Even though the initial slate of projects to comprise the DCU‘s Chapter 1 – Gods & Monsters have already been revealed, the speculation about the film and television titles – as well as the iconic comic book characters who weren’t mentioned – continues to run rampant.
There was a near-total absence of established veterans in amongst the announcements with the exception of Viola Davis’ Amanda Waller, but with some heavy hitters including Batman, Superman, and Green Lantern being rebooted, virtually nothing or nobody can be taken off the table.
Despite having been given a tantalizing tease, fans are more eager than ever to discover which favorites James Gunn will be bringing to either live-action, animation, or both. Taking it upon himself to stir the pot even more, the co-CEO has confirmed that five established names are guaranteed their DCU debuts eventually, although there was obviously a catch.
Dick Grayson’s Nightwing, Martian Manhunter, Lobo, Brainiac, Deathstroke, Jason Todd under either the Robin or Red Hood guises, Zatanna, the Court of Owls, Mister Freeze, and John Constantine are the 10 candidates, and if we take a couple of educated guesses, we might even be able to narrow the field further still.
Keanu Reeves’ Constantine sequel is a go, and the Lobo speculation hasn’t gone away, so they’d be safe bet. Having very recently seen Lex Luthor and Doomsday antagonize the Man of Steel, Brainiac could conceivably be the villain of Superman: Legacy, but Zatanna recently being canned by Warner Bros. would surely rule her out. We’re just spitballing, of course, but at least we know that half of the aforementioned 10 are on the way.