Warner Bros.’ panel at San Diego Comic-Con 2022 was one of the most highly anticipated of the year, and there were a few updates and announcements for audiences to dig into.
Going into the panel, we expected updates on Black Adam, the Shazam! sequel, the Aquaman sequel, Wonder Woman 3, The Batman 2 (and other potential The Batman spin-offs), and maybe, just possibly an update on the The Flash. What did we actually get? New trailers for the two movies up next on the DC theatrical calendar. If you’re looking for all the best trailers from SDCC 2022, you can find them right here.
The Rock hopes Black Adam and the Justice Society will give the DCEU a “new start”
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Dwayne Johnson’s upcoming anti-hero movie is the next live-action DC movie on the docket, and will be introducing the Justice Society. Originally slated for a July release, it was moved to October amid a flurry of Warner Bros. schedule shifting. A new trailer was released, showing Viola Davis’s Amanda Waller, more of the Justice Society, and a red, horned new villain (although it appears that part was cut from the version that was released online).
Johnson first appeared on stage in costume, before a quick change into something a little less cape-focused. He talked about giving the DC Universe a new start with the Justice Society, and the opportunity to build it out more. One fan asked him who would win a fight between Black Adam, and Superman, to which Johnson retorted “Depends who’s playing Superman,” to screams from the crowd. But
A new trailer for Shazam! Fury of the Gods shows the villains and Rachel Zegler
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A surprise hit back in 2019, the first Shazam! movie was the kind of good-natured family fun you’d hope for from this particular character. Coming into SDCC, we’d already seen Helen Mirren and Lucy Liu as villainous ancient goddesses. The new trailer gave us much more of Mirren (including a moment where Zachary Levi’s Billy Batson says he’s seen all the Fast and the Furious movies, the latest of which starred Mirren) and our first look at West Side Story star Rachel Zegler in the movie, as a new character with glowing hands.
This was the only movie to get bumped up in the Warner Bros. scheduling changes, moving from a 2023 release to December 2022.
No updates on any of the other projects, and especially not The Flash
Image: Warner Bros.
We thought there might be news on the upcoming sequel to Aquaman, or the third Wonder Woman movie, or any of the upcoming The Batman follow-ups, or the Batgirl movie, or the Static Shock movie — basically, anything about the other projects. But nope! It was just those two new trailers.
Most notably, there were no updates on The Flash. DC’s most troubled project is in a bit of crisis mode, in part thanks due to the off-set behavior of lead actor Ezra Miller. This movie has been in the works for long enough that Ben Affleck joined the cast nearly two years ago, and a trailer dropped in October 2021. Since then, it has been a series of delays and incidents for the speedster movie.
Updates on this project were notably absent during the event. The Flash did make one appearance — a brief one, in the trailer for the new Shazam! movie — but even then, the character’s face was carefully covered or obscured at all times (see above for The Flash Without A Face).
You can find all of Polygon’s coverage of SDCC 2022 news, trailers, and more here.
