Mitchell Beaupre
As the world of the DC Comics’ film universe is constantly in flux, new projects continue to be announced and dropped before they even know what hit them.
Among the new shifts taking place are the removals of New Gods from Ava DuVernay and The Trench, an Aquaman spinoff from that film’s director James Wan, from their upcoming slate.
In a statement posted by The Hollywood Reporter, Warner Bros. and DC said, “As part of our DC slate, some legacy development titles including New Gods and The Trench will not be moving forward. We thank our partners Ava DuVernay, Tom King, James Wan and Peter Safran for their time and collaboration during this process and look forward to our continued partnership with them on other DC stories. The projects will remain in their skillful hands if they were to move forward in the future.”
Both directors remain attached to DC in some capacity, as DuVernay is currently developing a series titled Naomi for The CW, while Wan is preparing to shoot Aqauman 2 later this year.
New Gods, which DuVernay was planning to direct, may have become a complicated venture as it would have utilized Darkseid as its primary villain, a character who had recently been brought to the screen in the new Snyder Cut of Justice League.
The Trench, which Wan was developing as a producer, would have been a horror-style spinoff based around the group of frightening amphibious creatures seen in Aquaman. According to THR’s sources, DC wanted to keep their focus squarely on Aquaman 2.
Along with that sequel, there remains a fairly robust slate of upcoming projects preparing to hit screens for DC and Warner Bros. The Suicide Squad is set to hit theaters and HBO Max this August, followed by The Batman starring Robert Pattinson in a little under a year (March 4, 2022). Both of those films are also developing HBO Max spinoff series, one set around John Cena’s Suicide Squad character and the other around the Gotham police department.
Also heavy in the development phase are The Flash (November 4, 2022), Black Adam (July 29, 2022), and Shazam! Fury of the Gods (June 2, 2023), along with many more titles that don’t have any set release dates at the moment, including the third Wonder Woman film from Patty Jenkins and Gal Gadot.
[…] Kirby when he returned to Marvel but wasn’t quite ready to move on from The New Gods (oh yeah, remember when that was going to be a thing?) he created at D.C., is not being received with the same very nearly uniform “Yeah it was pretty […]