The future of DC films is slowly coming together, starting with The Batman Part II. The sequel to 2022’s The Batman, which is separate from James Gunn and Peter Safran’s revamped DC Universe (DCU) — formerly known as the DC Extended Universe — is set to begin shooting in Spring 2026 with a theatrical release planned for 1 October 2027.
Director Matt Reeves completed the script in June, following a one-year delay from the very initial 2025 opening. While details remain under lock and key, Robert Pattinson and Zoë Kravitz will reprise their respective roles as the Caped Crusader and Catwoman in the forthcoming instalment, alongside Colin Farrell as The Penguin.
“To be fair, a 5-year gap or more is fairly common in sequels,” Gunn wrote on Threads last year on the scheduling pushback. “7 years between Alien and Aliens. 14 years between Incredibles. 7 years between the first two Terminators. 13 years between Avatars. 36 years between Top Guns. And, of course, 6 years between Guardians Vol 2 and Vol 3.”
The news comes from a letter to Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders, which also confirmed that the DC Studios co-head is writing the next entry in the Super family, Supergirl, plus Clayface and the next Wonder Woman. In terms of television projects, the 10-year vision for the DCU includes The Penguin, the upcoming new season of Peacemaker, and Lanterns, starring Kyle Chandler (Friday Night Lights) and Aaron Pierre (Musfasa: The Lion King) as Hal Jordan and John Stewart, as well as Nathan Fillion’s Guy Gardner.
Under Gunn’s rule, no project will move into the pre-production and production processes until the screenplay is finished, as opposed to Marvel Studios’ approach, where it enters production in the scripting phase.
Next on the list is Supergirl, based on Tom King and Bilquis Evely’s Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow comic series. Led by House of the Dragon breakout star Milly Alcock, the Craig Gillespie-directed comic book adventure will introduce the titular superheroine as “a total mess”.
“She’s a total mess. I mean, I think as we learn, she’s had a completely different background from Superman. A much more difficult background,” Gunn explained. “He’s had this wonderful upbringing by these two parents that loved him and were very healthy. And her background was much different than that.”
The second DCU cinematic instalment is set to hit theatres on 26 June 2026, building on 2025’s Superman, which is the first DC film to surpass US$300 million domestically in three years. The previous milestone was achieved by, coincidentally, The Batman, due for a sequel on 1 October 2027.
Si Jia is a casual geek at heart – or as casual as someone with Sephiroth’s theme on her Spotify playlist can get. A fan of movies, games, and Japanese culture, Si Jia’s greatest weakness is the Steam Summer Sale. Or any Steam sale, really.
