Canceled DC Comics Movies We'll Never Get To See

The history of movies based on DC Comics stretches back to the days of the "Batman" and "Captain Marvel" serials in the 1940s, as well as the Adam West "Batman" movie back in 1966. In the decades since those earliest efforts, DC movies have gone everywhere from Krypton to Oa and everywhere in between. Characters stretching from Superman to the geriatric mercenaries at the heart of the two "Red" movies have starred in films that come affixed with a DC Comics logo on them. 

But while the library of films based on DC titles is vast, that doesn't mean every proposed project based on these properties gets made. Almost as dense as the library of existing DC movies is the catalog of unmade films based on those same properties.

These projects range from abandoned Superman and Batman movies in the 1990s to unproduced spin-offs and sequels set in the now-abandoned DC Extended Universe. The reasons why these movies never saw the light of day vary greatly from one individual project to the next. What unites all these films, though, is the fact that they've gone unmade, destined to become legends that people constantly think about but can never actually see. 

The world of the "New Gods" is not one of the most famous domains in the DC Comics pantheon. With characters like Big Barda and Mister Miracle, it's a land full of weirdness that would take a delicate filmmaking touch to bring to a live-action movie. Enter Ava DuVernay, who signed on in March 2018 to helm a new feature film adaptation of the property. A year later, Tom King, a veteran of writing for these characters in the comics, was recruited to help pen the screenplay.

The project continued to gain momentum in the next couple of years, with DuVernay noting at the end of 2020 that the pandemic had only heightened her enthusiasm for the project. Unfortunately, Warner Bros. announced in April 2021 that the "New Gods" movie was no longer happening. No official reason was given for this cancellation, but rumors swirled that it had to do with the fact that one of the films characters, Darkseid, had just appeared in "Zack Snyder's Justice League." 

Whatever the reason for its demise, Ava DuVernay's "New Gods" movie adaptation now remains an enticing hypothetical, especially since the filmmaker has since teased that characters like Granny Goodness and Highfather would have factored into the project.

Less than a year after Ben Affleck signed on to play Batman in the DC Extended Universe, news broke that the actor would also write, direct and star in a solo movie about the Caped Crusader. Those plans changed by the beginning of 2017, when it was announced that Affleck would step down as director. He later quit the project entirely, noting that his own personal struggles with alcoholism influenced his decision to walk away from helming and starring in a Batman movie.

In the years since this project fizzled out, there were various glimpses into what could have been. Joe Manganiello, who was cast as the villain Deathstroke, noted that the film would have also involved Batgirl. "Batgirl jumps in to try to help Bruce because Deathstroke is so fast that he can anticipate Bruce's movements," Manganiello told ComicBook.com about a set piece from the abandoned film. "And that leads to this big climactic battle through the streets of Gotham City at the end."

While Affleck never got to headline his own solo Batman movie, fans of his version of the character did get to see him reprise the role in the opening scenes of 2023's "The Flash."

In the deluge of announcements regarding future DC Comics movies back in October 2014, a solo "Cyborg" movie was set for theatrical release in April 2020. One of the most distant DC projects scheduled up to that point, there wasn't much in the way of development on the "Cyborg" film directly after that. 

The focus remained instead on introducing Cyborg to general audiences through the "Justice League" movie, though actor Ray Fisher expressed excitement over exploring the character in a standalone feature and in hiring a diverse cast and crew to work on the production. But as "Justice League" came and went, there were no further developments for "Cyborg." No writers were hired to even write a first draft for the film, let alone someone getting recruited to direct it. 

Fisher began to express doubts the film would happen, with specific concerns over the budgetary problems with making a movie starring a fully digital character. By early 2021, "Cyborg" was officially dead, as Ray Fisher stepped away from the superhero role amid controversy over the way he was treated during "Justice League" reshoots. With the DCEU shelved in favor of James Gunn and Peter Safran's DC Studios relaunch in 2022, the reintroduction of Cyborg isn't likely to occur anytime soon.

As "Justice League" began filming in 2016, Ben Affleck revealed footage of somebody in a Deathstroke costume walking around on the set. It was later revealed that Joe Manganiello would play the DC Extended Universe version of the character, who would be a prominent figure in Affleck's solo Batman movie. It was also later revealed that "The Raid" director Gareth Evans would helm a solo movie for Deathstroke, which would be ultra-violent and explore the inner life of this mercenary.

Much like Affleck's solo Batman movie, the "Deathstroke" film never got off the ground. A year after it was first announced, Evans said that he hadn't heard anything new on "Deathstroke." Evans later divulged that the proposed production would have been a gritty affair and a sharp departure from traditional all-ages superhero fare. 

Evans is not the only person once involved with "Deathstroke" to publicly reflect on what could have been. Manganiello revealed to ComicBook.com that the reason the project got canceled was due to concerns over the story it was telling. "When the dust settled, it was not seen as a priority to make a $40 million movie about a villain origin story in which you show the backstory," he explained. While the performer has expressed hope that a different incarnation of the project could one day emerge, a solo Deathstroke movie does not appear to be in the cards.

Back in 2007, Warner Bros. was well on the way to making a live-action "Justice League" movie. This project, titled "Justice League: Mortal," was set to be directed by Oscar-winning "Mad Max" creator George Miller and developed as an elaborate affair divorced entirely from the continuity of then-current Superman and Batman movies like "Superman Returns" and "Batman Begins." A cast was assembled for the production that included people ranging from Adam Brody to Jay Baruchel, while Miller planned to film the project in his home country of Australia.

Then the 2007-2008 Writer's Guild of America strike happened. As the work stoppage wore on, Warner Bros. kept pushing back the start of filming until the movie was set to begin principal photography just after "The Dark Knight" was released. Once that Christopher Nolan movie hit theaters and shattered several box office records, Warner Bros. had a change of heart. 

The studio's ambitions for their comic book movies were adjusted to adhere to Nolan's grounded vision rather than the more heightened spectacle Miller had planned for "Justice League: Mortal." With that, Miller's incarnation of "Justice League" was dead and it would be another decade before a version of this project actually got released to theaters.

Back in the early 2000s, Joss Whedon was one of the hottest creative voices around thanks to his acclaimed work on TV shows like "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "Firefly." He was so in demand, in fact, that he signed on in 2006 to write and direct a live-action "Wonder Woman" movie. It was a big deal at the moment, a sign that Whedon was preparing to take his directorial career to the next level after his feature directorial debut, "Serenity," and that Warner Bros. was ready to embrace one of DC's most iconic characters.

Whedon would later note that Angelina Jolie was his dream pick for his take on Wonder Woman, though the project never got far enough to start casting. At the start of 2007, Whedon departed the project and Warner Bros. decided to go in a different direction. It would take an entire decade for the first live-action solo Wonder Woman movie to make its way to the big screen in 2017, while Whedon would finally get his chance to direct a movie featuring Diana of Themyscira once he took over the reshoots of "Justice League."

In the early days of the DCEU, plans began to formulate for "Harley Quinn vs. Joker" (not the official title), a movie centered on two of the film's biggest characters. The project was entrusted to Glenn Ficarra and John Riqua, a duo who struck box office gold for Warner Bros. with their 2011 movie "Crazy Stupid Love." Their description of the project made it sound like a much more warped than usual entry in the DCEU.

"It is great," Ficarra told Metro about the script in the fall of 2018. "The whole thing starts with Harley kidnapping Dr. Phil. Played by Dr. Phil hopefully. Because her and the Joker are having problems with their relationship. We had so much fun, I don't know if we have had more fun writing a script in our career ... We were doing a relationship movie but with the sensibility of a 'Bad Santa' ... mentally deranged people. It was a lot of fun." 

At the time, the duo expressed uncertainty over whether or not the screenplay would actually get turned into a real movie. Just months later, it was revealed that the project had been shelved. While Harley Quinn and the Clown Prince of Crime will almost certainly show up on-screen again, a feature based around her and "Mr. J" may not be in the cards.

Horror director Vincenzo Natali broke out big-time with his 1997 horror film "Cube." It was the kind of distinctive and chilling project that immediately gets people's attention. It was inevitable that he'd get offers to do more high-profile work in the studio system, and eventually, one such opportunity arose in the form of a new film take on Swamp Thing. Previously brought to life in a pair of 1980s movies, Natali's take on the material was aiming to be something quite different.

There wasn't much in the way of major updates on Natali's "Swamp Thing" movie after the filmmaker signed on. Radio silence on the production became especially apparent after Natali's 2010 film "Splice" (distributed by Warner Bros.) bombed at the box office. That film's failure could be a reason why passion cooled for Natali's take on this DC Comics mainstay, though Natali claimed it was due to complicated rights issues related to the character. 

Years later, Natali would share through Twitter a quartet of pages from his screenplay for the "Swamp Thing" movie. These samples of his writing give a glimpse into the unique take Natali was planning to deliver for this protector of the swamp, who later surfaced in a short-lived, unrelated TV series on the now-dormant DC Universe platform.

"Aquaman" wasn't just a hit; it was a massive success that exceeded all expectations. Of course a sequel was ordered, but the movie proved so lucrative that Warner Bros. had even grander plans to expand its universe. The studio green-lit a spin-off entitled "The Trench," which would focus on the carnivorous characters briefly glimpsed in the movie. This film would have a horror tone more in line with what "Aquaman" director James Wan had explored in his earlier films like "Saw" and "Insidious."

After that, the trail went quiet on "The Trench," with no real updates on the production beyond a producer noting it would likely arrive before "Aquaman 2" hit theaters. Because the production had gone quiet, it wasn't a surprise when news broke in April 2021 that "The Trench" was no longer happening. 

Given that all the people involved in "Aquaman" turned their attention to "Aquaman 2," there just wasn't enough time to fine-tune "The Trench." It's also likely that producers behind both projects began to question if there was enough interest from moviegoers in seeing these creatures headline their own movie. Thus, "The Trench" sank deep into the depths of development hell.

Decades after "Batman Returns" hit theaters, Michelle Pfeiffer's take on Catwoman remains one of the most iconic versions of that Batman fixture. She proved so popular that there were initially plans to spin this version of the character off into her own movie. News first broke in 1993 that Pfeiffer's Catwoman wouldn't be in "Batman Forever" because Warner Bros. wanted her to headline her own solo movie.

From there, different incarnations of the project emerged, including one pitch that came about as late as the end of the 1990s from writer John August. Unfortunately, Pfeiffer never got to headline her own Catwoman movie, with Warner Bros. getting scared of making comic book movies by the end of the decade thanks to the box office failure of "Batman and Robin." That doesn't mean audiences never got to see a "Catwoman" movie though. A different version of this project debuted in theaters in 2004 with Halle Berry in the lead role. It was not the cat's meow with critics and died at the box office, with the film now considered among the worst of all time.

Though "Batman and Robin" was (and remains) widely derided in the comic book movie community, Warner Bros. originally had high hopes for the project. Months before "Batman and Robin" even hit theaters, the studio signed director Joel Schumacher to direct another "Batman" movie and even commissioned a script called "Batman Unchained." 

"This is the most fun job in the world, you just have no idea how much fun it is doing a Batman movie," Schumacher said about the prospect of doing more "Batman" films. "There's no reality police, you're just making up this comic book with villains who make it fun. But also, I asked these actors to be in these movies, and I wouldn't just say thanks a lot, I'm moving on."

By the end of 1997, when "Batman and Robin" was officially declared a box office disappointment, Schumacher confirmed he wanted to do one more Batman movie that would appeal to the character's diehard fan base. However, "Batman Unchained" was canceled and Warner Bros. eventually opted to reboot the franchise entirely, meaning fans missed out on a chance to see Nicolas Cage play the Scarecrow.

The saga of "Superman Lives" has become as famous as any comic book storyline Superman has ever appeared in. Kevin Smith was hired to write a screenplay for a new "Superman" movie and Tim Burton signed on to direct. All hell broke loose from that point as a whole mess of executives and producers wanted their own ideas to go into the project. Despite so many creative voices in the kitchen, "Superman Lives" got far enough along in production to not only cast Nicolas Cage as Superman but to even have him do costume tests in a new version of the Superman outfit.

Despite making such strides and having so much big-name talent onboard, "Superman Lives" was shelved a reported three weeks before cameras were scheduled to roll, with Warner Bros. concerned about spending so much money on a "Superman" film. This version of the project died, though a gigantic spider that was planned to factor into the film made its way into the expensive 1999 Warner Bros. flop "Wild Wild West." Years later, a documentary entitled "The Death of Superman Lives: What Happened?" would chronicle the bizarre journey this project took into cinematic oblivion.

In announcing a vast slate of DC Extended Universe movies in October 2014, Warner Bros. revealed that a "Justice League" sequel would arrive in theaters in June 2019, just 19 months after the first movie. Zack Snyder was going to write and direct the project, but that was all before the chaotic production of the first "Justice League" film. Just weeks after "Justice League" premiered, word broke that there were no further plans to retain Snyder for more DCEU movies, while the "Justice League" sequel had been put on the backburner.

Despite "Justice League 2" going unmade, Snyder has been open about his plans for not just this film but a potential third "Justice League" movie. These follow-ups would have eventually involved the Knightmare domain and evil Superman teased in "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice" and "Zack Snyder's Justice League." While Snyder had expansive plans for how to follow up "Justice League," it's clear Warner Bros. has no intention of exploring those ideas anytime soon.

After 2017's "Wonder Woman" became a massive hit that exceeded $800 million at the worldwide box office, a series of sequels seemed like a foregone conclusion. Director Patty Jenkins eventually returned for "Wonder Woman 1984," which hit theaters in December 2020, and also constantly remarked that she had plans for a third "Wonder Woman" movie. But thanks to a simultaneous launch on HBO Max (not to mention debuting while many theaters were closed for COVID-19), "1984" was nowhere near as successful as its predecessor.

Still, Warner Bros. pressed on with a follow-up, and Jenkins seemed assured to helm another "Wonder Woman" entry with Gal Gadot returning in the title role. However, that was all before James Gunn and Peter Safran took over DC Studios in late 2022. Initial uncertainty over how the duo would handle the DC Extended Universe (including Gadot's Wonder Woman) quickly turned into confirmation that a full-fledged reboot was on the way. That meant new takes on these DC characters were now the priority, instead of extending the storyline and characters of "Wonder Woman 1984."

Though Jenkins had drummed up a vision for another sequel that would take Wonder Woman to the modern world, it was made clear by the end of summer 2023 that DC Studios was now intent on rebooting Wonder Woman for the DC Universe. A second Gadot-led sequel was officially dead, with screenwriter Ana Nogueira penning the script for a new Wonder Woman film.

Like Harley Quinn, The Wonder Twins (Zan and Jayne) didn't debut in the comics but rather in an animated television program — specifically, the "The All-New Super Friends Hour" in the late '70s. Decades later, they'd enter the official DC Universe comics canon and have since appeared in other pieces of DC Comics media, namely episodes of "Justice League Unlimited" and "Smallville." However, for one brief moment, it looked like the Wonder Twins might make the leap to feature films. 

In early 2022, "Black Adam" and "Rampage" screenwriter Adam Sztykiel was signed to write and direct "Wonder Twins," a movie that would debut on HBO Max. With WarnerMedia looking to exploit as many of its DC characters as possible across various mediums, a Wonder Twins movie — a ludicrous proposition a few years earlier — suddenly seemed like a foregone conclusion. The feature quickly gained momentum and even cast KJ Apa and Isabel May in the lead roles. Plans to start shooting in late 2022 commenced, and it looked like "Wonder Twins" would be the second all-new HBO Max-exclusive movie based on DC characters, following "Batgirl."

However, "Wonder Twins" was getting off the ground just as the Warner Bros. Discovery merger was happening. In the immediate aftermath of this corporate consolidation, the feature was killed as part of a larger shift away from streaming-exclusive movies. For now at least, that's the end of the Wonder Twins' exploits in cinema.

After years of development and endless behind-the-scenes hurdles, "The Flash" started shooting in April 2021. Warner Bros. brass were very keen to make sure that the very first live-action movie based on Barry Allen/The Flash was not a one-off: Months before the film hit theaters, news broke that DC Extended Universe veteran David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick was writing a script for "The Flash 2." This reflected how much confidence Warner Discovery leadership had in "The Flash" and its potential as a linchpin for future live-action DC movies.

"The Flash" director Andy Muschietti revealed, just as his movie was hitting theaters, that he was interested in returning for a sequel, albeit only if Ezra Miller returned to play Barry Allen. News reports just before "The Flash" hit theaters reaffirmed that Warner Bros. was gung-ho about immediately pursuing a sequel provided the film's box office haul was solid — but then "The Flash" absolutely cratered in its theatrical run.

Despite years of hype and a massive budget, the movie couldn't even hit $275 million worldwide. Plus James Gunn and Peter Safran, by this point, were quickly laying the groundwork for their rebooted DC Universe. That abysmal theatrical run just reaffirmed that any plans for "The Flash 2" would never be realized. It was an unceremonious end for a property that struggled for years just to get in front of cameras.

Given that it made just over $665 million worldwide, a straightforward sequel to "Man of Steel" would presumably have been a foregone conclusion. However, the DC Extended Universe was in a constant state of retooling throughout the second half of the 2010s. As the franchise tried to figure out its creative future, concocting a second "Man of Steel" adventure was never a top priority. "Mission: Impossible — Fallout" director Christopher McQuarrie tried to even pitch a follow-up in 2018 with his "Fallout" co-star Henry Cavill, but it never went anywhere despite the filmmaker's passion for the production.

However, years after Warner Bros. seemed indifferent to more "Man of Steel," it was revealed in October 2022 — tied to Cavill's Superman showing up in a mid-credits scene during "Black Adam" — that this version of the classic DC superhero was indeed coming back to theaters. "Man of Steel 2" was suddenly in active development, with Warner Bros. seeking out screenwriters and a director for the budding project.

Those plans, however, didn't last long. Gunn and Safran were hired to run DC Studios by November 2022, and were eager to look towards a new future for live-action DC movies that included a fully-rebooted Superman. That pretty much killed off "Man of Steel 2" once and for all. While a crushing moment for Cavill and fans of his Kal-El, it did open the door for 2025's beloved box office hit "Superman" to take pop culture by storm.

As the 2020s began, it was clear that Warner Bros. Pictures wasn't sure what the heck to do with Superman on the big screen. That's when a bold new vision of the character was put into development, with acclaimed writer Ta-Nehisi Coates penning a Superman movie (produced by J.J. Abrams) that would have starred a Black actor as Clark Kent/Superman. It was a striking new vision of this age-old character that would have immediately differentiated this Superman from the one played by Henry Cavill in multiple DC Extended Universe projects.

Throughout 2021, news constantly bubbled up about the endeavor, including rumors about which directors were being eyeballed to helm this new "Superman." However, once James Gunn and Peter Safran were handed the keys to the DC kingdom in late 2022, the Coates script became less and less of a priority. Gunn's top mission as DC Studios head was to bring a classic version of Superman back to the screen. That left Coates' fresh iteration of the character (which would have reportedly been set in 1960s America) outside the new mandates of DC Studios.

Once 2025's "Superman" hit the silver screen, it was reported that WarnerDiscovery head David Zaslav personally killed the project. With David Corenswet's Superman taking the world by storm, it's doubtful there's any hope that the Ta-Nehisi Coates take on the character will ever resurface. Still, given the immense talents of Coates, it's impossible not to wonder what this intriguing concept might have looked like.

It took Dwayne Johnson decades to finally play Black Adam in a theatrical motion picture, and October 2022's "Black Adam" was meant to kick-start a whole new age for the DC Extended Universe centered around Johnson's creative vision. Folks involved in "Black Adam" like Johnson or producer Dany Garcia constantly talked in 2020 and 2021 about "Black Adam 2" as a foregone conclusion. That chatter only became more intense as the movie actually arrived in multiplexes, with Garcia and Johnson emphasizing that a follow-up would feature Black Adam and Henry Cavill's Superman duking it out after the "Black Adam" mid-credits scene focused on those characters.

As late as December 2022, major media outlets claimed that Warner Bros. was still eager to make another "Black Adam" movie even after the film severely underperformed in its global theatrical release. Audience reception to this anti-hero tale wasn't exactly euphoric either, making it doubtful moviegoers would show up in droves for "Black Adam 2" no matter how enthusiastic Johnson was for the project. Just a few days before Christmas 2022, Johnson announced he would not reprise the role of Black Adam in the near future.

DC's post-2022 movie plans no longer centered on "the DC Universe's hierarchy of power," but rather Gunn and Safran's vision for a rebooted mythology. That left no room for "Black Adam 2," though box office-related factors would have made that sequel a long shot even without corporate tomfoolery.

The sorceress-turned-crimefighter Zatanna has long been a cult favorite character in DC Comics lore, so it seemed inevitable that she'd get her own feature-length adventure. That appeared to be coming true in the early 2020s, when "Zatanna" was confirmed as one of the initial DC movies being made for HBO Max. While this momentous development did frustratingly indicate that Zatanna would not receive the big-screen treatment that even Jonah Hex and Red (among other DC Comics properties) got, she'd at least make a big splash with a pricey film on a massive platform.

Emerald Fennell, fresh off her Oscar-winning work on "Promising Young Woman," penned the script for the film, though no director was ever attached to the project nor were there ever rumblings about who would play Zatanna. Eventually, this became one of many planned DC Extended Universe titles that got killed as a result of the Warner Discovery merger. Once David Zaslav and company gained ownership of entities like DC Comics and HBO Max, they wanted to cut costs and halt the practice of sending feature films straight to streaming.

Both mandates spelled doom for projects like "Zatanna." With DC Studios pursuing a cinematic clean slate, there was no way Zatanna's movie would survive, and it unsurprisingly died a quiet death. Fans will just have to keep waiting for this beloved character to get the proper movie treatment that she deserves.

The 1985-1986 DC Comics storyline "Crisis on Infinite Earths" has had an enormous influence on all comics media over the last 40 years, especially when it came to other DC Comics plotlines. Inevitably, the story has been adapted into other media, including a 2024 animated film as well as an ambitious 2019 Arrowverse interpretation. However, such a gargantuan collision of the DC multiverse couldn't be kept off the big screen forever. By 2022, it was revealed that former DC Films president Walter Hamada had once harbored plans to build all the DC Extended Universe movies toward a "Crisis on Infinite Earths" adaptation. 

Given how jagged and disjointed the various DCEU enterprises were up to that point, the idea of uniting them all for one big blockbuster sounded like a risky proposition. It's also unclear how "Crisis" would have differentiated itself from other multiversal DCEU titles like "The Flash." In fact, everything about this adaptation is nebulous, as it apparently never progressed beyond being a notion Hamada had for the future of the franchise. No directors, screenwriters, or concept artists were ever attached to figure out what "Crisis on Infinite Earths" would have looked like as a big-budget movie.

Still, the very notion that this project could have come to fruition suggests how Hamada wanted an "Avengers: Endgame"-style project to unite the DCEU's disparate corners. Once Hamada exited DC Films, though, this idea went on the backburner.

Just a few week after director Chris McKay's "The Lego Batman Movie" hit theaters, McKay signed on to helm a DCEU feature centered on Dick Grayson/Nightwing. It was a bit of an odd project to announce, considering there hadn't even been a Robin in this saga just yet. Was the DCEU really going to immediately leap to Nightwing instead of starting with Robin? No matter how peculiar the plan was, though, McKay and screenwriter Bill Dubuque were tasked with turning "Nightwing" into a reality.

No matter how many upheavals or regime changes occurred at DC Films over the next four years, "Nightwing" absolutely refused to die. McKay would consistently reaffirm online that the project was very much alive, even as he shifted focus to other live-action movies like "The Tomorrow War" and "Renfield." As late as summer 2021, McKay insisted that the movie was merely delayed rather than shelved. That sounded a bit strange considering, at that point, that the future of Batman in the DCEU was up in the air. If The Dark Knight's status in this saga was unclear, what hope did Nightwing have of getting his own movie?

Not surprisingly, "Nightwing" never materialized. It was one of many buzzy DCEU features announced in the late 2010s that never progressed beyond a press release and a script. Fans of this character will now have to eyeball upcoming DC Studios projects like "The Brave and the Bold" closely to see if they finally bring Nightwing to live-action filmmaking.

The movie that was farthest in the future in the October 2014 announcement of upcoming DCEU films was June 2020's "Green Lantern Corps." This suggested that Warner Bros. wanted to get the DC universe firmly established before trying to convince audiences to give another theatrical "Green Lantern" movie a chance. The 2011 Ryan Reynolds vehicle had tainted the well so much that this integral DC Comics figure was largely absent from early DCEU lore, save for a Green Lantern's blink-and-miss-it cameo in "Justice League."

The project nevertheless began making headway in 2017, with David S. Goyer and Justin Rhodes penning "Green Lantern Corps." But the film never made its initial June 2020 release date, with "Corps" constantly getting stuck in the development phase. Though this endeavor was still allegedly a high priority for Warner Bros. as late as 2021, the lack of concrete movement and creative energy behind "Green Lantern Corps" seemed to indicate that Warner Bros. wanted to avoid a DC brand name viewed as "damaged goods."

Thus other titles like "Blue Beetle," "The Flash," and "Black Adam" (none of which had any previous live-action adaptations) were prioritized in the early 2020s instead. With the DCEU's collapse, "Green Lantern Corps" also perished. Ironically, after the DCEU dragged its feet for years on bringing Green Lantern back to theaters, DC Studios' inaugural movie, "Superman," heavily featured Nathan Fillion as Guy Gardner's Green Lantern, while a "Lanterns" TV show is set to premiere on HBO in early 2026.

While Warner Bros. couldn't figure out what to do with Superman/Clark Kent in the late 2010s, attention soon shifted over to his cousin. If "Man of Steel" wasn't going to get a sequel anytime soon, perhaps Kara Zor-El/Supergirl could land her own movie. First announced back in 2018, the project eventually gained new momentum when Sasha Calle was cast the DCEU's Supergirl in "The Flash." If all went according to plan, Calle would have followed her debut with a solo movie penned by Ana Nogueira.

Those ambitious plans, though, eventually hit some speed bumps. For starters, extensive reshoots on "The Flash" led to Supergirl dying at the hands of General Zod. While that's hardly the best launchpad for a solo movie, the more pressing matter was the DC Studios reboot, which would kick off with "Superman." With Clark Kent back in the picture and nearly the entire DCEU continuity getting the shove, the days for Calle's Supergirl were clearly numbered, particularly after "The Flash" became a massive box office bomb.

Sure enough, this version of "Supergirl" was canned and Calle's time as the character became a one-and-done endeavor. Milly Alcock was later cast as Kara Zor-El, making her on-screen debut in the final minutes of "Superman" before headlining her own 2026 solo movie. One funny detail about that new "Supergirl": it's also being penned by Nogueira, who hung on even after all that DC corporate turmoil.

Arguably the most infamous of all unrealized DC movies, "Batgirl," unlike "Black Adam 2" and "Green Lantern Corps," went far beyond the screenwriting stage. It actually got into principal photography in late 2021 and early 2022. Leslie Grace was set to play Barbara Gordon/Batgirl, with Michael Keaton and J.K. Simmons reprising their respective roles as Bruce Wayne/Batman and Commissioner Gordon. Duking it out with Batgirl was Brendan Fraser's Firefly in a feature helmed by "Bad Boys For Life" directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah.

A few months into the Warner Discovery merger, however, the HBO Max original film "Batgirl" was permanently shelved and written off as a tax break. "Disaster Movie" and "Vampires Suck" producer Peter Safran later claimed that part of the reason for this decision was that the film's quality would have damaged DC's brand — a job Safran and Gunn instead allowed "The Flash" and "Shazam! Fury of the Gods" to carry out. Because certain "Batgirl" scenes still needed to be shot when it was canceled, this film remains a permanently lost, incomplete project that will never see the light of day.

This drew a tremendous backlash from the creative community, while the production's demise also cast a damper on Warner Discovery's early reputation. While Grace, Fraser, and those involved in the project have moved on to other things, "Batgirl" will always remain a fascinating artifact of unrealized potential for DC geeks everywhere. Not since "The Killing Joke" has Barbara Gordon been done so dirty.