Warner Bros. has announced that The Suicide Squad writer-director James Gunn has pitched a secret DC Comics-based movie that he’ll work on as soon as he’s done with Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 and the second season of Peacemaker. Since Warner hasn’t even named the I.P. that this pitch is based on, speculation has been running rampant. Could this mysterious movie project be another Suicide Squad spin-off, a Superman sequel, or something else entirely?
The Suicide Squad 2
The most obvious DC movie that Gunn could be working on is a sequel to The Suicide Squad. In its initial release, The Suicide Squad bombed at the box office, but theaters were still being affected by the pandemic, the movie was a huge hit on HBO Max, and the unexpected success of Peacemaker has brought new attention to the film it was spun off from. Plus, Gunn seems to have complete creative freedom to make whatever project he wants at DC Films. So, it wouldn’t be out of the question for Warner to develop a sequel to The Suicide Squad.
Based on the events of Peacemaker’s season 1 finale, it’s unlikely that the Task Force X program will continue, but Bloodsport and Peacemaker are well worth revisiting and there are plenty of other DC antiheroes they could team with the second time around.
Green Lantern
The last time Green Lantern was translated to the big screen, it turned into one of the worst movies ever made. As a result, Warner Bros. has been trepidatious about introducing Green Lantern into the DCEU. But Gunn might be the filmmaker to make it work. The tone and sensibility that Gunn has pioneered with the Guardians of the Galaxy films would be perfect for a Green Lantern movie.
From the lighthearted humor to the humanized alien characters to the pulpy visuals inspired by space operas like Star Wars and Flash Gordon, all the best parts of the Guardians movies could be translated to a Green Lantern story. Hal Jordan is every bit the goofball that Peter Quill is, and Gunn has given Quill a moving arc that saw him mature into a better, more thoughtful person. He could do the same for Hal.
Lobo
DC fans have been waiting for a Lobo movie for years. The Lord of Death’s gnarly intergalactic adventures are tailor-made for the big screen. Lobo-centric film projects have gotten to various stages of development with directors like Guy Ritchie and Michael Bay, but nothing concrete has come to fruition. With a blank check from DC Films, Gunn could easily get a Lobo movie off the ground – and the property would be right in his wheelhouse.
In the mold of Bloodsport or Drax the Destroyer, Lobo is exactly the kind of obscure antihero that Gunn loves to explore and humanize. Born on the utopian planet of Czarnia, Lobo is an alien mercenary who travels the universe in search of bounties to collect. There have been rumors that Warner was aiming for a PG-13 rating with the previous Lobo movies they had in development, but this character deserves the hard-R treatment and, based on his work on The Suicide Squad, Gunn has both the sensibility and the studio’s faith to pull it off.
Plastic Man
Some comic book fans are predicting that Gunn will take on a big-name I.P. like Batman or Shazam. But Gunn doesn’t usually go for famous faces like the mainstays of the Justice League; he does his best work adapting offbeat, lesser-known characters like Rocket Raccoon and Peacemaker and turning them into beloved fan-favorites. One DC property he’d be perfect for is Plastic Man.
Plastic Man was one of the first superheroes to bring a sense of humor into the traditional comic book action, which is the effect that Gunn had on superhero comics’ film adaptations with the banter between the titular characters in Guardians of the Galaxy. A live-action movie based on this character would need to lean into the absurdity, and that’s what Gunn excels at.
Man Of Steel 2
The fact that Gunn’s secret DC movie pitch was announced around the same time as Black Adam’s post-credits scene leaked online might be more than just a coincidence. The post-credits scene reaffirms Henry Cavill as the DCEU’s Superman as he confronts Black Adam and says, “It’s been a while since anyone’s made the world this nervous.” Maybe the DC movie that Gunn is working on is a sequel to Man of Steel starring Cavill’s Clark Kent.
According to Den of Geek, Gunn originally envisioned an evil Superman as the main villain in The Suicide Squad, but he decided against it because it was unclear who the DCEU’s Superman was at the time. Now that it is clear who’s playing Superman, Gunn might be tackling a solo movie for the ultimate superhero.