REPORT: Warner Bros. Sets 'Justice League' for May 2017, Plans Film Schedule to Rival Marvel's

In 2008, Iron Man and The Dark Knight hit theaters. Since then, Marvel Studios has launched a cinematic universe that's grossed billions of dollars and turned the studio into a money-printing machine. At the same time, Warner Bros. wrapped up the highly successful Dark Knight Trilogy ... and then released just one other movie. Man of Steel was a decent hit, but it represents the entire future of Warner Bros.'s battle against Marvel Studios.

We already know that the next step in that battle will be 2016's Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, which will pit Ben Affleck as Batman against Henry Cavill as Superman. Gal Gadot has been cast as Wonder Woman, but we don't know how big of a role hers will be. Man of Steel director Zack Snyder is already at work on this movie and has been announced as the director of Justice League too.

A report on Thursday may have revealed the future of Warner Bros.'s Justice League Cinematic Universe. NikkiFinke.com reported that Justice League will hit theaters in May 2017, with Shazam, Sandman, Wonder Woman, a Flash/Green Lantern team-up and Man of Steel 2 all opening between 2016 and 2018.

A lot of stuff remains in flux  but my sources have so far:

May 2016 – Batman v Superman
July 2016 – Shazam
Xmas 2016 – Sandman
May 2017 – Justice League
July 2017 – Wonder Woman
Xmas 2017 – Flash and Green Lantern team-up
May 2018 – Man Of Steel 2

There had been talk of a Metal Men and Suicide Squad movie for sometime in 2016 but that project fell off the schedule.

If this report is true, Warner Bros. is going to amp up its superhero game very rapidly. NikkiFinke.com noted that much of this plan hinges on how these other superheroes will fit into Batman v Superman and Justice League.

According to my source, “Like Marvel’s The Avengers, there will be cameos of superheroes for future installments. The cameos will include the already known Cyborg and Flash. Green Lantern [not played by Ryan Reynolds, thank god] may be introduced.  And Aquaman will be seen in the Justice League movie. Problem is, Warner Bros Pictures was still negotiating with the actors for those cameos and future roles, meaning major contracts for multiple JL/character films to follow. The studio didn’t want to move forward until they had more of this secure so they held off starting production for a few months. 

I'm also surprised that Sandman is being included in this report. Will the Joseph Gordon-Levitt-led film fit into the rest of the Justice League Cinematic Universe? After Gordon-Levitt passed on franchise leads like Guardians of the Galaxy and Ant-Man, I got the idea that he didn't want to be tied into a megafranchise.

We'll have to wait until next month's Comic-Con to see if Warner Bros. makes this rumor official.