Ray Gunn has long been one of the great cinematic what-ifs. After decades in development and bouncing from studio to studio, the unrealized science fiction noir from The Iron Giant visionary Brad Bird is finally coming to fruition. Today, Netflix revealed a first look at the animated film, which will be released on the streamer later this year.

In the first three images from the film, we get a better look at the retro-futuristic world of Ray Gunn, which will seem familiar to fans of Bird’s other works, including The Incredibles and Tomorrowland. The title character is Raymond Gunn, an old-school human detective in the city of Metropia; there, his 1930s-style office decor clashes with the strange green alien he’s sharing a drink with. Enormous holograms loom over the canyon-like streets, and Gunn soon finds himself in a deadly web of intrigue with aliens, robots, and multimedia superstar Venus Nova. The film will star Sam Rockwell as Ray Gunn, Scarlet Johansson as Venus Nova, and Tom Waits as Eyera. Says Johansson, “Having the opportunity to collaborate with Brad Bird is a career milestone for me; I have loved his work my entire life. This project is so uniquely special because it is a total realization of where Brad is currently on his artistic journey. I can’t wait for audiences to see this extraordinary animation that looks like nothing else out there.”

How Long Has ‘Ray Gunn’ Been In Development?

Ray Gunn sprung from Bird‘s fertile imagination even before his first feature film, The Iron Giant. Bird planned to make the film for Turner Feature Animation, but reclaimed the project when Turner merged with Warner Bros. Later, he took it to Pixar, but the animation studio opted to make The Incredibles instead. In recent years, he revived the project at Skydance Animation, and opted out of directing The Incredibles 3 to focus on this project. Says Bird, “Ray Gunn has been in my mind for over 30 years. The film is a blend of sci-fi and classic detective movies from the ’40s…it’sMaltese Falcon meetsBuck Rogers. I’ve been a fan of both of those sort of genres, and blending them together seemed fun, and a chance to play with a lot of very cinematic elements, and extreme characters.” Bird also commented that he wants the film to reach out to “people who don’t watch animation,” because “animation as a medium is too interesting to limit what kind of stories can be told.”

Ray Gunn is directed by Brad Bird, who also penned the script with Matthew Robbins (Crimson Peak). It will be produced by Bird, John Lasseter, Lisa Beroud, David Ellison and Dana Goldberg producing for Skydance Animation.

Ray Gunn will be released on Netflix in 2026; no exact release date has yet been announced.

via Collider