Predicting DC's 9 Upcoming Superhero Movies Up To 2020

6. The Batman - March 23, 2018

Though Warner Bros. isn't adapting Marvel's method of "solo films first, team-up films later," they would be smart to adapt another of their great competitor's strategies: of releasing a well-known property at the beginning of the year, and then debuting a new property later on. That way the first film helps create momentum for the second. Maybe we'll see that with Batman V Superman leading right into Shazam, followed by Justice League spearheading the Wonder Woman big screen debut. The rest of this list will assume that Warner Bros. takes that route. That means that for the first release, an already established character or property is likely to hit theatres. In this case, the smart money would be on The Batman. By 2018, Batman will have already been in (at least) two DC films, Batman V Superman and Justice League. Thanks to the Dark Knight trilogy, audiences around the world are familiar enough and excited enough about the character to bypass more origin stories completely. He's a well-known and beloved character that could easily take a James Bond or Indiana Jones approach, and star in his own standalone films without any previous build-up or origin exploration. Ben Affleck will be in his mid-40s by the time 2018 rolls around, and it's likely he will want to star in his own film pretty quickly, making 2018 the best possible choice. He'll also likely direct the next Batman solo film, and already has other directing gigs lined up. By placing Batman in 2018, it gives Affleck plenty of time to star in other DC films while also directing a film or two before jumping back into not only the cape and cowl, but the director's chair as well.