JJ Abrams Warner Bros. Discovery Deal Turning Sour?

Discovery has gone radio silent about the other Superman project in the pipeline.

The last time anyone spoke about the project was last summer, suggesting the possibility that the deal has gone sour, however, Gunn posted on social media that it’s still in progress—for now.

The Elseworlds imprint, initiated by DC Comics in 1989, served as a distinctive publishing platform offering narratives outside the DC Universe’s primary continuity.

These stories frequently delved into alternate versions of well-established characters, exploring intriguing “what if” scenarios.

Gunn is implementing a similar strategy at Warner Bros. Discovery where movies like JJ Abram’s Superman film can still be made, but they won’t follow the same canon as the DCU franchise.

JJ Abrams’ Superman movie was greenlit long before Gunn arrived as the new co-CEO of DC content on the Warner Bros. scene.

The Superman reboot was first announced in 2021 with Abrams producing and Ta-Nehisi Coates penning the script. Back then, Warner Bros. expected a script due by the end of the year. 

Since then, updates have been few and far between. The last thing we heard was when Gunn mentioned in an interview in May 2023 that Superman: Legacy would not conflict with JJ Abrams’ movie.

He expressed enthusiasm for the upcoming movie, noting that he’d spoken with Chantal Nong, an executive on the project, who he said was very excited.

With Gunn adapting the Elseworld strategy, both his Superman and JJ Abrams’ Superman can co-exist together as part of parallel universes. And, yet, all we’ve heard for months about the second is crickets.

That is, until this week when Gunn broke his silence during a Q&A session on Meta’s new social media platform, Threads.

User @nicktiznado asked the Guardians of the Galaxy director for an update on the project, posting, “Is that Abrams Superman Elseworld project still in development?” Gunn’s response was short and mysterious, simply replying, “Yes.”

The one-word response is not a lot to go off of. However, for fans looking forward to JJ Abrams and Coates’ take on Superman, it’s a sign of hope.

While the project has been cloaked in silence for nearly three years, there’s still a possibility of the movie making it to theaters. 

The realization of JJ Abrams’ project is contingent upon the quality of the script once it’s received. In the meantime, there has been no indication of a specific timeline for when the project might make it to the next stage.

However, Gunn has been clear that there will be no Elseworld movies released before 2025.

While fans are waiting for JJ Abrams’ Superman reboot, they can look forward to Gunn’s Superman: Legacy.

The Suicide Squad director is both penning the script and directing the feature, which will star Isabela Merced, Rachel Brosnahan, Nathan Fillion, Nicholas Hoult, and David Corenswet.

Superman: Legacy will hit theatres on July 11, 2025.

Source: Threads