In what can only be described as a very mixed message from Warner Bros., it sounds like there’s a very real possibility that there can — and will — be DC Comics films that aren’t set in their shared DC cinematic universe.

We’ve heard this before, with the folks involved in Dwayne Johnson’s Shazam movie being somewhat vague about its connections to the rest of the DCEU, and now comes this from Greg Berlanti, who’s trying to get a Booster Gold movie going.

“As of right now we have no connective tissue to those worlds,” Berlanti told Vulture. “It’d be a separate thing.“

Berlanti, you may know, is the man behind the lighter, more colorful DC TV shows The Flash, Supergirl, Arrow, and DC’s Legends of Tomorrow. He began developing a Booster Gold film when he couldn’t get a TV show based on the cocky superhero from the future off the ground. He’s tapped Zack Stentz (Thor, X-Men: First Class) to help him write it.

If the current idea of keeping it separate stays in place, it’d be an interesting departure for WB/DC. When 2013’s Man Of Steel came out, it was assumed that the film would signal a whole new approach for the studio. That film opened the door for a shared universe, and served as a launchpad for a huge, all-encompassing DC Extended Universe that would stand alongside what Marvel Studios is doing. This came after years of making standalone DC films and franchises with hit or miss results. Man Of Steel even included a Booster Gold easter egg, with a reference to Blaze Comics- which is part of that character’s mythos. 

While Warner Bros has found financial success from the first three films in their DCEU, they’ve hardly reaped the kind of benefits they were hoping for. The critical response has been negative, the films have been polarizing for fans, Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice underperformed at the box office, and there have been lots of recent creative shakeups to try and get the shared universe on track.

The fact that they would allow Berlanti to make a film that isn’t connected to the rest of the DCEU could be a major indication of what they think of the future of their cinematic universe.

We’ll have to see how this all plays out.

What do you think of a Booster Gold movie set outside of the DCEU?

SOURCE: Vulture