DC/WB Films/Worlds (No Spoilers)

[Rac7d*]

I have HBO Max now and I like it a lot. I noticed a lot of DC movies are leaving next month probably to cable for a few months. Will probably finally watch Shazam before that happens. HBO is the cream of this platform though. It's pretty much single handedly carrying it along with Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings. Hopefully there's more DC content coming in the future as 'Max Originals' I assume

Pennyworth was just added yesterday seasons 1 and 2

[HsssH]

I don't really understand one thing about the argument that DC needs to get out other versions of Batman and Superman into the movies due to them entering public domain: can you copyright "Black Batman" or "Son of Superman"? Suppose Bruce and Clark enter public domain, what is stopping another studio from making a movie where Bruce is black or where Clark has a son? It won't be Jace or Jon, but I doubt that general audience really cares if black Batman is Jace, Bruce, Tim or Idris Elba. What matters is that he is black.

So what DC is actually gaining here?

[The Darknight Detective]

I don't really understand one thing about the argument that DC needs to get out other versions of Batman and Superman into the movies due to them entering public domain: can you copyright "Black Batman" or "Son of Superman"? Suppose Bruce and Clark enter public domain, what is stopping another studio from making a movie where Bruce is black or where Clark has a son? It won't be Jace or Jon, but I doubt that general audience really cares if black Batman is Jace, Bruce, Tim or Idris Elba. What matters is that he is black.

So what DC is actually gaining here?

But Bruce and Clark are still going to be copyrighted by DC, so another studio couldn't do any of what you refer.

[The Kid]

But Bruce and Clark are still going to be copyrighted by DC, so another studio couldn't do any of what you refer.

Bruce Wayne and Clark Kent both were in Detective Comics 27 and Action Comics 1 so they'll both be public domain once those hit. That means anyone from Marvel to a regular amateur filmmaker can use them without copyright problems. They can't use stuff that came later like Alfred and whatnot but they can start making their own takes on Bruce Wayne and Clark Kent. Also, DC still owns the Superman and Batman trademarks so they can't name their work those names or use the logos but they can easily title it like 'Hero of the Daily Star' and then have it star Clark and vice versa for Batman (although I think it'll take another year for Gotham City to hit the public domain)

[The Darknight Detective]

Bruce Wayne and Clark Kent both were in Detective Comics 27 and Action Comics 1 so they'll both be public domain once those hit. That means anyone from Marvel to a regular amateur filmmaker can use them without copyright problems.

What it means is I can publish those two famous comics without being sued, but that doesn't mean I can start selling my own versions of Batman and Superman without a trip to the courts.

[The Kid]

What it means is I can publish those two famous comics without being sued, but that doesn't mean I can start selling my own versions of Batman and Superman without a trip to the courts.

I think as long as those versions don't diverge from the stuff that is in the public domain, they should be good. You could use 1939 Superman and have it so that someone else has his powers or its a child of Clark and Lois (not Jon obviously). Lots of ways to play with them. I believe Superman himself will be available to everyone as long as it's not used in titles because of trademarks and they pull from material that DC still has copyrighted

Honestly, seeing other takes on Superman from outside DC will be very exciting

[The Darknight Detective]

I think as long as those versions don't diverge from the stuff that is in the public domain, they should be good. You could use 1939 Superman and have it so that someone else has his powers or its a child of Clark and Lois (not Jon obviously). Lots of ways to play with them. I believe Superman himself will be available to everyone as long as it's not used in titles because of trademarks and they pull from material that DC still has copyrighted

Honestly, seeing other takes on Superman from outside DC will be very exciting

What you might see is something that resembles 1938 Superman, but isn't actually him. You won't hear anything about Superman, Clark Kent, Lois Lane, Kryton, etc.

[The Kid]

What you might see is something that resembles 1938 Superman, but isn't actually him. You won't hear anything about Superman, Clark Kent, Lois Lane, Kryton, etc.

That is not true. People can already make stories resembling Superman that aren't him and they do hence the number of pastiches. When he hits public domain, it's a whole different ballgame. Anything in Action Comics #1 will be in the public domain. That includes Superman, Clark Kent, Lois Lane, the Daily Star, his origin as mentioned in the comic, his strength and jumping (but not flight), and his look. You're right about Krypton since that doesn't hit public domain for another year since it wasn't there at the start. The only thing people can't use are the trademarks. So you can't title your work Superman nor can you use his symbol to market it but people are free to use any of the characters

Think characters like Sherlock Holmes, King Arthur, Robin Hood, Dracula, Cinderella, etc.. They are all public domain and the characters can be used freely. Superman and Batman will join that group with small bits of their lore at first but more and more slowly joining. There are some trademark questions about how DC or Disney will push back using trademark law which is different from copyright law but so far both court cases haven't been that pro-corporate when it comes to trademark law. In other words, different creators and companies can freely use Clark Kent and Bruce Wayne in their stories using the context of public domain releases once 2033 and 2034 arrive

The characters not being allowed to be used once they hit public domain defeats the whole point of what the public domain is

[Frontier]

I dunno, I feel like we get enough derivatives of the characters that I'm not sure how different it would end up being.

Like, okay, you can do a Superman story outside DC continuity but people will probably write it off like it's not the "real" Superman because it's not DC. Like you can use the names but how much farther can you take it?

[The Kid]

I dunno, I feel like we get enough derivatives of the characters that I'm not sure how different it would end up being.

Like, okay, you can do a Superman story outside DC continuity but people will probably write it off like it's not the "real" Superman because it's not DC. Like you can use the names but how much farther can you take it?

What is the 'real' Sherlock Holmes? Or the 'real' Rapunzel? Most people would say that the 'real' Superman is the one written by Seigel and Shuster but they've been dead for a while and haven't written the character for decades. The writers at DC are as far removed from S&S as any other random creator. The only difference is one is working with the corporation that happens to own the copyright of the character. With Superman and Batman in the public domain, we can different takes on the characters and allow everyone to be able to tap into characters who are rich parts of our cultural heritage. Superman and Batman are both bigger than DC. Their most popular versions in fact are the ones that exist without any other DC heroes existing so not being a part of the DC continuity wouldn't mean that much

[Frontier]

What is the 'real' Sherlock Holmes? Or the 'real' Rapunzel? Most people would say that the 'real' Superman is the one written by Seigel and Shuster but they've been dead for a while and haven't written the character for decades. The writers at DC are as far removed from S&S as any other random creator. The only difference is one is working with the corporation that happens to own the copyright of the character. With Superman and Batman in the public domain, we can different takes on the characters and allow everyone to be able to tap into characters who are rich parts of our cultural heritage. Superman and Batman are both bigger than DC. Their most popular versions in fact are the ones that exist without any other DC heroes existing so not being a part of the DC continuity wouldn't mean that much

I think the difference between Holmes and Rapunzel is that characters from the Big Two have more or less been published with ongoing, developing, stories for decades now. The character has moved beyond S&S, for better or worse, but that's part of why the characters have retained longevity.

So any public domain works will just feel more like Elseworld takes to me.

There are popular, independent, versions of these characters but the World's Finest is still a thing.

[mace11]

I don't know if anyone posted this but here is some updated/or new info and release date for upcoming dceu films and shows.

Batgirl is coming out this year but no release date.
Blue Beetle is coming out next year but now there is a release date.

DC Extended Universe
Future films

U.S. release date

Batgirl 2022 Filming

Blue Beetle August 18, 2023 Pre-production

Warner Bros. Pictures and DC Films have a variety of DC films in varying stages of development:

Static Shock : At DC FanDome held in August 2020, a live-action film centered around Static was revealed to be in development. In October, Michael B. Jordan joined the production team as a producer alongside Reginald Hudlin. Walter Hamada described the film as a project that could be developed for HBO Max, as an exclusive film. By March 2021, Randy McKinnon was hired as screenwriter. The film is scheduled for Warner Bros. Pictures 2022–2023 release slate.

Wonder Woman 3 : In January 2019, after principal photography on Wonder Woman 1984 was completed, director and co-writer Patty Jenkins stated that the plot for a third Wonder Woman film had been written. She revealed that the story arc for Wonder Woman had been planned over three films, with the third taking place in the present. Jenkins and Gadot plan to work on other projects before proceeding with the sequel. In December 2020, Jenkins announced that she has stories written for two more Wonder Woman movies completed. Two days after Wonder Woman 1984 was released, a third film was officially greenlit by Warner Bros. Pictures. Jenkins will return as director, with a script she wrote, while Gadot will reprise her role as the titular heroine.In October 2021, Gadot stated that Lynda Carter will reprise her role as Asteria from the previous film. Filming is expected to begin in mid-2023.

In November 2018, a film centered around the Jaime Reyes incarnation of Blue Beetle was in development, with a script written by Gareth Dunnet-Alcocer.[257] By February 2021, Angel Manuel Soto signed on as director, and Xolo Maridueña was officially cast as the titular character in August. Principal photography is expected to begin in early 2022.[258] Initially developed as an HBO Max exclusive film,Blue Beetle was later changed to a theatrical release, scheduled for August 18, 2023.

Still in early development and no release dates.

The Amazons
Black Canary
Blackhawks 
Booster Gold 
Deadshot
Gotham City Sirens 
Green Lantern Corps 
Hourman 
Lobo
Nightwing
The Metal Men
Plastic Man
Supergirl
Zatanna

We will most likely have release dates for black canary and the supergirl movie once the flash and batgirl movies are out and how well they do.
Still no updated info for the JJ abrams dceu movies and shows by the way.
The movies with release dates will clearly happen.
It looks like peacemaker will be the only dceu series out for awhile and the others are nowhere in sight.
By the time we get the others it will be 2 or 3 years from now or more.

As for movies with no release dates including non dceu JJ abrams dc movies like black superman those will be many years from now and some may not even be made.
Mostly likely Deadshot,Gotham City Sirens,Lobo and Blackhawks .
Maybe even amazons.
Booster Gold  may still happen because of blue beetle.
Nightwing may still happen because of batgirl.

The val-zod dceu series was only announced last year and there is a reason why there is no update news/development on it.

Untitled Val-Zod series: By July 2021, a limited series centered around Val-Zod was in development for HBO Max. Michael B. Jordan is set to produce the series and also potentially star, while Darnell Metayer and Josh Peters will serve as writers. Jordan had previously pitched a feature flim centered around an African-American Superman, only to place developments on hold due to his busy production schedule.

[The Kid]

I think the difference between Holmes and Rapunzel is that characters from the Big Two have more or less been published with ongoing, developing, stories for decades now. The character has moved beyond S&S, for better or worse, but that's part of why the characters have retained longevity.

So any public domain works will just feel more like Elseworld takes to me.

There are popular, independent, versions of these characters but the World's Finest is still a thing.

I mean isn't any adaptation basically an Elseworld take? It's not like movies, books, cartoons, and TV shows follow comic book continuity. They reboot the stories and tell their own take on it. It's the same thing in this situation except they won't have a DC Comics logo on them

[The Darknight Detective]

That is not true. People can already make stories resembling Superman that aren't him and they do hence the number of pastiches. When he hits public domain, it's a whole different ballgame. Anything in Action Comics #1 will be in the public domain. That includes Superman, Clark Kent, Lois Lane, the Daily Star, his origin as mentioned in the comic, his strength and jumping (but not flight), and his look. You're right about Krypton since that doesn't hit public domain for another year since it wasn't there at the start. The only thing people can't use are the trademarks. So you can't title your work Superman nor can you use his symbol to market it but people are free to use any of the characters

Think characters like Sherlock Holmes, King Arthur, Robin Hood, Dracula, Cinderella, etc.. They are all public domain and the characters can be used freely. Superman and Batman will join that group with small bits of their lore at first but more and more slowly joining. There are some trademark questions about how DC or Disney will push back using trademark law which is different from copyright law but so far both court cases haven't been that pro-corporate when it comes to trademark law. In other words, different creators and companies can freely use Clark Kent and Bruce Wayne in their stories using the context of public domain releases once 2033 and 2034 arrive

The characters not being allowed to be used once they hit public domain defeats the whole point of what the public domain is

The thing you're missing is the number of DC trademarks associated with Superman will make it non-cost effective to create anything using him. Why patronize these other works when they can't even use his name or "S" in the advertisements or commercials? As Frontier has been posting, I think most people are going to bypass these pale imitations.

[The Kid]

The thing you're missing is the number of DC trademarks associated with Superman will make it non-cost effective to create anything using him. Why patronize these other works when they can't even use his name or "S" in the advertisements or commercials? As Frontier has been posting, I think most people are going to bypass these pale imitations.

People will work around it like they have for every other public domain character. Besides, there's a limit to how trademarks can be enforced in these cases. Destar vs. Fox resulted in the Supreme Court unanimously ruling that trademarks can't be used to extend an expire copyright. And they can still market their products with Superman. They just have to make it different enough from DC that people don't confuse them.


And maybe they will be pale imitations or maybe they will be very successful. But Superman has seen an extreme loss of popularity recently under Warner with him being positioned to be replaced by his son in the comics and his cousin in the movies. I don't think WB/DC have done so great that people won't accept another take on the character. Either way, more competition is always a good thing. Unless you're a Warner Bros or DC Comics executive, there's literally no downsides to this. The same way people can choose which Sherlock Holmes adaptation they like, people will be able to do with Superman and Batman. If they are pale imitations no one likes, fine. But if they are liked more than anything DC has done with the character in the last few decades? Well that's on DC and Warner Bros