still have it? 

 

Make it make sense!

 

I think it depends on the particular take for Batman, really. For a more 'serious' version - which most often just means more realistic or grounded, like the Christopher Nolan or Matt Reeves versions - a suit lacking trunks fits the vibe. For more comic accurate or animated takes? Bats needs the trunks. Trunkless Batman is not the Batman that'd team up with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, for example.

 

Much as I'd love to see Robert Pattinson's Batman with David Corenswet's Superman, the Matt Reeves stuff is off in its own bubble. Which is probably for the best overall. Lets the current Batman media keep its more Sopranos/The Wire-eqsue tone and level of success while still allowing for a more earnestly comicbook Bats for the main universe.

[ZacKing]

2 hours ago, BrandX said:

I think it comes down to style of the outfit.  Not sure I'm keen on this Superman's outfit.  Batman TAS had the underwear look and it looked good, but it may not look as good in live action.

 

Superman with colors instead of black/greys, can make it look better.

 

I liked the costumes in the Snyder films.  I had initially thought Superman would look weird without the trunks, but it turned out really well I think.  The suit looked a lot better as time went on in BvS and Justice League.  Man of Steel was nice, but too dark I think.  I'm still not sold on this latest version, but who knows maybe it will be fine. 

[VPrime]

2 hours ago, Troo said:

 

I was gonna go with 

 

but.. maybe you're like

..and I dont want to be insensitive.

 

You could have just went with answering my question, but someone has to be responsible for giving the CoH community a bad name, right?

 

Edited 6 hours ago by VPrime

[JKCarrier]

7 hours ago, VPrime said:

Why are people ok with Batman not having the underwear look, but need Superman to still have it? 

Is that a widespread sentiment? I think they both look better with the trunks.