The superhero genre continues to be a powerful force in the entertainment industry, with a number of shared universes in play. With the DCEU (which is streaming with a Max subscription) officially dead, the next upcoming DC movie is James Gunn’s Superman, which will kickstart a new shared universe. The DCU’s first slate of projects is called Gods and Monsters, and will introduce new versions of various DC characters. Superman set photos have fans thinking James Gunn’s movie is Introducing Robin Tim Drake, but not so fast.
What we know about Superman is limited, but Gunn occasionally offers updated about the mysterious project. But production is underway on the blockbuster, and fans are eager to see what the cast of Superman are going to do during its runtime. Some photos from the set recently made their way to Twitter, showing how Cleveland exteriors are being dressed to look like Metropolis. Check it out for yourself below:
cleveland turning into metropolis #superman pic.twitter.com/vl74N3jM6FJune 18, 2024
So how does Robin factor into this? In the fourth image of the series, you can see that a door is for an establishment called The Wounded Duck. This is a location that has been in DC comics for a while, and has a particular tie to the third Robin Tim Drake.
In the comics, The Wounded Duck is an establishment run by Tim Drake after he faked his own death during a multiversal war. Since Superman has other heroes like Green Lantern Guy Gardner, some fans are hoping that James Gunn is establishing Robin in the universe as well. But that might not be the case.
In the comics, Tim Drake opens The Wounded Duck in the year 2015. But if you look closely at the set photo, the sign claims that the establishment was opened back in 1976. As such, maybe DC fans shouldn’t hold their breath to see Robin in James Gunn’s Superman flick. It’s possible this bit of set dressing was merely an easter egg for eagle eyed DC fans.
Luckily for moviegoers who can’t wait until the Bat-family is finally explored on the big screen, there are still plans for that to come together. Namely through the movie The Brave and The Bold, which will center around Batman and his son/Robin Damian Wayne. Since Batman’s sidekicks were noticeably missing from the DC Extended Universe, this is a welcomed change for hardcore fans who waited years to see Robin, Nightwing, and Batgirl on the big screen… to no avail. Although the scrapped Batgirl movie would have been able to change that.
All will be revealed when Superman finally hits theaters on July 11th, 2025. While we wait, check out the 2025 movie release dates to see what other movies you want to check out next year.