The superhero genre continues to be wildly popular, and moviegoers were recently treated to a new DC Universe. From the mind of co-CEO James Gunn, the DCU's first slate of projects is titled Gods and Monsters. Horror fans were hyped when it was revealed that Weapons director Zach Cregger wrote a project set in Gotham City, so why hasn't it moved forward?
Some of the best horror movies in recent memory came from Cregger, who wrote and directed both Weapons and Barbarian. Given this pedigree, fans hoped that he'd be behind an upcoming DC movie next. While speaking with ScreenRant, the filmmaker spoke about the mysterious script, offering:
I love the script. I still love that script, but that IP, that Gotham City IP is the most coveted thing. And right now, there's a lot of people that have their own kind of flavor. You've got Matt Reeves and what he's doing with it, and you've got James Gunn and his DC universe – there's just all this stuff. It is a very kind of crowded playing field, and my movie, I don't think it really fits into any of that.
He's not wrong. There's a lot going on at DC right now. On top of whatever Gunn is planning for his version of Gotham City, there's also Matt Reeves' The Batman franchise (which is streaming with a HBO Max subscription). As such, Cregger doesn't think that the studio will want to move forward with his script anytime soon.
Of course, Cregger's assessment about his Gotham City project not fitting into the DCU might not entirely be accurate. Namely because we haven't gotten to see Gunn's version of that iconic city just yet. So it's possible that the Barbarian director's vision might work out well with what the studio has planned. Later in the same interview, the filmmaker went on to share his hopes that his DC flick will come together down the line. In his words:
And so it's fine. I have no problem with the state of things with DC. It's great, but I understand the hurdles that would be in front of me if I tried to get that movie going next. And so what I think I'm going to do is – I haven't shared it with James Gunn or anyone over there – It's just one day when the time is right, I'm just going to leave it to the universe and that door will open and I'll happily step through it, but I don't think it's going to be this year or next year or probably the year after.
See what I mean? Cregger and Gunn haven't eve had a conversation about his script, so I'm not going to count the Gotham City project out just yet. Considering how Weapons is one of the biggest hits of the year, it might be wise to bring him into the fold. We'll just have to wait and see.
Cregger's DC movie is reportedly titled Henchmen, and would focus on the thugs who work for the villains of Gotham City. It's definitely a interesting street-level concept, one I'd like to see explored on the big screen. The director spoke about that mysterious script, offering:
It's a great story, I got to say. I think it is awesome. So I hope we all get to experience it one day. That would be great
I'm definitely keeping my fingers crossed. It seems like just about anything could happen in the DCU, since we're so early into its tenure on the small and silver screen. Zach Cregger seems like a huge get to join the burgeoning shared universe, give just how successful his last two horror flicks were. James Gunn has a history with horror himself, so maybe this shared connection will bring the filmmakers together?
Weapons is still in theaters now and the next DC movie hitting theaters is Supergirl on June 26th as part of the 2026 movie release list. It's unclear if we'll ever see Cregger's DC project come to life, but I would personally watch anything coming from his twisted mind.
