With James Gunn’s Superman dominating the box office and soothing the jangled nerves of Warner Bros. Discovery execs everywhere, and looking likely to dominate in weekend two, as well, the public’s thoughts, of course, have turned to “what’s next?” And while Gunn himself has already pivoted to promoting 2026’s Supergirl movie, I’ve got a modest proposition for what DC Studios should tackle next: Superman 2.
Gunn is – laudably – taking a careful approach with the DCU cinematic universe, repeatedly doubling down on the idea that he won’t greenlight anything until the scripts are done and ready for production to his personal satisfaction. That means a lot of the projects Gunn teased when he took over as DC Studios head, from Batman and Robin team-up movie The Brave and the Bold, to a Booster Gold TV show, have big question marks over them as to whether they’ll ever happen. That’s fine, and in fact, good. If they can’t crack the story for these things, don’t force them to happen just because they’ve been announced… That’s repeatedly been the albatross that’s brought down “cinematic universes,” from Universal’s monstrous Dark Universe to the DC Universe, multiple times.
But in terms of what has been announced? We’ve got Supergirl, as mentioned, which debuts in 2026 and stars Milly Alcock as the Maid of Might, based on the comic book Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow by Tom King and Bilquis Evely. There’s a Clayface body horror movie written by Mike Flanagan, also planned for 2026. And on the TV side, HBO’s Lanterns is in production, starring Kyle Chandler as Hal Jordan and Aaron Pierre as John Stewart, as well as bringing back Nathan Fillion as Guy Gardner from Superman. There’s also Peacemaker Season 2, which is about to debut on HBO Max, and reveals a lot more of the big story the DCU is hoping to tell over what Gunn calls “Chapter One: Gods and Monsters.” Oh, and at some point, there will be a second season of Creature Commandos, though when that will debut is TBD.
Otherwise, there are a lot of projects that haven’t been greenlit, but are in various stages of development. A Teen Titans movie, a Sgt. Rock movie, something about Bane and Deathstroke, and a Wonder Woman movie has reportedly been fast-tracked, as well. Beyond that there’s plenty DC Studios is working on that is not in the DCU cinematic universe, most notably the long-in-development The Batman Part II.
But, just to throw it out there again: what about a sequel to Superman, the movie that’s currently in theaters? While teasing Peacemaker Season 2, Gunn posted on Threads that “The follow up to Superman is a little different [than] what one might expect,” likely noting that the tone and direction of Peacemaker is a 180 from the Man of Steel movie. But when asked by a fan, “When does Superman 2 come out?” Gunn answered, “Define ‘Superman 2’.”
Personally, I would define Superman 2 as a sequel to the movie Superman involving some, if not all of the main cast from the first movie, but perhaps that’s just me.
Gunn got even more vague when he was asked about a sequel by EW, musing that, “What I’m working on is in some way…I mean, yes, yes, yes, yes. But is it a straight-up Superman sequel? I would not say necessarily.”
Not to keep beating the same drum here, but – hear me out – what about a straight-up Superman sequel? There’s a lot that Gunn has clearly learned from the errors Marvel Studios (who he worked with on the Guardians of the Galaxy movies, among other capacities), including how to handle post-credits scenes, and see above re: making sure the script is ready before you head to set. But one knock that Marvel has gotten, particularly over the past few years post Avengers: Endgame is that there’s been little to no follow-through on the movies and TV shows they’ve put in theaters and on Disney+, respectively. Characters like Shang-Chi (Simu Liu) did well in theaters, but won’t pop up again until next year’s Avengers: Doomsday. TV shows like WandaVision got a sequel in Agatha All Along, and another one in next year’s VisionQuest, but other than Loki and Daredevil: Born Again, second seasons have been few and far between.
Every movie doesn’t need a sequel, and every TV show doesn’t need a second season… But looking back at, oh say, the entire history of Hollywood, generally when a movie does well, you do more of it. And if people like that second helping you go back for thirds and fourths. Waiting too long tends to test an audience’s patience, particularly when it comes to shared universes. For more on that, see the diminished returns for more recent MCU movies, as well as the mostly non-existent Nielsen Top 10 ratings for MCU shows.
But even beyond MCU comparisons, not following up Superman with a direct sequel has shades of the last iteration of the DC cinematic universe, where the success (controversial content aside) of Man of Steel was followed up by Batman V. Superman: Dawn of Justice, and then a Justice League movie. Whatever you think of Henry Cavill’s Superman, neither of those movies were the Man of Steel follow-up audiences wanted – it was adding more and more elements to the point that Superman was lost in the mix. And by the time The Rock came around to pitching a Man of Steel 2, it was too late: both the audience, and Warner Bros. Discovery, had moved on.
Look, we’re just on the cusp of the DCU at the moment, and it perhaps isn’t all as dire as the bove paragraphs might express. Gunn hasn’t announced everything they’re working on, and in terms of schedule we don’t know much beyond 2026… It’s reasonable to think a Superman sequel could rest comfortably in 2027 or 2028.
But the easiest and most straightforward way of capitilizing on the success of Superman is by announcing – you guessed it – Superman 2. Not “Superman appears in someone else’s movie” or a Mr. Terrific (Edi Gathegi) or Jimmy Olsen (Skyler Gisondo) TV show… Superman 2. The sequel to the first movie, that stars David Corenswet as Superman. There’s trying to do things differently and focus on quality, which is great and should hopefully continue under Gunn’s purview as head of the studio. But there’s also overthinking it, and attempting to reinvent the wheel. Sequels work. People want to see sequels. Give the world Superman 2.
…Unless Gunn is working on a Detective Chimp movie featuring Superman as a supporting character, in which case: full speed ahead.
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