Weapons Director Zach Cregger Already Has History With the DC Universe (& It’s Bizarre)

Whenever a director starts to make a name for themselves, the next step in their career is for the internet to decide which superhero movie they would be a good fit for. Some filmmakers, such as Ryan Coogler, embrace the love and carve out a niche for themselves in the comic book movie genre, while others ignore the noise because they’re not interested in working in someone else’s sandbox. There is room for both types of directors, as theaters need to offer a wide range of films for the ecosystem to thrive. For example, horror has been a big winner in 2025, with Coogler’s Sinners becoming one of the most successful original films ever.

Another horror movie taking the world by storm is Zach Cregger’s Weapons, which follows a town that’s shaken to its core when 17 kids go missing in the middle of the night. Weapons is making Marvel Studios look foolish for releasing The Fantastic Four: First Steps a few weeks before it, but before Kevin Feige and Co. could even think of scooping Cregger up to ensure he isn’t a problem again, the director pledged his allegiance to DC. Even if Cregger gets a call from James Gunn, though, it won’t be his first time working with DC characters.

Zach Cregger Played Green Lantern in a DC Fan Film

In the early 2010s, there was a stigma around Superman, with many claiming that he wasn’t an interesting enough character. Max Landis, writer of Chronicle and Bright, thought the infamous ’90s comic storyline “The Death of Superman” didn’t do the hero any favors and wanted to explore what went wrong with it. He sat down in front of a camera and delivered a passionate monologue about the story in The Death and Return of Superman, but he didn’t want that to be the end of it. Accompanying Landis’s words were sketches that played out his humorous account of the comic book’s events.

Plenty of familiar faces joined in on the fun, including Mandy Moore, Elijah Wood, Ron Howard, Simon Pegg, and Elden Henson, best known for playing Foggy Nelson on Daredevil. However, hiding among the crowd was a young filmmaker named Zach Cregger, who had very few credits to his name. He played a distraught version of Hal Jordan, who showed up on Earth to find his home destroyed. Cregger’s hero wiped out the rest of the Green Lanterns before declaring himself a villain, just like his comic book counterpart did. While Hal is already spoken for in Gunn’s DC Universe, Cregger is still ready to give it another go all these years later.

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A DC Henchman May Be in Line for Their Own Movie

While on the press tour for Weapons, Cregger let it slip that he’s working on a DC script that he’s really excited about. It would follow a lowly henchman in Gotham City who has a run-in with Batman. Somehow, the goon is able to incapacitate the Dark Knight, which makes him the talk of the town. Harley Quinn and Joker would also appear in the movie in some capacity, potentially as a roadblock for the henchman as he attempts to rise to the top of Gotham’s underworld. Cregger doesn’t know whether Gunn will have any interest in his script. However, it’s hard to imagine the head of DC Studios turning it down, especially given what’s already in the works.

Following Supergirl, the next DC movie on the release slate is Clayface, a villain origin story from horror legend Mike Flanagan and Speak No Evil director James Watkins. There’s no doubt that Flannagan has a more impressive resume than Cregger, but Barbarian and Weapons is one hell of a one-two punch. Cregger also has a Resident Evil movie coming in 2026, which means he has a chance to prove he’s capable of working in a franchise with a massive fanbase. While he may not have known it at the time, playing Hal Jordan in a fan film may have been the first step in a successful career in the superhero genre for Cregger.

Weapons is in theaters now.

Did you know that Zach Cregger played Hal Jordan in a DC fan film? Would you like to see him make a film in the DCU? Let us know in the comments below!