DC Universe

The DC Universe (shortened to DCU) is an upcoming fictional shared universe produced by DC Studios, and based on characters appearing in DC Comics publications. Intended to be a spiritual successor and soft reboot of the DC Extended Universe (DCEU), the DCU will include animation, video games, and content in other mediums which will share continuity with the films and television series in the franchise. The first DCU film installment, Superman, is due to be released in July 2025.
James Gunn and Peter Safran were hired to succeed Walter Hamada as the co-chairmen and CEOs of the restructured DC Studios beginning November 2022. That month, the pair began development on a rebooted slate of films intended for rejuvenating interest in the cinematic iterations of various DC characters, including re-envisioning major properties that had been stuck in development hell and de-prioritized in the later years of the DCEU.
== Background ==
In April 2022, following the merger of Discovery Inc. with WarnerMedia, Warner Bros. Discovery announced to overhaul the functions of DC Entertainment and DC Films productions following poor box office reception of DCEU films. The President and CEO of the newly merged company, David Zaslav, expressed that he believes that "DC lacks coherent creative and brand strategy and is looking to hire a czar of creativity and strategy, comparable to Marvel Studios' Kevin Feige. Discovery intends to revitalize certain top-tier DC characters that they believe had been neglected in previous years, such as Superman."
In October 2022, Hamada was revealed to be departing his role as a CEO of DC Films division at the end of October, James Gunn and Peter Safran were announced as the new co-CEOs and co-chairmen, with the two overseeing all future DC projects including film, television, and animation. It was also revealed that then DC Films studio will now become DC Studios. Safran, who was expected to supervise all business and production-related duties at the studio, had previously served as producer on several DCEU films, like Aquaman (2018), Shazam! (2019) and The Suicide Squad (2021), as well as the television series Peacemaker (2022–present), with Gunn collaborating on the last two projects as a director and writer.
The duo were expected to report directly to Zaslav while often collaborating with other film studio heads at WBD, although they would remain autonomous in their day-to-day operations. The creative and production-based duties were split between Gunn and Safran respectively as they began their new roles within the studio effectively at the start of November 2022. Alongside the announcement of their joint leadership over DC Studios following the restructure, Gunn and Safran issued a statement asserting that, "Our commitment to Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Harley Quinn, and the rest of the DC stable of characters is only equaled by our commitment to the wonder of human possibility these characters represent. We're excited to...tell some of the biggest, most beautiful, and grandest stories ever told."
In December 2022, Gunn and Safran had their first meeting as heads of DC Studios with WBD, where they presented a brief outline for a new DC-based film franchise that encompassed multiple mediums on a greater scale than the DCEU. Outside of the existing film and television pillars, the pair pitched a multimedia project that would see their franchise break into animation and video games, among other mediums. That same month, WBD and Gunn began referring to the new shared universe as the "DC Universe" (DCU), a branding directly inspired by the shared universe of the same name depicted in major DC Comics publications. Gunn has cited the DC Animated Universe (DCAU) and the television series Young Justice (2010–2022) as significant inspirations for his and Safran's slate of projects for the new DCU.
Later that month, Gunn announced that the new DC film slate prepared by him and Safran had been finalized, and a few movies from the slate were to be announced in January. He also announced that a new Superman film was in development, which would focus on a younger version of the hero, and therefore would not be played by Henry Cavill; Cavill later confirmed he would be stepping down from his role of Clark Kent / Superman which he portrayed in DCEU. In January 2023, Variety reported that the new universe would be a "broad but not blanket reset" for the film franchise, implying that select elements from the DCEU would be retained for the DCU. On January 31, 2023, Gunn and Safran assembled a writer's room featuring Drew Goddard, Jeremy Slater, Christina Hodson, Christal Henry, and Tom King.
The DCU will consist of a centralized universe containing films, animation and video games. Similar projects that are not a part of the shared universe, such as Matt Reeves' The Batman franchise and Todd Phillips' Joker series, will be branded as "DC Elseworlds". Gunn and Safran also stated that “the door is always open” for Ezra Miller, Gal Gadot, Jason Momoa and Zachary Levi to continue playing the same characters they did in DCEU films, with Miller still being focused on their mental health recovery following a series of incidents in 2022.
==Filmography==
===Chapter One: Gods and Monsters===
 	Title 	Release Date 	Worldwide Gross	Rotten Tomatoes rating	MetaCritic rating
1	Superman 	July 11, 2025	TBA 	TBA 	TBA
2	Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow	June 26, 2026	TBA 	TBA 	TBA
3	The Authority 	TBA 	TBA 	TBA 	TBA
4	The Brave and the Bold 	TBA 	TBA 	TBA 	TBA
5	Swamp Thing 	TBA 	TBA 	TBA 	TBA
==TV Series==
===Chapter One: Gods and Monsters===
 	Title 	Release Date 	Rotten Tomatoes rating	MetaCritic rating
1	Creature Commandos 	December 2024	TBA 	TBA
2	Peacemaker (Season Two)	TBA 	TBA 	TBA
3	Waller 	TBA 	TBA 	TBA
4	Lanterns 	TBA 	TBA 	TBA
5	Paradise Lost 	TBA 	TBA 	TBA
6	Booster Gold 	TBA 	TBA 	TBA
==Gallery==
===Films===
Superman Legacy artwork.jpeg|link=Superman (2025)|Superman (2025)
Supergirl WoT artwork.jpeg|link=Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow|Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow (2026)
The Authority artwork.jpeg|link:The Authority|The Authority (TBA)
The Brave and the Bold artwork.jpeg|link=The Brave and the Bold|The Brave and the Bold (TBA)
Swamp Thing artwork.jpeg|link=Swamp Thing|Swamp Thing (TBA)
 	DC Universe
Chapter One: Gods and Monsters	Superman (2025), Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow (2026), The Authority (), The Brave and the Bold (), Swamp Thing ()
Chapter Two: 	
Chapter Three: 	
Category:Franchises
Category:DC Universe films
Category:DC Extended Universe films
Category:DC Films Multiverse
Category:Warner Bros. Discovery
Category:Warner Bros. franchises
Category:Warner Bros. films
Category:Superman films
Category:Batman films
Category:Articles with red links