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DCEU UPDATE: New Gods, The Trench cancelled as Static Shock, Hourman and Blue Beetle move ahead

April 17th, 2021 by Marc Comments

Look, I’ll defend DC movie’s to the death because, well, they’re where my heart lies but there’s no denying that have a tricky track record of movies being announced, then canceled – Justice League 2, Gotham City Sirens, Cyborg to name but a few – and with that, we have around-up of the latest additions to the DCEU… and the latest to be dropped.

So, first, the good news.

We have learned that Star City Kings’ Angel Manuel Soto is set to direct The Blue Beetle movie.

Focusing on Jaime Reyes, the third incarnation of the character after Dan Garrett and Ted Kord (no word on if these will be referenced in the movie as of yet), this will be the first DC movie featuring a latino lead: “It is an honor to direct Blue Beetle, the first Latino superhero film for DC,” says Soto.

“I want to sincerely thank everyone at Warner Bros. and DC for trusting me to bring Jaime Reyes to life. I can’t wait to make history together.”

Next up, we know that Hourman is getting his own movie with a script from Gavin James and Neil Widener.

It’s interesting because we know that Black Adam is setting up The Justice Society of America, which Hourman was a founding member of – Rex Tyler who developed a serum that gives him superhuman powers… for an hour (see what they did there?). He was succeeded in later years by his son, Rick. No word on which incarnation will be in the movie at this stage but it’s cool that the DCEU is embracing the fact that there were heroes around long before the Justice League of Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman and Flash.

On the Michael B Jordan produced Static Shock, it seems the current plan is to create a shared universe based around the black superheroes of DC’s Milestone Comics.

It seems that, currently, Safety writer Randy McKinnon is on writing duties for the planned movie which, at this stage, is unknown if it will connect to the wider DCEU.

However, it’s not all good new news as two big projects at DC/Warners has had the plug pulled.

Ava DuVernay’s planned New Gods movie, which would have featured Darkseid and Granny Goodness, who both appeared in Zack Snyder’s Justice League, has been in the pipeline for a while now but it seems that it is no longer part of the plan.

Along with this is the planned James Wan Aquaman spinoff, The Trench which would have potentially been a real bite at horror in the DC universe.

“As part of our DC slate, some legacy development titles including New Gods and The Trench will not be moving forward,” Warner Bros and DC Films said in a statement.

“We thank our partners Ava DuVernay, Tom King, James Wan, and Peter Safran for their time and collaboration during this process and look forward to our continued partnership with them on other DC stories. The projects will remain in their skillful hands if they were to move forward in the future.”

DuVernay wrote on social media: “I’m upset that the saga of Barda, Scott, Granny, Highfather and The Furies ends this way. Diving into Kirby’s Fourth World was the adventure of a lifetime. That can’t be taken away. Thank you for your friendship. And remember…#DarkseidIs.”

Co-writer Tom King also wrote on Twitter: “I’m so incredibly proud of the work we did, it was such a joy seeing you bring your passion and talent to these characters.

“I really felt Kirby’s legacy was being honored here and I wish we could’ve kept going. That one Barda/Scott scene where…damn.”

Just leave us on that tease, huh, Tom?

Anyway, that’s the current set-up at Warner/DC and with the good news comes bad.

What say you all? Are you excited for the new titles? Were you looking forward to New Gods and/or The Trench? Let me know your thoughts, guys.

Sources: The Wrap, Deadline, EW, EW

Marc is a self-confessed nerd. Ever since seeing Star Wars for the first time around 1979 he’s been an unapologetic fan of the Wars and still believes, with Clone Wars and now Underworld, we are yet to see the best Star Wars. He’s a dad of two who now doesn’t have the time (or money) to collect the amount of toys, comics, movies and books he once did, much to the relief of his long-suffering wife. In the real world he’s a graphic designer. He started Following the Nerd because he was tired of searching a million sites every day for all the best news that he loves and decided to create one place where you can go to get the whole lot. Secretly he longs to be sitting in the cockpit of his YT-1300 Corellian Transport ship with his co-pilot Chewie, roaming the universe, waiting for his next big adventure, but feels just at home watching cartoons with his kids….