Batman Scribe Tom King is Co-Writing New Gods Screenplay with Ava DuVernay

Months after teasing a secret Hollywood project, it appears the cat is out of the bag: Tom King is co-writing a screenplay for Warner Brothers Pictures. According to a report from The Wrap, the writer behind hits like Batman and The Vision is penning a script for The New Gods with filmmaker Ava DuVernay. DuVernay is also on board to direct the film.

One of the most celebrated comic writers of late, King’s coming off a run on Mister Miracle that saw he and artist Mitch Gerads win multiple Eisner awards. Before signing an exclusive contract with DC Comics, King wrote the critically-acclaimed — and another Eisner-winning comic — series The Vision for Marvel. He’s currently penning Batman for DC and is currently set to exit the title at #85 later this year. The news was subsequently confirmed by DuVernay on Twitter.

As it shakes out right now, it remains to be seen whether New Gods will be connected to any previous movies in the DC Extended Universe, or touch on the events involving Steppenwolf in Justice League. Former Warner Bros. Pictures president Kevin Tsujihara said the studio was focusing on single movies that told adequate stories in and of themselves before trying to move back towards an interconnected universe.

“We have the right people in the right jobs working on it,” Tsujihara said previously said. “The universe isn’t as connected as we thought it was going to be five years ago. You’re seeing much more focus on individual experiences around individual characters. That’s not to say we won’t at some point come back to that notion of a more connected universe. But it feels like that’s the right strategy for us right now.”

Not that Tsuijhara is out at WB amid a sexual impropriety scandal, it remains to be seen if that studio’s vision on their film universe has changed or if they’ll be carrying the same mindset forward, especially after the box office success of both Shazam! and Aquaman.

As it stands now, New Gods has yet to receive a release date. Upcoming DC films include Joker on October 10th, Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) on February 7, 2020, Wonder Woman 1984 on June 5, 2020, The Batman on June 25, 2021, The Suicide Squad on August 6, 2021, and Aquaman 2 on December 16, 2022.