DC 2023

DC and Warner Brothers have undergone quite a lot of changes over the last few months and every new piece of information released seems to divide the fandom more. With James Gunn at the helm there seems to be a hard reboot of the DCEU coming, yet there are some lingering projects that Warner Brothers simply can’t afford to cut and therefore they will be released in the face of a reboot.

First up on that list is Shazam: Fury of the Gods. Now we actually have no idea if the Shazam movies are going to be a part of the cannon of the DCEU going forward. But it seems that Zachary Levi is chillin and feels very comfortable with his position. So the idea is that since James Gunn had a hand in Levi getting the role in the first place his position in the DC Universe is not on the chopping block. Some fans feel like this is unfair as their favorites (Cavill, Afleck and Gadot) are in fact not moving forward with the new face of DC. However scrapping what didn’t work and keeping what did is a much cheaper way to go forward. Also considering that Shazam was never interconnected to any of those main 3 it really doesn’t make sense to chop it. Personally I think Levi fits the role perfectly and his are among the only few DC movies I’ve enjoyed ever.

Secondly we have the film no one is anticipating; The Flash. Now I’m not saying that no one wants a Flash movie, I’m sure plenty do, however absolutely no one wants one with Ezra Miller. Miscast from the beginning Ezra has made his bed being a very loud and problematic actor. His antics have already cost the studio a lot of money and his film lots of delays. However it appears that The Flash is currently set to release in June of 2023. It was originally supposed to be a Flashpoint movie but who knows what it's turned into now, the latest news we’ve received is that cameos from Henry Cavill and Gal Gadot have been wiped from the film. It is certain that DC will not recover its investment with this film, it's most definitely being released only so the studio doesn’t lose all the money it took to make it. Despite the mixed reaction on the recasting of most of the core characters in the DCEU I think everyone can agree that after the release of The Flash we are ready for Ezra Miller to be shoved out the door.

In August we are getting a rather random DC movie that I am sure no fans thought to ask for, Blue Beetle. Not necessarily a completely obscure superhero but certainly an overlooked one from the DC catalog of heroes Blue Beetle has never seen major screen time before. This is going to be one of those films that is either brilliant or a complete waste of time and quite frankly we won't know until it's official release.

Ending the year we are getting the Aquaman sequel, whether or not Amber Heard’s Mera will be making any appearance at all is still up in the air but rumors say that if she’s in the movie it will be minimal. Little to no plot details have been released for this film so we can’t really gauge how this movie will rank in what was the DCEU. The likelihood of seeing Jason Mamoa return as Aquaman after his film's release is also very low.

In 2023 DC will be rolling out its leftovers from a past era as it ushers in a new dynasty of storytelling, spearheaded by James Gunn. Whether or not you agree with the decisions the new leadership has made, one sure thing is that the future of the DC universe is fragile and it will be interesting to see it take shape.