There was big superhero movie news today as Warner Bros. unveiled plans for extending the franchises of established favourites such as The Lego Movie and the Harry Potter universe. Also, up until 2020, DC Comics characters will do battle at the box offices with the Marvel creations with ten DC movies being announced.

Ben Affleck Batman
Zack Snyder's sneak peek at Ben Affleck's Batman, who will feature in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice in 2016

Ben Affleck’s Batman will get a starring role in Zack Snyder’s upcoming Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, with an anticipated but unconfirmed release date in 2016. Furthermore, Affleck will reprise the role in 2017 in Justice League Part One, also to be directed by Snyder. Looking ahead even further, the second instalment of that movie is due for 2019.

Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman is set to make a debut appearance in the first of the above movies before moving on to her own Wonder Woman movie in 2017. Also due on the calendar, in order, are films for Suicide Squad (2016), The Flash, Aquaman (both 2018), Shazam (2019), Cyborg and Green Lantern (both 2020). Each of the solo movies are characters within the comic book iteration of the Justice League.

More: Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson will play Black Adam in Shazam

As for the Harry Potter universe, we got confirmation that the fictional Harry Potter textbook ‘Fantastic Beasts’ will get its own spin-off, which will follow the adventures of its author Newt Scamander. 2016 will see the first, with second and third instalments coming in 2018 and 2020.

Finally, The Lego Movie 2 has been confirmed for a 2018 release, but not before Lego Batman, voiced by Will Arnett in the incredibly popular movie from earlier this year, gets the spotlight in his own movie in 2017. The Charlie Bean-directed Ninjago is also set for 2016.

Warner Bros. CEO Kevin Tsujihara made the announcement late on Wednesday, which confirmed rumours that had been doing the rounds for the past couple of months.