Official Batman: Caped Crusader Season 2 artwork gives the spotlight to dangerous members of Batman's rogues gallery. The sophomore run of Prime Video's hit Batman animated series will continue Bruce Wayne's story as he grapples with emerging threats in 1940s Gotham City, the aftermath of Harvey Dent's death in Season 1, and Batman nearly crossing a moral line by almost killing corrupt detective Arnold Flass in the finale. Batman: Caped Crusader Season 2 builds on the first season's foundation, exploring corruption while introducing new threats for Bruce. 

Animation Magazine's new cover art for Batman: Caped Crusader Season 2, illustrated by Mitch Gerads, showcased an ensemble of villains that captured the show's signature gritty atmosphere. The artwork positions Batman and Joker opposite each other, hinting at their imminent clash in the show's sophomore run. All 10 episodes of Batman: Caped Crusader Season 2 will premiere on Prime Video on Friday, July 31.

Other villains featured in the artwork include Riddler, Scarecrow, Roxy Rocket, the returning Harley Quinn from Season 1, and an unknown villain set to play a major role in Season 2. At the center of the poster is Batman himself. Batman: Caped Crusader Season 2 will feature a more evolved Dark Knight following his early "Year One" struggles in the first season. 

The official Clayface trailer revealed an important Zatanna Easter egg that could hint at her bright future in the DCU. While Clayface is a standalone DC Studios movie, there are still confirmed references to the larger Batman mythos and the DC Universe, including ties to the Joker, Dick Grayson, and the Penguin. As marketing continues for the second 2026 DCU movie, Clayface maintains its deliberate ties to the broader world James Gunn and Peter Safran are building, with a major reference to a prominent member of the Justice League. 

At the 1:52 mark of the official Clayface trailer, the neon sign for Club Vesuvius was prominently featured, and this isn't a random location. Club Vesuvius is an iconic Gotham nightclub with deep comic book history, most notably as a regular performance venue for the DC hero Zatanna.  

DC Studios is heading toward the release of Clayface, its R-rated Batman villain spinoff movie, with plenty of confidence, despite Supergirl failing at the box office. The body horror film stars Tom Rhys Harries as Matt Hagen, a struggling actor whose desperate turn to an experimental procedure transforms him into the shapeshifting Gotham monster. It marks the first horror movie from DC Studios and the first feature in the new DCU to center on a Batman villain.

DC Studios co-CEO Peter Safran shared confidence in Clayface's success during a conversation with Entertainment Weekly amid Supergirl's struggles at the box office. Director James Watkins pointed to positive feedback from the film’s early test screenings, while Safran argued the horror genre gives Clayface a dependable lane at the box office. The Milly Alcock-led Supergirl currently stands at just over $120 million worldwide against a reported $170 million production budget, a total that will leave Warner Bros. facing heavy losses.

Robert Pattinson unknowingly missed an off-ramp that would've allowed him to return as Batman much earlier than 2028. Matt Reeves' Bat-Verse takes as much as it gives. Despite the cameras finally rolling on the set of The Batman - Part 2, DC Studios announced the film's release date has been pushed back from October 2027 to February 2028. The only silver lining was the screen test that accompanied the bombshell, revealing Pattinson's new costume, complete with longer ears.

With the Caped Crusader off the menu in 2027, fans will have to get their fix elsewhere. Prime Video plans to drop Batman: Caped Crusader later in 2026, and the animated movie Batman: Knightfall Part 1 is also on the way. But neither of those projects has the juice of a live-action Dark Knight movie. All hope now rests on a film that's flying under the radar because it shows love to a villain, not a hero.

Clayface, directed by James Watkins and written by Mike Flanagan, follows Matt Hagen, a struggling actor who turns to a scientist for help after being disfigured in a scuffle. At some point in his life, he's going to cross paths with Bruce Wayne's alter ego. His first solo act won't focus on that. However, it's apparently not from a lack of trying.

A location directly tied to Ultraman from 2025's Superman film has officially made an appearance on the set of James Gunn's Man of Tomorrow (the Superman sequel), proving how the upcoming movie will have at least one connection to Ultraman. Ultraman played a rather large role in Superman, going up against the Man of Steel in combat multiple times. The movie kept Ultraman's comic story, as it was revealed that he was a clone of Superman. Now, Ultraman may not be returning in Man of Tomorrow, seeing as he was sent into a black hole by Superman, but that doesn't mean the upcoming film won't feature different connections to him.

As shared by DCU Brief via X, a fan recently discovered an Ultraman connection on the set of Man of Tomorrow. Specifically, this connection came in the form of an in-universe poster or advertisement that could be seen on what appears to be the side of a bus/tram stop in Metropolis on the Man of Tomorrow set.

Specifically, the poster was for an in-universe business called Dough’s Holes Doughnuts, which has locations all throughout Metropolis. The background of the advertisement featured different types of doughnuts.

DCU might be looking to the future with its choice of villain in the upcoming series Lanterns. The HBO show is the next release in DC Studios' new DCU, following Supergirl and Superman, and while the series may seem tonally distinct and separate from the main interconnected narrative, it's putting some pieces into play that could have big ramifications for the wider DCU.

One particular piece is the inclusion of Lanterns' villain, confirmed to be Thaal Sinestro, played by Ulrich Thomsen. While Sinestro's face hasn't been revealed in Lanterns marketing yet, he's been hinted at and is confirmed to play an important role, with Thomsen expected to appear in every episode of Lanterns. 

Creature Commandos Season 2 now has a confirmed lineup of main characters & antiheroes, and the roster mixes familiar monsters with strange new faces. James Gunn’s animated series launched the DCU in December 2024 by following Task Force M, a team of imprisoned creatures that Amanda Waller sends on missions too dangerous for human soldiers. The first season tore that squad apart, destroying G.I. Robot and killing Nina Mazursky, so the question of who would fill the ranks lingered for more than a year. 

DC Studios confirmed all eight main characters for Creature Commandos Season 2 in June at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival in France, where the studio presented for the first time. The studio’s World’s Finest panel paired the announcement with concept art and early story details, giving fans the clearest picture yet of the team headed into the second season, which arrives on HBO Max in 2027. The new season also serves as a sequel to Peacemaker Season 2.

Main Heroes Appearing in Creature Commandos Season 2 - New and Returning

James Gunn’s DC will officially ignore DCU canon with its next project. Gunn and his partner Peter Safran took charge of DC Studios in late 2022 and made it clear that the new DC Universe would run as a single connected story, while plenty of other DC films and shows stayed completely apart from it. The connected side, the DCU, features Superman, Supergirl, and the upcoming Man of Tomorrow, plus HBO Max shows like Peacemaker and Lanterns. The separate side keeps churning out Batman and Superman stories that share none of that history.

With Supergirl now in theaters as the newest canon entry in James Gunn's DCU, the next wave of DC releases takes the franchise straight back outside that timeline. Two of them arrive within weeks of each other this summer, and neither counts toward the events David Corenswet’s Superman set in motion. These projects, which do not influence the official DCU timeline, have been given an Elseworlds label. 

We've already seen some of the best projects come out from that corner of DC, including Matt Reeves’ The Batman, which has a sequel on the way, as well as Todd Phillips’ Joker: Folie à Deux. This banner exists to give creators the freedom to make good DC stories without worrying about the main universe. The next two DC Studios-branded projects will ignore DCU canon because they fall under this catalog. 

A release date update for Lanterns confirmed that James Gunn’s DC Studios will deliver a historic five straight months of movies and shows. The HBO drama stars Kyle Chandler as veteran Green Lantern Hal Jordan and Aaron Pierre as new recruit John Stewart, two intergalactic cops who investigate a murder in rural Nebraska. It is the third series set in the DCU, the connected universe that Gunn and Peter Safran oversee at DC Studios. Fans had to endure years of shifting plans for the show, but it now has a firm spot on the DCU calendar.

HBO ended the mystery of Lanterns' release date this spring, announcing the date alongside a new trailer that also revealed Laura Linney’s casting. Lanterns' release date is Sunday, August 16, on HBO and HBO Max. The date slots the drama into a calendar that now features a new DC Studios movie in theaters or fresh episodes of a DC show every month from June through October, the first five-month unbroken run since Gunn and Safran took charge of the brand.

The confirmation ended one of the longest waiting games in the young DCU. Gunn and Safran once targeted an early 2026 debut for the series, which comes from Ozark showrunner Chris Mundy, Watchmen’s Damon Lindelof, and comic writer Tom King. 

Daredevil: Born Again Season 3's latest script update is something that James Gunn would not let fly over at DC Studios. Daredevil: Born Again finished airing its second season earlier in May 2026, and production on the third season is already underway, with filming taking place in New York. The Disney+ show is one of Marvel Studios' annual releases and is moving swiftly toward its 2027 return.

That said, there is one reveal about Daredevil: Born Again Season 3's scripting process that may garner disapproval. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Daredevil: Born Again showrunner Dario Scardapane revealed that despite shooting already underway, "all the scripts except the last one are written:"

"I'm writing the finale right now. We wrap in early July at this point. So we're right about the halfway mark. All the scripts except the last one are written."

Supergirl and DCU actress Milly Alcock recently stated that fans aren't entirely familiar with her yet, and because of that, she is scared to be idolized by DC and comic book fans for her work in James Gunn's new DCU. Supergirl is the talk of the town within the DCU community at the moment, largely due to its recent theatrical release on June 26 and the fact that it has severely underperformed at the box office. DC Studios CEO and DCU creative mastermind James Gunn hand-picked Milcock to portray Supergirl after she appeared in House of the Dragon Season 1, and Supergirl is integral to the future of the DCU, so the character is still going to be featured heavily in the future.

In the latest issue of SFX Magazine, Supergirl star Milly Alcock was interviewed for her lead role in the DC Studios movie. When asked if she was ready to be idolized, as many comic book movie superstars often are following their appearance in a major superhero movie, the actress said that she was "absolutely not" ready for that. 

Notably, Milcock added that she is "sh*t-scared" to be put up on a pedestal like other DC and Marvel actors, largely because fans "only know a certain part of [her]:"

DC Studios and HBO have already begun working on the second season of a DCU series, making it the third total series under that banner that has received a second installment. The DCU finally seems to have found its footing in the grand scheme of things, as the franchise has now produced multiple movies and TV shows, with big plans for the future. It seems as though the DCU has found quite a bit of success on the TV front so far, as there have been multiple series renewed for multiple seasons.

According to Home of DCU via X, DC Studios and HBO have completely filled the writers' room for Lanterns Season 2, and that writing on the second installment has officially begun. This means that the group of writers has started working on the script for each of the episodes that will make up Season 2, and is preparing it to be sent to HBO and DC Studios once the script is completed.

Recently, it was reported that prominent comic book writer Christopher Cantwell joined Lanterns Season 2 as an executive producer and writer. Cantwell himself seemingly confirmed this news, meaning he will provide yet another perspective and voice to the future season of the DCU show.

DC Studios has confirmed that a second Matt Reeves Batman project will arrive in 2028. Reeves wrote and directed The Batman, the 2022 hit that introduced Robert Pattinson as a younger, angrier Bruce Wayne, and he continues to expand that world, which he calls his Batman Epic Crime Saga. His corner of Gotham operates separately from James Gunn's DC Universe, though Reeves’ fingerprints are all over several projects in the DCU.

On Wednesday, July 15, Warner Bros. moved The Batman Part II off its October 1, 2027 release date and rescheduled the sequel for February 18, 2028. The change places Reeves’ film in the same year as Dynamic Duo, the animated Robin movie he is producing for DC Studios, which premieres on June 30, 2028. Two Batman films with Reeves’ name attached will now hit theaters within five months of each other.

DC Studios is preparing to release its next big TV show, but it won't be streaming on HBO Max. As part of Warner Bros. Discovery, DC Studios has typically been affiliated with the company's in-house streamer, HBO Max, but that won't be the case for its next Batman TV show, which will be released on a rival streaming service.

As recently confirmed by DC Studios and Warner Bros. Animation,  Batman: Caped Crusader Season 2 will not release on HBO Max when it debuts on July 31. While Batman: Caped Crusader was originally in development by Warner Bros. Animation for HBO Max, it was ultimately cut and shopped to another network due to cost-cutting by the parent company. Amazon MGM Studios stepped in to pick up the series with a two-season order in 2023, a deal now coming to fruition. Prime Video premiered Batman: Caped Crusader's first season in August 2024 and will now also stream Season 2, two years later, on July 31.

While not directly affiliated with Marvel or DC, Amazon's Prime Video has also become home to other superhero titles of late, like 2025's animated Bat-Fam and Sony's Spider-Man show, Spider-Noir, thanks to independent deals. 

James Gunn's DC Studios cast its first character with major ties to the Flash in the new DC Universe. The Flash has had a complicated run in media over the last few decades, with Grant Gustin's The Flash on The CW becoming a big hit in the Arrowverse before Ezra Miller's The Flash turned out to be one of the most maligned movies in DCEU history. 

Deadline reported that Jimmy Tatro has officially signed with DC Studios to portray Gorilla Grodd in DC Crime, the upcoming Jimmy Olsen-led Superman spin-off series on HBO Max. This comes after David Sobolov voiced the villain across multiple episodes of The CW's The Flash, the Arrowverse's longest-running show.

Tatro was reported to be in talks for the role a week ago as of writing, though it has seemingly become official in the days since the news first broke. This will give Tatro his first comic book role, and it will mark Gorilla Grodd's second live-action appearance since his run on The CW. 

Blue Beetle's arrival in the DCU means as much for Adria Arjona's character as it does for him. James Gunn is putting together an impressive cast for his Superman follow-up, Man of Tomorrow. The main trio from the 2025 movie, David Corenswet, Nicholas Hoult, and Rachel Brosnahan, are all reprising their roles. And they'll probably spend a lot of time filming scenes where their characters cook up ways to contend with Lars Eidinger's villain, Brainiac.

But bad guys aren't Man of Tomorrow's big draw. No, the DCU's heroes have every intention of hogging the spotlight. The Man of Steel's allies from his first solo movie, including the members of the Justice Gang and Supergirl, return to action. John Stewart will stand alongside them, making the jump from the small screen to the big one after the first season of Lanterns wraps up.

Another name that's now part of the mix in Man of Tomorrow is Jaime Reyes, Xolo Maridueña's hero who appeared in the 2023 DCEU film Blue Beetle. Gunn teased in the past that he intended to make the underrated superhero film canon in his franchise. Clearly, he's a man of his word. However, what he probably didn't realize was that bringing Reyes into the fold would solve one of his movie's biggest mysteries.

A new DC Studios report revealed some troubling news about a major DCU series, largely due to HBO Max's strategic shift. James Gunn's DC Studios has been actively exploring stories on the small screen, expanding the rebooted universe with shows like Creature Commandos, Peacemaker Season 2, and Lanterns. One of the quite intriguing small-screen series on the DCU slate is the Blue Beetle animated series, which would bring back Xolo Maridueña's Jaime Reyes, whom Gunn describes as the "first DCU character." However, plans have changed based on a new update. 

In March 2025, Deadline reported that HBO Max would prioritize adult and family programming, with children's shows taking a step back because they don't fare as well and are no longer viewed as a priority. 

Following the news of Xolo Maridueña's return as Blue Beetle in Man of Tomorrow, Deadline reported in the same piece that the previously announced Blue Beetle animated series, aimed at kids, is in jeopardy due to HBO Max's latest pivot away from that demographic. While the report didn't claim the project is dead, there have been no updates since the original 2024 announcement. 

The Batman: Part 2 has officially been delayed again, but fans can take some comfort in the first official look at Robert Pattinson's new Batsuit. Over four years after The Batman hit theaters in March 2022, director Matt Reeves is finally in production on Part 2 in the U.K. The sequel was originally dated for October 2025 before it was delayed by one year to October 2026 due to Hollywood strikes, and by a further year to October 2027 for additional development time.

On an unexpected Wednesday morning in mid-July, The Batman 2 director Matt Reeves delivered the tragic news that the DC sequel (which is already four years in the making) has shifted from October 1, 2027, to February 18, 2028. Fortunately, Reeves cushioned the blow on Vimeo by revealing a 30-second camera test of Robert Pattinson suited up as the Caped Crusader once again.

An early review of Lanterns offered a timely counterpart to the post-Supergirl fallout that's settled over the DCU. James Gunn and Peter Safran's DC Studios will look to regain momentum with the looming arrival of Lanterns on HBO Max on August 16, following Supergirl's disappointing box office run and mixed reviews. Supergirl's less-than-stellar performance reinforced a creeping doubt among DCU diehards, prompting them to question if the franchise can sustain quality and audience interest across projects. 

In a May 2026 Deadline report on LA Screenings, an international buyer with early access to Lanterns called the show "so good," seemingly framing it as a flagship item for Warner Bros. Discovery's sales push. 

"That final line will be music to the ears of David Decker, President of Global Content Sales at WBD, whose studio heads into the screenings with big ticket items such as DC Universe series Lanterns (which one buyer with early access calls 'so good')."

DC just gave its Clayface trailer a PG-13 makeover, trading the red-band cut for a version with new footage built for wider audiences. The rework comes after a rocky start to 2026 for DC Studios and James Gunn, whose Supergirl bombed at the box office and landed mixed reviews at best. Clayface, an R-rated Batman villain spin-off set for release this October, was supposed to be a course correction, and now new scenes screening in theaters this summer suggest DC is hedging its bets by courting a wider, more family-friendly audience.

Fans heading out to see Supergirl this summer quickly spotted the differences in the new green band Clayface trailer and the R-rated version from back in April.

The edits start small and escalate fast. Early on in the red band cut, Matt Hagen (Tom Rhys Harries) gets his face cut open in a bloody close-up; the PG-13 version swaps it for an earlier look at the character (with his face fully undamaged and not in danger).