New DC Entertainment Superhero Films & Release Dates Announced

Source: Pop Goes Manila

As expected, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is just the beginning of a bold new frontier for all things Detective Comics.

Warner Bros. Pictures have today announced a host of release dates for their upcoming superhero film projects as well as the development of a number of previously unrevealed comic-book adaptations for release between 2016 and 2020. The studio's so-called DC Cinematic Universe - which is currently being developed, as one would anticipate, in collaboration with DC Entertainment - got off to an assured-yet-divisive start in 2013 with the launch of Man of Steel, but it'll be with Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice that the metaphorical ball starts to gain momentum as it moves towards a two-part adaptation of the beloved ongoing Justice League saga amongst other standalone blockbusters aplenty.

A word of warning before we progress any further in this article, however: there's a more than substantial chance that readers will incur a devastating heart attack as a result of the sheer exhilaration which will inevitably be provoked by the information that we must dutifully impart on this depressingly damp (albeit thrillingly dense) Wednesday evening. Even given all of the scepticism surrounding the rapid nature of DC Entertainment's attempts to match the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it's undeniably fascinating to discover the extent to which the studio are planning ahead for the next half-decade, rolling out the first female-led superhero film since 2005's Elektra (and frankly, the less said about that one, the better in our view) in the form of Wonder Woman (starring Fast & Furious' Gal Gadot as the titular mythological Amazonian), not one but three crossover instalments in the form of Dawn of Justice, Justice League - Part 1 and Justice League - Part 2 and to top it all off, they're even being so bold as to revive the Green Lantern franchise, albeit a full nine years after it took for a turn for the worst (to put it generously).

Now that we've ideally gained a firm grasp on your attention, let's cease with the dillying and the dallying and instead commence business for the evening. Without further ado, here's the full line-up of DC Comics-inspired superhero films as was announced during Time Warner's latest investor call earlier this afternoon along with all of the key production details we know so far:

• BATMAN v SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE (Directed by Zack Snyder; Starring Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Amy Adams & Jessie Eisenberg; Out March 25th, 2016)
• SUICIDE SQUAD (Directed by David Ayer; Out August 5th, 2016)
• WONDER WOMAN (Starring Gal Gadot; June 23rd, 2017)
• JUSTICE LEAGUE - PART 1 (Directed by Zack Snyder; Starring Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill et al; Out November 17th, 2017)
• THE FLASH (Starring Ezra Miller (We Need to Talk About Kevin; The Perks of Being a Wallflower); Out March 23rd, 2018)
• AQUAMAN (Starring Jason Momoa (Game of Thrones); Out July 27th, 2018)
• SHAZAM (Starring Dwayne Johnson; Out April 5th, 2019)
• JUSTICE LEAGUE - PART 2 (Directed by Zack Synder; Starring Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill et al; Out June 14th, 2019)
• CYBORG (Starring Ray Fisher; Out April 3rd, 2020)
• GREEN LANTERN (Out June 19th, 2020)
• In addition, at least one standalone film revolving around Batman and one standalone sequel to Man of Steel will apparently launch somewhere in-between 2016 and 2020 too. Quite how DC will manage to film more than a dozen motion pictures in the next five years is almost beyond us, but - at least at this point - we're certainly not going to be found moping about the prospect any-time soon.

Stay tuned to On-Screen in the coming days - if not the coming hours - for all the latest news on the superhero film industry's future, including - but on no account limited to - the inevitable response from Marvel Studios - more on them later tonight - to this rather monumental development!