If you've already seen Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice (or don't mind having some minor things spoiled for you), then you'll already know we've been introduced to some of the upcoming members of the Justice League.
Certain scenes are setting up the upcoming DC Cinematic Universe, but if you're wondering who's behind what and how it will all fit together, then we're here to clear up the narrative.
Suicide Squad
When: August 5th 2016
Who: Written and directed by David Ayer (Fury, End Of Watch), and starring Jared Leto as The Joker, Will Smith as Deadshot, Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn, Joel Kinnaman as Rick Flagg, Viola Davis as Amanda Waller, Jai Courtney as Captain Boomerang, and a good few others... including Ben Affleck as Batman.
What: Following on from the events of Man Of Steel and Batman V Superman, this is the third outing in the DC Cinema Universe, and you can already feel a massive change in tone. Whereas the Marvel movies have a head-start, what they're famously lacking in is villains, and DC is bringing that to the forefront by putting a movie together consisting solely of bad guys. Will it work? We don't have long to wait to find out.
Wonder Woman
When: June 2nd 2017
Who: Directed by Patty Jenkins (Monster, Arrested Development), written by Justin Fuchs (Pan), and starring Gal Gadot as Diana Prince/Wonder Woman, Chris Pine as her love interest Steve Trevor, and others including Robin Wright, Connie Nielsen and Danny Huston.
What: Due to take place during World War I, this is the first stand-alone female super-hero movie since the resurgence of super-hero movies, and it's also the first to be directed by a female. Which is all well and good, but will the movie be any good. Well, considering everyone seems to agree that Gal Gadot's Wonder Woman was the highlight of BVS, hopes are already pretty high.
Justice League Part One
When: November 17th 2017
Who: Directed by Zack Snyder (Man Of Steel, BVS), written by Chris Terrio (Argo, BVS), and starring, well, pretty much everyone...
What: This is DC's answer to The Avengers, bringing everyone together to fight the big bad guy - which everyone is guessing will be Darkseid, the apocalypse-causing space monster that was teased in the dream sequence in BVS - but perhaps the oddest thing to note is that there's a full TWO YEARS between the first part of the DC mash-up and it's sequel. That's a big break to be leaving audiences on what will undoubtedly be some kind of cliffhanger.
The Flash
When: March 16th 2018
Who: Directed by Seth Grahame-Green (making his directorial debut, but he did write the scrips for Dark Shadows and Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, so...) and starring Ezra Miller as Barry Allen/The Flash.
What: We got a few glimpses of Miller as The Flash in BVS - he had the best of the three Metahuman videos, in our opinion - and he's sure to pop up again before this, his standalone movie. With the TV adaptation currently giving the character a fair whack, it'll be interesting to see what first-time director Grahame-Green can come up with to make this version stand-out from the crowd.
Aquaman
When: July 27th 2018
Who: Directed by Justin Lin (Fast 7, The Conjuring), written by David Johnson (The Conjuring 2, Wrath Of The Titans) and Kurt Johnstad (300), starring Jason Momoa as Arthur Curry/Aquaman and Amber Heard as Mera.
What: Another of the Metahumans we got a glimpse of in BVS, cast perfectly by Momoa, and it's got Lin who just delivered Fast 7's $1.516 billion box office. If Wonder Woman is DC's answer to Captain America (the old-school setting, fish-out-of-water setting), then Aquaman is very much their response to Thor (magical, mystical setting, big burly dude in the lead).
Untitled Project
When: October 5th 2018
Who: No idea.
What: Warner Bros and DC announced this slot back when they called out their full schedule for the next few years, without revealing what the movie was. Our guess is that this will end up being the stand-alone Batman movie set to be written, directed by and starring Ben Affleck, since there's already word that he's given in his script to Warners and they're very happy with what he's presented them.
Shazam
When: April 5th 2019
Who: No director as of yet, with a script be a complete unknown, Shazam himself yet to be cast. All we know so far is that Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson is on board is the bad guy Black Adam.
What: Yeah, Shazam is a hard one to try to take seriously. A young boy is given the ability to become an adult superhero whenever he shouts out the word "Shazam!" When placed alongside a version of Superman that is being portrayed as terrorist alien, it's going to take some work to balance out the tone.
Justice League Part Two
When: June 14th 2019
Who: Snyder is back, but no confirmed screenwriter. We can assume everyone who survives Part One will be back, as well as a few newbies.
What: The follow up to the first part, again with Snyder on board as director. Although there is a petition currently culminating signatures to get him off any and all DC movies going forward, hopefully the introduction of some of the more "out there" characters like Aquaman and Shazam will help him lighten up a little bit. Let's not forget, the man can direct the hell out of an action scene, he just needs to get back to having some fun...
Untitled Project
When: November 1st 2019
Who: Your guess is as good as ours.
What: Speaking of guesses, we're going to go with the third Superman movie, this time without Snyder at the helm. We'd love to see George Miller take a whack at the character - he was lined up to direct Justice League once upon a time, plus he just delivered Mad Max Fury Road for Warner Bros - and take the superhero off in a brand new direction.
Cyborg
When: April 3rd 2020
Who: No director announced yet, with only Ray Fisher confirmed in the cast, as Victor Stone/Cyborg.
What: Another of the Metahumans, we seen the remains of Stone being worked on by what we assume was his father, before being fused with some weird alien-looking technology that made him into, well, the title is right there. BVS was Fisher's first movie role, having being discovered acting during a stage version of Macbeth, and was one of the finalists for the role in Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens that eventually went to John Boyega. As for the actual movie itself, details are still light on the ground, which is to be expected, as it's not out for another four years.
Green Lantern Corps
When: June 19th 2020
Who: Absolutely nothing announced yet.
What: Before he hit box office gold with Deadpool, Ryan Reynolds was cast as the sure-fire hit Green Lantern, from the director of Casino Royale, but we all know how that turned out. Smartly pretending that never happened, WB/DC are moving forward with another adaptation of the comic, telling the story of a group of humans who join the intergalactic policing force. But who they are, who is directing it, and how it will tie into DC's larger cinematic universe is yet to be ascertained.
