Report: ‘Wonder Woman 3’ Cancelled At WBD As New DCEU Plan Takes Shape

Warner Bros. Discovery has rejected director Patty Jenkins’ proposed plans for a third Wonder Woman film, according to a late afternoon exclusive report from Borys Kit at The Hollywood Reporter. The apparent cancellation comes as newly hired DC Studios CEOS James Gunn and Peter Safran have just completed their initial plans for the future of WBD’s cinematic shared universe of DC Comics superheroes.

The report goes on to say the Wonder Woman sequel — which Jenkins cowrote with Geoff Johns — “is considered dead in its current incarnation.” Gunn and Safran are said to have told Jenkins her story doesn’t fit into their plans for the DCEU’s future

It’s important to note this only cancels what Jenkins presented as her current plan for Wonder Woman 3, and doesn’t necessarily preclude a sequel being made with a different story, or with an altered version of the existing story. It’s also possibly relevant that test screenings of Aquaman and the Lost City reportedly don’t include either of the Batman cameos filmed by Ben Affleck and Michael Keaton, suggesting a final decision hasn’t been made about which to include, which in turn might suggest the choice is relevant to the future DCEU plans — at least short-term, if not longterm.

That said, much of the other information and rumors coming out of the studio and making the rounds suggests Gunn and Safran might be planning to let the current crop of DCEU films release in theaters and then close out the existing version of the DCEU altogether, and replace it with a new rebooted cast of heroes. In that scenario, 2023 would seemingly close out the DCEU with the release of four theatrical films and one streaming series tie-in: Shazam! Fury of the Gods, The Flash, Blue Beetle, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, and season two of the Peacemaker HBO Max streaming series.

However, in that scenario, it seems other intended DCEU projects set in the current universe would fail to materialize, including two additional Gunn-led spinoffs of The Suicide Squad and Peacemaker. That’s unless those two projects can be handed off to other filmmakers to develop next year, for release either in 2023 or 2024. It’s also possible that one or two additional DCEU projects might be allowed to move forward if they can complete production next year in time for a 2024 release, which would — in this purely hypothetical scenario — extend the life expectancy of this iteration of the DCEU for two more years.

It’s also possible Gunn and Safran plan to retain elements of the current DCEU for their future plans, and the cancellation of Jenkins’ existing version of Wonder Woman 3 is merely a delay until that project can be reworked to fit into the larger DCEU plans going forward. In this hypothetical situation, maybe the new DCEU will involve a “Crisis on Infinite Earths” type story that crosses over characters and actors from all walks of DC entertainment — the DCEU films, the CW Arrowverse and related series, the HBO Max shows including Titans, Doom Patrol, and Superman & Lois, mixing and matching ingredients to selectively pick the best versions and then drop them all together into a brand new DCEU that reintroduces the characters to one another and provides cinematic versions of their respective backstories.

In that case — again, purely a “for example hypothetical” and not based on any inside information at this point — Gunn and Safran could assemble a team of creators to pick the best stories from comics and other sources for the various DC characters, to fit into an overarching plan driven by a larger DCEU-wide narrative similar to the way Marvel Studios let each of their superheroes have origin tales and standalone solo adventures that all featured connective tissue to increasingly build toward the Infinity Saga’s main plotline.

Perhaps instead, though, Gunn and Safran might plan to end the current DCEU after the remaining films are released, but not reboot everything entirely from scratch, and instead build out a larger DCEU founded within the world created by Matt Reeves in The Batman. This idea would be similar to what might’ve existed if Warner Bros. had decided post-The Dark Knight to release Man of Steel and Wonder Woman movies set within the world established in Christopher Nolan’s Batman movies. This would let Batman retain a more faux-realism approach suitable for his solo outings while the other heroes have films appropriately toned for their own adventures, and then when necessary they all cross over into a shared Justice League adventure. Presumably, the solo films would also at times include elements of the shared world, particularly things that tie them all into the larger DCEU narrative building toward Justice League’s story.

If we imagine The Batman is sort of a spiritual successor to The Dark Knight and what the series might’ve looked like had it continued into the future instead of ending with The Dark Knight Rises, then it’s not hard to see the above hypothetical scenario as a chance to revisit that earlier opportunity and try to create some fresh version of it.

This would presumably require Reeves’ agreement to let his bat-world become the starting point of the larger DCEU plans, instead of keeping it walled off as its own separate universe of films and streaming series. Nolan rejected the idea of his own Batman transitioning into a shared DC universe, and it’s possible Reeves likewise could fear losing creative control and being forced to compromise his vision too far if his version of Batman was placed within a larger world of superheroes.

Indeed, he made it clear that he didn’t think the most fantastical villains from Batman’s rouges gallery were appropriate for his bat-world — namely, characters like Man-Bat for example, who is a half-human and half-bat, complete with giant wings and fury body. Would DC Studios risk forcing the situation and losing Reeves? I’d think that’s doubtful, but on the other hand everything is so up in the air right now it’s hard to say for sure.

More likely, I think they might ask how he’d feel about it before they made their larger plans, and if he was open to it then they could do it, but if he was unhappy with the suggestion then they could plan a focus on other DC characters at first while Reeves continues his Batman projects for a few years and then approach him again after the rest of the DCEU has taken shape and see if he’s more open to the idea after he’s had time to get most of his original vision and ideas out into the world in films and streaming shows.

I will state for the record that as someone who spent years lobbying for Matt Reeves to be handed the keys to the Batman franchise and who loved The Batman, I want any plans for DC movies to include a big neon sign saying “Don’t screw up Matt Reeves’ plans and don’t do anything that could cause him to leave the franchise.” I’d be totally happy to see the entire DCEU based around Reeves’ bat-world as long as Reeves himself was on board with it, but if he’s opposed then I don’t want it to happen.

Having said that, I need to clarify three important things. First of all, while I’d be happy with a DCEU set in Reeves’ bat-world if he’s into the idea, that still doesn’t erase the fact I’ve liked or loved most of the current version of the DCEU — including, by the way, Black Adam, a movie I not only liked but own a copy of and have watched more than once, since my articles about the box office situation are merely to note the lost opportunities caused by decisions at higher levels at the time.

So I’d be happy to see Gunn and Safran release a good plan to continue this version of the DCEU with just new stories and an expanded roster of characters, if in theory that was their plan. But I also recognize the fact this DCEU has had some unfortunate luck and results over the past few years, and that however much I and others love it, that doesn’t mean the vast global mainstream public agrees with us — not enough to make the films successful at the level DC Comics branded IP should perform, at least. So if DC Studios lets this DCEU end next year and reboots for the future, I can be happy to have 16 completed released films set in this DC universe of films and closing out with a big bang in 2023.

Consider, the MCU’s Infinity Saga consisted of 22 films, and if Marvel had decided to end things there and just reboot the entire MCU with a new slate of characters — starting for example with Fantastic Four, X-Men, Ms. Marvel, Shang-Chi, Moon Knight, The Eternals, Blade, and some others — then by comparison the current DCEU would have 16 films instead of 22, but that’s still not too far off and is partially due to the fact there weren’t as many solo origin films at the start of the DCEU.

The point being, a reboot at DC Studios could be viewed as this iteration having had its day in the sun and a good, relatively successful run overall, setting the stage for a reboot that will still include the biggest characters but also open the door to a lot more who deserve time in the sun but who haven’t had the chance to shine yet.

The second thing I want to clarify is that regardless of my points about why a reboot can work and how I could be happy with that, I am very sad to hear that Jenkins’ Wonder Woman 3 was rejected and that it might not happen at all. I am a big fan and admirer of Wonder Woman and Wonder Woman 1984, including having penned my defense of the second film against a tide of criticisms I felt were grossly unfair.

So, I hope Jenkins still gets to finish her vision for the series, and am grateful to have gotten her two wonderful films so far. It’s still possible the problem with her proposed story is simply that — since it is reportedly set in the modern day and would exist in the post-Justice League timeline — it just included elements that don’t align with planned changes to the status quo and DCEU’s future world. In that case, then, it could still be possible Jenkins will make her third film after rewrites.

Lastly, having stated my strong feelings about protecting Matt Reeves’ Batman world and wanting to see it left alone, I also have to try to be objective about things here and admit that regardless of my own personal feelings, the idea of rebooting the DCEU inherently brings up the fact that one of the best and most obvious opportunities is to put projects into development for a new rebooted DCEU with a general recognition that it won’t directly reference Reeves’ films yet, but that once Reeves has released his second Batman movie and his streaming series are on HBO Max, the longterm plan could be to then build toward crossing over the rest of the new rebooted DCEU with the Reeves Batman under the presumption they always coexisted in the same world and just had to give Reeves time to finish setting up the bat-world he intended.

This once again reminds me of the situation in the aftermath of The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises, and that in hindsight it was probably a mistake — from a business and DCEU standpoint, regardless of our opinions about respecting the wishes of the filmmaker at the time — to let Nolan dictate whether a billion dollar Batman franchise could be continued without him and used to build a larger shared DCEU.

If that had happened, if Man of Steel had been set in Nolan’s bat-world (I’m assuming with his eventually go-ahead, as part of a deal to give him immense leeway to develop all manner of other projects as well as other things he could’ve demanded in return for his signing off publicly on the idea so that Christian Bale would agree to return to the role), can you imagine what the DCEU would’ve looked like with Bale’s Dark Knight returning to Gotham upon news of Superman’s arrival in Man of Steel? What if Bale cameoed in that first Superman film, might it have boosted the box office a couple of hundred million bucks higher?

Well, now there is possibly an opportunity for a do-over of sorts, and regardless of all other considerations (which are substantial and shouldn’t be ignored, I’m just suggesting looking at this one angle itself for a moment) there’s a good argument to be made that once The Batman has expanded its bat-world, any new DCEU would be best served by including that successful Batman in it and using those films and shows as a foundational basis for other superhero films. I’m not lobbying for it, and I’d only personally like it if Reeves was 100% in agreement to do it, but I also recognize how powerful an idea it is and that it’s one of the better options available now.

In truth, doing so would actually be very close to what I proposed a few years ago. That article’s suggestions, combined with part one and part two of my suggestion for how to reboot Batman and build a bat-world of films and TV shows, would essentially be an early version of the idea to let existing DCEU films play out, build a separate Batman franchise establishing him as an existing hero in his second and third years of activity while TV shows provide backstory, and then from there build out a larger DCEU once Batman’s world is established. So for what it’s worth, if I support a lot of the ideas that seem to be options right now for the DCEU’s future, it’s partly because I already liked those ideas years ago, to admit my inherent bias here.

Still, there’s also plenty of room to either maintain the current DCEU and just find better ways to make it more financially successful and gain broad mainstream appeal, or to reboot it entirely including with its own separate new Batman — or, here’s a thought I used to bang the drum for a lot a decade or so ago, do a DCEU that doesn’t introduce Batman for a while since there’s so many other great characters to use who deserve attention, and introduce a new Batman down the road (or eventually bring in Reeves’ Batman at that point if he’s okay with it or if he’s moved on from the franchise by then).

A fully rebooted DCEU that takes the best lessons from the best DC movies to date, from the best Marvel movies to date, and then applies those lessons to build a new universe with its own unique perspective and approach would have lots of potential if it involved top talents who pulled inspiration from top sources in the comics. (And again, full disclosure, I sound enthusiastic about this idea because it’s close to what I previously said I hoped they’d do anyway, so yes, I’m biased in this regard.)

It remains to be seen which approach Gunn and Safran will choose — and obviously, I only mention a few broad options here, so there are many others to consider and plenty I haven’t even thought of. But success depends on getting the right people to pick the right stories and then adapt it all correctly, and sell it smartly to mainstream audiences who’ve already had nine years worth of 16 DCEU films set in a particular shared universe that established a reputation and certain expectations, some good and some unfortunately bad.

We have to hope that with filmmakers who have a strong history in the genre and who respect other filmmakers, and who are eager to create a new future for DC on film that earns them even more impressive reputations than they already have, that the results will be an excellent plan that they will ensure is carried out as expertly as possible and to much success and acclaim. I want to see DC movies succeed, as does everyone involved and everyone who loves these characters and films, so I hope as we slowly learn the details over the next several weeks and months that it all points to a bright future for these characters.

Stay tuned for more updates and check this space soon for further reports about what we know so far, dear readers. And remember, until we get official confirmations, what we’re hearing is still uncertain and sounds subject to executive approval and any other changes that may happen along the way.