Last week, DC Comics, Warner Bros., James Gunn and Peter Safran announced the opening slate of Gods and Monsters, the first phase of their new DC multimedia campaign. I’m excited. I’ve long felt that DC’s movie catalogue has been mediocre at best, and a new direction and a somewhat clean slate were clearly in order. And I can’t imagine anyone better prepared to handle this new creative endeavor than James Gunn.

At first, I thought of doing a list of the characters I’d like to see going forward. But I don’t think that’d be any fun. I like a lot of what I see, and I’m sure everybody I might suggest has been considered. So I think I’ll just do a List of Six expressing my general thoughts on this opening slate. What am I excited for? What could I care less about? What will I be watching? What will I be skipping? There’s a lot to unpack, so let’s get to it.

Join me after the jump for my thoughts on the new DCU slate of movies and TV shows! And feel free to share your own thoughts in the comments down below.

6. Sounds great to me

I am fully on board with everything announced for Gods and Monsters, and the whole idea of having Gunn and Safran take control and steer the whole ship in some new directions. I was no fan of the Snyderverse. I enjoyed almost all the movies that Snyder wasn’t involved in, and don’t particularly care with his direction, artistic style or characters. Honestly, I wouldn’t mind if the new regime completely wiped the slate clean. But they still have to make sense of Aquaman 2, Shazam 2, the great Peacemaker stuff and then The Flash. Ugh. I hate the idea that they’re actually going to use The Flash movie to rewrite continuity. Like general audiences will care. I do not have high hopes for The Flash movie. But we’ll see.

We must put the past behind us. Let us embrace the new ideas and the new way forward. The Marvel Cinematic Universe has been doing things so right and for so long that people are growing bored. So it’s far past time for DC to try and step up their game and deliver exciting movies and shows for us to enjoy. Can they match what Marvel has produced? It’s possible! Peacemaker was such an excellent show last year. So I have faith and I have hope.

5. Exactly what I want from Superman

Everything we have seen so far about Superman: Legacy looks good to me. James Gunn is writing a script that focuses on a young Superman balancing his normal life with his superhero life, using Grant Morrison’s All-Star Superman as inspiration. I consider that comic to be the greatest Superman story ever told, so I’m already on board with that part. I’m also perfectly fine with recasting Henry Cavill. I still don’t understand why fans were so obsessed with getting Cavill back. He was only ever mediocre at best, and very much let down by the material. So I’m all in favor of a new, younger Superman telling a nice Superman story written by James Gunn. Should be great!

4. The last thing I want for Wonder Woman

One of the weirdest announcements, at least in my opinion, was for Paradise Lost, a prequel story about the formation of Paradise Island. They likened this to Game of Thrones. I’m all for using that show as a guiding light in terms of crafting a world, but is this really the best place for it? A Paradise Island without Wonder Woman? Is Warner Bros. afraid to get rid of Gal Gadot? Why? She’s nice and all, but she doesn’t have to be Wonder Woman anymore. If you’re recasting Superman and probably Batman, go ahead and recast Wonder Woman. Because a show about Paradise Island without Wonder Woman sounds bad to me.

Remember that show Krypton? I think they got two seasons out of that thing. Why even do this? Why not just go full force into a Wonder Woman TV show? You can still set it on Themyscira, with a lot of political houses battling for control, and Diana in the center of it.

3. Ugh, Damian

I very much enjoyed The Batman and I look forward to seeing The Batman: Part II in a few years time. I will definitely be getting my hopes up that Robin is introduced, as I do with every Batman sequel. But for the first time ever, an original Batman movie is already going to have a Robin, and a whole history of Robins, I think. The Brave and The Bold should be my kind of Batman movie…but it’s going to be about Damian Wayne, my least favorite Robin. Ugh. Damian has been Robin for more than a decade now, but I still don’t like him, nor do I like that he’s still Robin. And the idea of Batman and Robin being literally father and son is one of the things I like least about Damian. So a whole movie about that topic is going to be a tough nut to swallow. But I guess that’s what I’m going to have to do to get a live action Robin on the big screen.

2. Least Excited: Swamp Thing

I don’t really feel like going through and ranking all 10 announcements in terms of my excitement level. I’m excited for all of them, to some degree, even if I don’t like some of their ideas. But I figure I might as well let you all know those that I’m least interested in and most interested in. My least interested project — despite what I just said about Paradise Lost and Brave and the Bold — is Swamp Thing. I just don’t care about Swamp Thing. I’ve never read all those classic, legendary Swamp Thing comics. And I don’t care about the character or what they might do with him. I watched the original movies and shows when I was a kid. I think there was even a Swamp Thing cartoon that I watched at some point. But I have so very little interest in a Swamp Thing movie. Maybe it’s just me.

1. Most Excited: Lanterns/Booster Gold

I am equally excited for the Booster Gold the Lanterns TV shows. I love Booster Gold as a concept, and I think so much fun can be had exploring that character. He’s a great lovable loser, and I especially like the idea of infusing him with superhero imposter syndrome. That should be fun to explore. Booster Gold has appeared in live action and cartoons before as a supporting character, and I think James Gunn can really do many great things with the character the focus of his own show.

Likewise, a big budget, gritty cop drama procedural starring Green Lanterns is a dream come true. Someone at Warner Bros. had been working on a large scale Lanterns show ahead of this announcement, and I think that’s simply been changed into his new show that will have a True Detective feel. Sounds good to me! The Green Lantern mythos deserves a much better approach than the previous live action movie we got. Put some real effort into this and I think it could be really neat.

Honorable Mention: Legion of Super-Heroes

OK, so I said I didn’t want to make a list of the properties I want to see, but I think I’ll mention just one. I think the Legion of Super-Heroes should get a show. They’ve had a cartoon in the past, and they’ve got an animated movie coming up. But I think the Legion could be a lot of fun with an ongoing show with some dedication behind it. All those colorful characters and their colorful super-powers, all those decades of classic stories to draw from. I think a Legion show could be a hoot and a half!

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