James Gunn teases big screen animated movies for the new DCU
In-continuity animated movies with theatrical releases are part of the plan, the co-DC Studios head reveals
The shape of the new DC Studios reality continues to become known, slowly, with co-CEO James Gunn revealing on social media that there are plans to bring animated features based on DC properties to the big screen in the future.
On Threads, Gunn confirmed that, although the upcoming animated features Watchmen and Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths — both announced at San Diego Comic-Con — are not part of the upcoming DC Universe relaunch, there will be animated features set in the shared canon that includes 2025’s Superman: Legacy — and that they will be intended for theatrical release.
This shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise: not only does DC have a history of animated movies getting a theatrical release, with it having happened three times before — 1993’s Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, 2018’s Teen Titans Go! To The Movies, and last year’s DC League of Super-Pets — but animated projects are already part of the announced slate for DC Studios, with the James Gunn-written Creature Commandos already in the works as part of the 10-project Gods and Monsters initial chapter of programming.
The early inclusion of animation as part of the shared universe of the new DCU stands in contrast to Marvel Studios, which stayed away from in-continuity animated projects until the 2021 launch of What If…?, more than a decade after the creation of the MCU.
Of course, before we get to the point of adding in new animated elements to a new DCU, we still have to finish the existing one, with both Blue Beetle and Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom arriving in theaters this year. Here’s our guide to the upcoming DC movies and TV shows to help you keep track.
Find out more about Gods and Monsters, and the initial slate of DC Studios projects.
