Last Updated: April 5, 2021
DC Films has five movies releasing throughout 2022, which makes it their busiest lineup yet. In 2016, Warner Bros. launched the DC Extended Universe with Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice and then quickly followed that up with Suicide Squad. From then on, they planned on releasing two movies a year, but things changed post-Justice League, and so, they took a step back to regroup. But now that things have started to ramp up again, DC Films appears to want to release a few live-action movies a year in the near future.
There were warning signs that the DCEU, despite the success of Wonder Woman, was in trouble when its biggest and most talked-about film, Justice League, failed to meet box office expectations in 2017, but recent releases have shown that DC is correcting its mistakes, and is currently in good shape. Aquaman, which hit theaters in December 2018, raked in a whopping $1.1 billion at the worldwide box office, thus proving without a shadow of a doubt that DC no longer needed to rely solely on cash cows like Batman and Superman. Aquaman was followed by Shazam!, a movie which was produced with a smaller budget. At $364 million, it was a modest hit for DC, and another sign that they were moving in the right direction. Joker, a film that isn't part of the DCEU, became yet another $1 billion blockbuster for DC and Warner Bros. Wonder Woman 1984's box office success was slightly harder to gauge considering it was released during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, thus changing its circumstances. Meanwhile, Zack Snyder's Justice League was released exclusively to HBO Max.
The successes that DC has experienced just over the last two years have given them the confidence to come up with a packed slate of seven confirmed movies set to release between now through 2023. Due to the pandemic, 2021 will only see the release of The Suicide Squad. 2022 stands to be much busier with The Batman, Black Adam, The Flash, and more on the way. Interestingly, DC is upping the ante in 2022 by scheduling a total of five theatrical movies. That being said, it's worth noting that one of the four is an animated movie, which would understandably be produced on a significantly smaller budget. Here's every DC movie coming in 2022.
The Batman - March 4, 2022
Following Ben Affleck's departure from the film in 2019 and as Batman (save for his role in The Flash movie), Robert Pattinson was cast to take up the mantle of the Dark Knight. However, Matt Reeves' The Batman won't be a part of the DC Extended Universe. The highly anticipated film will follow Bruce Wayne in his early days as the Caped Crusader and will have a plethora of notable supporting DC characters, including Andy Serkis as Alfred Pennyworth, Colin Farrell as the Penguin, Paul Dano as The Riddler, Jeffrey Wright as James Gordon, and Zoe Kravitz as Catwoman. The film was originally scheduled for released in June 2020, but was pushed back due to the pandemic and a months-long halt to filming. After another delay that pushed the film to a late 2021 release, The Batman will now hit theaters March 4, 2022.
DC Super Pets - May 22, 2022
Previous films are proof of DC's willingness to experiment with movies outside the norms of the superhero genre. Shazam! was an action-comedy about a kid who could transform into an adult superhero, and Joker was an origin story about one of DC's most ruthless and psychotic murderers. However, DC Super Pets may be the studio's strangest movie yet. As the title implies, it will focus on the animal sidekicks of their super-powered owners. Characters haven't been announced, but it's expected to include characters like Krypto the Super Dog from Superman comics, Ace the Bat-Hound, and Streaky the Super-Cat. The film will be directed by Wreck-It-Ralph co-writers Jared Stern and Sam Levine. Since Cartoon Network had a DC animated series of the same name, it's possible that the film will be an adaptation of that, or it could just be based on the Legion of Super-Pets team from the Silver Age of DC Comics.
Black Adam - July 29, 2022
Black Adam was originally supposed to be introduced in Shazam!, but that never happened, with Warner Bros. opting to give the character his own standalone film instead. In the comics, Black Adam is an adversary of Shazam, but the Black Adam solo film will not paint him as such. The long-awaited (and delayed) film, which was first announced with Dwayne Johnson in the titular role in 2014, will finally begin filming this year. Black Adam initially had a December 2021 release date, but filming had to be pushed back. While Warner Bros. pulled the film from the schedule for a while, it's back on and will hit theaters July 29, 2022.
The Flash - November 4, 2022
Of all the movies that's on DC's slate for 2022, none have been in the works longer than The Flash. In fact, it was announced only a week after the premiere of The Flash TV series on The CW in 2014. There were several delays, as multiple directors, such as Seth Grahame-Smith, Rick Famuyima, and Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley, have dropped out of the project, all reportedly due to creative differences. The problems with getting the film to move forward, as well as the failure of Justice League, have caused some to wonder if DC would pull the plug on The Flash, but this is apparently not the case. Finally, Andy Muschietti was brought on to direct in July 2019.
The Flash is expected to begin filming in April 2021, and will release on November 4, 2022 - four years after its initial release date of 2018. The movie will star Ezra Miller as the Barry Allen incarnation of the Flash. Miller was originally cast as the character for Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice, a role which he reprised in Justice League, this time playing a much more important role in the story. The Flash is expected to have high stakes, since it could potentially be based on Flashpoint, a large-scale story that saw Barry change the face of the DC Universe when he used time travel to undo his mother's death. What's more, Michael Keaton and Affleck are returning as their versions of Batman and Kiersey Clemons will return as Iris West, a role she originated in Zack Snyder's Justice League. Sasha Calle will be introduced as Supergirl and Billy Crudup, who was playing Barry's dad Henry Allen, will be replaced by Ron Livingston in the role.
Aquaman 2: December 16, 2022
Aquaman was such a massive hit for DC that a sequel seemed guaranteed, and just two months after its release, Warner Bros. confirmed that Aquaman 2 was in development, with James Wan expected to return as director. The only surprise so far about the announcement of the sequel is that it will release four years after Aquaman. Like its predecessor, Aquaman 2 has a holiday release date. Releasing on December 16 will surely benefit the sequel, as it will be able to take advantage of the Christmas crowd.
Aquaman 2, which will reportedly begin filming June 2021, will see Jason Momoa return as the King of Atlantis, along with Patrick Wilson as Ocean Master and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as Black Manta. What the movie has in store for audiences isn't clear, but the story is already "locked", according to Momoa, who also claims to have been involved in the creative process.
