Barely a week after launching her new website with an excoriating editorial explaining why she's different to the rest of the internet, ex-Deadline honcho Nikki Finke has "broken" an unsourced rumour about future comic book movies. Take this with a pinch of the same salt you use for Latino Review scoops then, but if this apparent leak of Warner Bros. plans is to believed, we can expect a further six DC comics movies in the two years following **Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice.
The schedule, according to source, runs thusly:
Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice - May 2016
- Shazam! - July 2016
- Sandman - Christmas 2016
- Justice League - May 2017
- Wonder Woman - July 2017
- Flash / Green Lantern team-up - Christmas 2017
- Man Of Steel 2 - May 2018
The Flash and Green Lantern will, we're told, make their first appearances as cameos in Dawn Of Justice. Green Lantern will *not *be Ryan Reynolds, but The Flash will presumably be Grant Gustin's current TV incarnation.
It's the first we've heard of the Lantern/Flash project, and the first we've heard for a long time about Shazam! (which is an interesting one because he's also known as Captain Marvel, potentially a bone of contention with Marvel/Disney). Opening two months after Batman V Superman? Really?
Others we did know were developing, although they hadn't been dated quite this firmly. Joseph Gordon-Levitt and David S. Goyer are at work on adapting Neil Gaiman's Sandman comics; and Zack Snyder is jumping straight into **Justice League after its Dawn.
As already much publicised, Gal Gadot's Wonder Woman will make her debut in Dawn. She'll certainly be busy with the character if Justice League and her first stand-alone are really coming out within two months of each other. Fascinating too that Superman, in this reality, will be waiting five years for a proper sequel; Batman Vs Superman is clearly distinguished here from Man Of Steel 2. Also, no more Batman yet?
Missing from the list is any mention of Fables, Metal Men, 100 Bullets or Dark Universe (although Finke believes Metal Men has entirely fallen through for the time being).
So, plausible or poppycock? Give us your thoughts in the comments below. We'll likely learn something solid when DC/Warners take the stage at Comic-Con next month.