Posted in: Max, Movies, streaming, TV | Tagged: booster gold, creature commandos, dc studios, dcu, lanterns, paradise lost, peacemaker, waller

Happy BDay, "Gods and Monsters"! DC Studios Series – One Year Later

Here's a one-year update on DC Studios' "Gods and Monsters" - Creature Commandos, Waller, Lanterns, Paradise Lost, Booster Gold, and more.

DC fans had been waiting for someone to come along and give them the same kind of big-screen & small-screen superhero experiences that Marvel fans had been enjoying – a new DCU. DC Studios co-heads James Gunn & Peter Safran laid out their first blueprints for that very thing one year ago today when they rolled out "Chapter 1 – Gods and Monsters," a first wave of film & series announcements to kick off their 8-10-year plan. On the series side, the new DCU would kick off with the animated Creature Commandos, with additional projects including the Amanda Waller (Viola Davis)-focused Waller, the Green Lantern series Lanterns, the Wonder Woman prequel series Paradise Lost, and a Booster Gold series. In honor of today being the initiative's birthday, let's take a look at where things stand based on our most recent updates – including the second season of the John Cena-starring Peacemaker, which will also be set in the new DCU.

"Creature Commandos": Set to hit later this year, the role call for the adult animated series (and any potential live-action takes) take on writer J. M. DeMatteis & artist Pat Broderick's Creature Commandos includes Frank Grillo as Rick Flag Sr., with Maria Bakalova as Princess Ilana Rostovic, Indira Varma as The Bride, Zoe Chao as Nina Mazursky, Alan Tudyk as Dr. Phosphorus, David Harbour as Eric Frankenstein, Sean Gunn as G.I. Robot & Weasel, Anya Chalotra as Circe, and Steve Agee returning as John Economos (and maybe a voice appearance from Davis' Waller?).

First introduced in Weird War Tales #93 (November 1980), the comic book series focused on Frankenstein's monster teaming with a werewolf, a vampire, and a gorgon to fight Nazis in World War II. The series has the distinction of being the first DCU project that Gunn & Safran gave the green light to (with Gunn having penned the series) and the first from DC Studios that will hit screens. In addition, we learned through updates from Gunn that he wrote/directed for the animated series.

"Peacemaker" Season 2: By the time you're reading this, there's a very good chance that Gunn is done writing the second season – a project he undertook in a big way heading into the last Thanksgiving season. While Superman: Legacy filming is taking priority (kicking off in March), Gunn implied on social media that work on the second season may not be as far off as folks think. While he's clearly not going to offer any specifics, Gunn also confirmed that he's found a way to make the series work in the new DCU – and that the second season will be getting a new opening.

"Waller": The Davis-starring series will include the "Peacemaker team" and serve as a "continuation" of the HBO Max series. The series will be executive produced & penned by Jeremy Carver (Doom Patrol) and DCU writers's room writer Christal Henry. Unfortunately, as development continues on the project, Gunn has had to spend time debunking a number of rumblings – from the series being canceled over Warner Bros. Discovery budget cuts to Davis' Waller being introduced first in "Legacy."

"Lanterns": Being compared to "a huge HBO-quality event" along the lines of "True Detective," the series will focus on Hal Jordan and John Stewart – who investigate a mystery that Safran said "plays a really big role leading us into the main story that we're telling across our film and television. So this is a very important show for us." While things have been quiet so far on this front, Gunn did share a promising "fire" emoji on social media in November 2023 when asked to offer some reaction to what he's seen of the series so far. Earlier this month, Gunn added that he didn't have anything he could openly discuss/announce – but not that there aren't things to discuss/announce: "Not publicly, not just yet…"

"Paradise Lost": Set before the birth of Diana (Wonder Woman) and set on the island of Themyscira, Safran & Gunn see the series as a "Game of Thrones" -like take on Wonder Woman's origins ("It's really about the political intrigue behind a society of all women": Safran). Comic fans may recognize the title from Phil Jimenez & George Pérez's Paradise Island Lost comics series. "How did that come about? What's the origin of an island of all women? What are the beautiful truths and the ugly truths behind all of that? And what's the scheming like between the different power players in that society?" were the rhetorical questions that Gunn asked when explaining the series' themes.

"Booster Gold": Seen as the DCU's deep dive into comedy, Safran describes Mike Carter/Booster Gold as "a loser from the future who uses basic future technology to come back to today and pretend to be a superhero." From a series perspective, we're looking at a possible 25th-century setting, where Mike is a disgraced former football star who uses a time machine on display in the Metropolis Space Museum to gain fame and fortune… and maybe the desire to be a real superhero (if the sponsorship is right?). "Basically, "Booster Gold" is imposter syndrome as a superhero," Gunn added.

Shortly after the news was announced, legendary comic book writer & artist Dan Jurgens, the character's creator, posted that he was "thrilled" and "excited" about the move and shared some thoughts on how a character like Booster is "more relevant now than when issue #1 appeared in 1985." In November 2023, Gunn was asked if he had "any words" ("Or even just an emoji") to share regarding the project – with Gunn responding, "Don't believe the internet." While we're not sure what Gunn was actually referring to, there were previous rumblings that a director had been found and that Gunn would be penning some of the episodes – but that's just "connect-the-dots" speculation.

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