Thread by @ScreenBrief

DC is notorious for cancelling their movies...

So here's an insane thread of EVERY cancelled DC movie from the past 20 years.

This is the BIG one, strap in 🧵

In 2002, DC got JJ Abrams to write a Superman movie called "Superman Flyby,. Both Henry Cavill and Brandon Routh auditioned. Real costumes were made. The film was cancelled.

Instead, DC got Akiva Goldsman to write a Batman and Superman movie in 2003. It was also cancelled.

However, a logo for the film made its way into "I Am Legend", becuase Goldsman was a writer on that film as well.

After two failed attempts, DC made their first movie of the 2000s a Catwoman movie.

This was their first movie since 1995's Batman and Robin...

In 2005, DC rebooted Batman with Nolan's gritty take, which turned out to be a massive success, setting the stage for a new era (which would face equally as tumultous cancellations)

They also reboted Kal in 2006, and Superman Returns got great reviews.

A sequel was greenlit almost right away! But, it got left behind and cancelled a in favour of...

A Justice League movie!!

DC hired George Miller as the director, and got as far as casting EVERY SINGLE role, and designing all the costumes and sets. All the actors flew to Australia to start filming and put on their costumes.

The entire thing got scrapped due to the 2008 Writers Strike and DC getting cold feed.

This is by far the most baffling movie on the list because it was so ambitious and so close to being made.

In 2009, Leonardo DiCaprio pithched an Aquaman movie to WB who was accepting pithces on the character. DiCaprio would executive produce, but the film never made it further

Next was a planned Shazam film in 2006/7. The script by John August was imagined as 1988's "Big" but with super powers. Director was Peter Segal.

It never got made (in that form), but it did manage to cast The Rock as Shazam...

Until... The Rock talked to fans at SDCC, and decided he would prefer to play Black Adam instead.

And so, his 15 year journey towards Black Adam began, even though at this point i he was still as the villain in a Shazam movie, not a seperate movie.

DC then had two attempts with The Flash. First in 2005 with David Goyer writing a Wally West movie. Then in 2007 with Guggenheim and Berlainti wirting a Barry Allen movie.The latter would have been tied to 2011's Green Lantern. Neither got made.

In 2008 DC tried to make a movie called Green Arrow: Escape from Super Max, with a script by David Goyer and Justin Marks. Oliver Queen would escape a prison while fighting rogues including Icicle. Joker and Lex Luthor would cameo. It got dropped by 2010.

They also tried doing a Starman movie but there isn't much about this.

In 2011 they released Green Lantern to critical and fan backlash. Any attempt to continue the Green Latnern franchise was halted, and this post-credit scene was totally hanging.

The only continued success came in the form of Chris Nolan's Batman trilogy which released it's sequels in 2008/2012 and then bowed out. An idea to introduce Superman was floated, but Nolan and DC decided to keep them seperate when Hnery Cavill was cast in 2011

DC decided to reboot Superman (again!) this time with Zack Snyder's 2013 film Man of Steel. At this point, Kevin Tsujihara had made decided that this film would launch a shared universe, but little was known about what that universe would look like...

During this time Zack Snyder was pestered with questions about a JLA movie which he remained tight-lipped about!

He also postured about the DC/MCU rivalry broadly pre-emtped the mistakes that WB would make as a studio in the years to follow

But by the very next month in undoubtedly one of the coolest SDCC moments of all time, Snyder announces that the next DC movie is Batman V Superman.

The moment the Superman symbol reveals the Batman symbol behind is still just so spine-tinglingly exciting.

Following this, by the end of 2013, Ben Affleck is announced as Batman, and Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman.

These are followed in 2014 by cast announcements for the rest of the Justice League, who are all said to be appearing in BvS.

Along with Ezra's casting, a Flash movie is locked in for 2018, with no script or director at that point.

Then later in 2014, WB CEO Kevin Tsujihara officialy announced their 10-movie slate.

Half of these movies would either be cancelled, delayed, or so seriously messed-with that a directors cut of them would be released much later...

Of this slate, only Batman V Superman, Suicide Squad, Wonder Woman, and Aquaman would arrive on time AND in form 😢

After those films are released, DC greenlit Suicide Squad 2 (no director attatched) , Gotham City Sirens (with David Ayer directing), and discussed a Deadshot movie.

Thus begins DC's long-held tradition of madly grenlighting movies on a whim and then forgetting about them.

Later that year, The Flash gets pushed from 2018 to at least 2019 when it loses it's director Rick Famuyiwa.

By 2017, Green Lantern Corps getswriter in David Goyer and Justin Rhodes, and is set to feature both Hal Jordan and John Stewart.

Later in 2017, Zachary Levi gets cast as Shazam, and The Rock negotiate with New Line to split Black Adam into it's own seperate film...

Whedon then takes over Justice League after a mix of personal tragedy and awful studio-interference takes Snyder way. When the film arrives in 2017, it's in such a terrible state that DC starts cancelling films and a hashtag is born... #ReleaseTheSnyderCut

After this, the Justice League Dark movie that had been developing under Guillermo del Toro since 2013 was passed onto Doug Liman in 2017, before falling to the wayside and never moving forward.

A Booster Gold movie is announced, which at one point was also a Blue Beetle team up, with Greg Berlanti on board. A Lobo movie that would be DC's first R-rated film is also flagged.

Then, DC announces a Batgirl movie with Whedon in 2017, who leaves and is replaced by Bilall Fallah and AdilEl Arbi by 2021.

Ben Affleck then leaves the director-post of his Batman movie in 2017, handing over to Matt Reeves. At this point, he's still attatched to play Batman in the film.

A seperate Deathstroke movie is announced the same year.

They announce a Nightwing movie in 2017 with Lego Batman director Chris McKay, and get Gavin O’Connor on to direct Suicide Squad 2.

A Lobo movie is also announced in 2017, along with

Then DC announce a Harley v Joker movie (that goes nowhere), and a spinoff Joker origin that is their first film to explicilty be intended as seperate from the DCEU that would be executive produced by Martin Scorsese.

I have to adress Scorsese because... it's amazing. Basically, Joker was heavily inspired by Taxi Driver and The King of Comedy, so they asked him to exec produce it. He eventually left, but for 4 years he stayed close, read the script, and called the story "remarkable".

By December of 2017, DC took to Brazil Comic Con to reveal their updated slate.

They showcased all of the movies I already mentioned, but chose not to include others. Many of these never got made.

The slate as of Dec 2017 is shown below.

Then in 2018, DC announced EVEN MORE movies. Including Blue Beetle and a New Gods movie helmed by Ava DuVernay. The latter never got made.

Aquaman then releases in 2018, and to much surprise, rocketed to being DC's highest grossing movie of ALL TIME. Higher than even any Batman movie. DC predictably announced a sequel right away.

Then, DC continues their streak announcing an insane amount of sequels and spin-offs.

Notably, an Aquaman horror movie called The Trench, and a Zatanna movie.

Francis and Daley join to direct The Flash in 2019. Write an entire new script. Then leave, and the film is delayed again to 2021.

Steven Spielberg comes on to a Blackhawk movie (that never got an update).

Joker is released in 2019. DC's first non-DCEU movie since the start of the DCEU. It was a huge hit and somewhat lightbulb moment for DC to delve into Elseworlds more...

Joker 2 is greenlit in 2019.

By 2019 Affleck now leaves The Batman role entirely, and DC casts Robert Pattinson in his place. This marks the third reboot for Batman within 20 years.

In this time Birds of Prey and WW84 also release, with the latter sent to streaming same-day due to COVID.

Wonder Wonder 3 is greenlit with Patty Jenkins directing, and her and Geoff Johns writing a script together.

In 2019, The Flash finally finds it's director in Andy Muschietti, and writer in Christina Hodson in 2021.

By 2020 Michael Keaton joins as Batman, and in 2021, Michael Shannon signs on as Zod, and Sascha Calle is cast as Supergirl.

A Val-Zod Superman movie was then hinted at by 2021 with Michael B Jordan cast, and JJ Abrams producing.

Jordan also started prodiucing a Static Shock movie.

Both of these are the only loose ends on this list that are (kinda) still in development? @JamesGunn let me know?

@JamesGunn Meanwhile, the 3-year campaign to #ReleaseTheSnyderCut is won, and ZSJL arrives on HBO Max in 2021.

Initally pitched as a 4-part series, it's the firsy DCEU entry not sent to theatres at all, and begins a long-running confusion about which JL movie is canon.

@JamesGunn James Gunn leaves Marvel, and is offered a Superman movie at DC! Instead he chooses The Suicide Squad, and is told he can keep or remove ANYTHING he wants from the DCEU canon.

This shows just how deeply a lack of cohesion ran through DC Films' creative decisions at the time.

@JamesGunn This is followed by a Peacemaker series, which brought the JL back onto screens for the first time since 2017's JL -- obviously only two actors appeared though.

Ezra Miller's scene was actually filmed by the Marvel GOTG Vol 3 crew.

@JamesGunn Batgirl finishes filming in 2021, which featured Michael Keaton as Batman. DC scraps the entire thing as a tax-writeoff — despite it being totally finished. This is a good time to say #ReleaseBatgirl

@JamesGunn The Batman and Black Adam open in 2022 to vastly different reactions. While a Superman cameo causes misled hope as Cavill had not signed a contract to return yet.

Meanwhile The Batman Part 2 joins Joker 2 as the only greenlit DC movies to survive the incoming reshuffle...

@JamesGunn In a bid to take the crown for shortest-lived DC projects of all time, a Black Adam sequel and Hawkman spinoff are announced in the trades, only to be dropped 13 days later.

@JamesGunn Then, DC quietely cancels a bunch of movies including Wonder Woman 3, and a Keaton Batman Beyond movie that would have featured Michelle Pfeiffer's Catwoman.

@JamesGunn This was all in anticipation of hiring a brand new head for DC, that would become a seperate entity under WBD. This came in the form of James Gunn and Peter Safran. The team arrive and face immense online debate about where DC films are headed.

@JamesGunn In January 2023, such confusion is (almost) quelled, when Gunn announces a brand new slate, with a recast Superman, and the option to some keep things from the old universe, including actors the same.

@JamesGunn Aquaman 2 and Joker 2 are still slated, in addition to the projects announced in Gunn's Chapter 1 slate, and that (exhausted sigh) is the end of our thread!!

@JamesGunn Congrats on making it to the end! 🎉

This thread took multiple weeks to write, so if you enjoyed it, please hit the follow 🙏😃 I’ll love you forever 🧡

Next week I’m posting a thread on the cancelled Green Lanterns show…

So look forward to that!!
Thanks for reading👋

Some people suggesting this is a somewhat negative thread (because it’s about cancelled movies) or simply a waste of time to spend writing. So:

1) This isn’t intended to trash DC, it’s just interesting trivia
2) I enjoy comics and movies and sharing these stories with people 🙂

@leobohrt I did a mini deep-dive on JL Mortal here:

https://twitter.com/HeroesUnbound/status/1653053421518311430

It was always unclear whether it was going to be DCEU but by 2019 DC didn't care anymore about DCEU.

The Strange Adventures show that got cancelled apparently included an episode where Kevin Smith was going to have Nic Cage play Bizarro Superman. The show would also focus on other heroes like Plastic Man.

@JamesGunn Update: If I missed anything please reply with it! Only live-action movies after 2000. No animation, tv, or 90s stuff.

So far, I missed:

2002 Batman Year One
2002 Batman Beyond
2005 Teen Titans
2005 Wonder Woman
2017 Red Son
2018 Plastic Man
2019 Teen Titans
2019 Supergirl

@unka290 But but but. Nolan was a producer on Man of Steel, and Henry was cast in 2011. At one point Nolan considered having Bale be Batman alongside Cavill. But they cast Affleck in 2013 instead.

https://twitter.com/HeroesUnbound/status/1694347417792000120?s=20

@ReacherScott For some reason it's mostly Megan Gale that has the most pictures plus all of them are super HQ

@BeyondersT ah yes I remember this!! hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-f…

@JamesGunn Fun fact: When writing this thread, my starting point was a list in my notes app that I made in 2018.

I’ve always been obsessed with keeping track of every DC announcement.

Who knew it’d be useful for a thread 7 years later! 😊