It looks like there has been another shakeup within the DC Comics cinematic universe with the announcement that Warner Brothers will not be moving forward with a feature film based on Jack Kirby’s New Gods characters directed by Ava DuVernay.
According to both Deadline and The Hollywood Reporter, not only is the New Gods movie not moving forward, but James Wan’s Aquaman spinoff The Trench is being shelved as well. Both Warner Brothers and DC Films released a statement confirming the news saying; “As part of our DC slate, some legacy development titles including New Gods and The Trench will not be moving forward. We thank our partners Ava DuVernay, Tom King, James Wan and Peter Safran for their time and collaboration during this process and look forward to our continued partnership with them on other DC stories. The projects will remain in their skillful hands if they were to move forward in the future.”
While scheduling issues with the upcoming Aquaman sequel have been cited as the reason for shelving The Trench feature, the New Gods movie is rumored to have exceeded the proposed one movie structure of the project. Something that is completely understandable given the characters and scope of story. It makes no sense to keep those characters limited to one film when the conflict with Darkseid would call for more.
DuVernay was set to direct the New Gods film from a script written by herself and comic book writer Tom King. King is the writer of the critically acclaimed Mister Miracle limited series that explored the Fourth World characters. DuVernay is still in the DC Comics camp despite the New Gods setback. She is currently developing a series for the The CW based on the DC Comics character Naomi created by Brian Michael Bendis as well as executive producing and directing the DC Comics/Vertigo series DMZ for HBO Max.