If rumors are true – and we’ll know in few days if they are – then Warner Bros will announce a Shazam! movie starring Dwayne Johnson for July 2016 and a Wonder Woman movie starring Gal Gadot for July 2017. If that happens, and given what we know about Marvel Studios’ upcoming slate*, then that means DC/Warners will get the jump on Marvel/Disney in terms of both the first solo female superhero movie and first solo superhero of color movie in more than a decade**.
A cynic might wonder if such an event would be behind a publishing arm of a company suddenly making a lot of noise about its commitment to diversity, while a student of the Internet might wonder if the oft-quoted “DC say that Wonder Woman is too difficult while Marvel is all ‘Here’s a raccoon with a machine gun!’” will get flipped to “DC gives us female and black superheroes in their own movies while Marvel is all ‘Here’s a raccoon with a machine gun!’”
(Of course, a true cynic doesn’t believe that Warners will let Dwayne Johnson be Shazam, but will push him into the anti-hero role of Black Adam, but that’s neither here nor there.)
* – This is presuming, of course, that Marvel doesn’t pull a welcome surprise and gender- or racebend Doctor Strange. Given that they haven’t done that with any character yet, I’d be (happily) surprised if that was the case. Alternatively, suddenly announce that it’s been quietly staffing up a Black Widow or Falcon movie without telling anyone, and set them for 2016.
** – There have been both solo female superhero and solo superhero of color movies before, of course; Blade, Supergirl, Hancock and even Catwoman (A black female superhero movie!) spring to mind. Marvel Studios as we understand it today hasn’t been behind any of them, and the current Warners/DC pairing – which we can trace back to… Batman Begins, I guess? – can claim no credit either.