DC Confirms What We Already Knew: Warner Bros. Superhero Films Will Have a Shared Universe

When Warner Bros. announced their big slate of upcoming DC superhero films a few months ago, we all pretty much assumed that these movies and characters would operate in a shared universe. Given the ‘Justice League’ connection, how could they not? What we haven’t been clear on is whether some of the other DC heroes, like Shazam and Guillermo del Toro’s ‘Dark Universe’ characters, would also inhabit the same universe. As if sensing the little question marks over our heads, DC Comics has confirmed what we all assumed: Yes, their WB superhero movies will operate in a shared universe.

DC Comics posted to their blog about some of the company’s big moments in 2014, both on page and in film. Of course, one of those big moments was WB’s announcement of its intended DC superhero film slate, and this is what DC had to say:

Yes, there were rumors of some sort of film slate, mentions that Warner Bros. had “big plans” for DC Entertainment and occasional informal announcements (like the news that New Line had a Shazam movie in development). But for fans who were hoping to see a DC Cinematic Universe similar to what they’ve seen from other publishers, one that included super heroes other than Superman or Batman, there didn’t seem to be a lot to talk about.

That changed on October 15, 2014, when Warner Bros. revealed a full slate of ten DC Entertainment feature films all set within the same universe. The list included the movies we were hoping to see—Wonder Woman will get her own film, while the Justice League will get TWO movies. However, it also included quite a few surprises. A standalone Cyborg movie! A Flash feature starring Ezra Miller! A Suicide Squad movie! And coming in 2016, no less!!

Now, you may read that and think “Duh.” After all, rumor has it that Jesse Eisenberg’s Lex Luthor from ‘Batman vs. Superman’ will star in ‘Suicide Squad,’ which would give ‘Suicide Squad’ the connective tissue it needs to bridge together with the other DC films. But there were some placeholder dates on that list, which could either be for the planned ‘Cyborg’ or ‘Green Lantern’ movies, or for standalone Batman and Superman films. What makes this interesting is that ‘Shazam’ is scheduled for a 2019 release, and DC’s blog post not only mentions the movie, but confirms that all of their planned superhero films for WB take place in the same universe.

And although there’s no release date set for Guillermo del Toro’s ‘Dark Universe’ movie, it could end up taking one of those 2020 release dates. In a recent interview, del Toro said that the only shared universe movie he has on the horizon is the Justice League ‘Dark Universe’ film, which further confirms that DC and WB have a plan in place to connect all of these films together—and as the above blog post hints, they’re definitely taking a page from Marvel’s Cinematic Universe.