James Gunn Comments on How Previous DC Films Regimes F'd Up, and Why His Will Work

By Patrick Cavanaugh

In the decade since Man of Steel landed in theaters, the DC Extended Universe has seen ups and downs on the big screen, with virtually every fan having a different explanation for why the franchise's cinematic output, as well as small-screen counterparts, has struggled to find more consistent success. According to DC Studios co-CEO James Gunn, the failings and shortcomings with the overall DC franchise over the past decade are due to a lack of overall vision, with various creatives across multiple mediums all having different goals and agendas, some of which would be overruled by others at the studio, resulting in conflicting visions. 

"Well, the history has been sh-t. It's been a real f-cked up journey for DC," Gunn shared during a press event detailing the future of DC Studios. "I think that there was basically no one minding the mint, and they were giving out IP to any creatives that smiled at whoever was in charge. There was never any real power given to the people in charge. And so somebody could always go over their head and do whatever they wanted. We had the DCEU, which then became the Joss Whedon Justice League, but it also became the Snyderverse, which became this. We have Wonder Woman, then we have Wonder Woman 2, which doesn't even match what happened in Wonder Woman 1. And then we have the Arrowverse, and even us coming in with The Suicide Squad and Peacemaker and, what is it exactly? And then all of a sudden Bat-Mite's a real guy."

The future of DC will largely allow for a clean slate, as the upcoming The Flash film is expected to craft a complete reset of everything that came before it. While follow-ups to Joker and The Batman are on the horizon, all movies and TV series in the wake of The Flash are expected to fall under the same cinematic franchise.

"So how can we take these things together and make them make sense and have them unified and have it one real universe, one real world?" Gunn pointed out. "I think that we've gotten lucky with the next four movies, frankly, because we have [Shazam! Fury of the Gods], which leads into The Flash, which resets everything, which then goes into Blue Beetle, which is totally disconnected. He can totally be a part of the DCU, [which] goes into Aquaman [and the Lost Kingdom], which leads into [Superman: Legacy], our first big project. But the one thing that we can promise is that everything from Superman forward, or, actually, you'll see in a second, from our first project forward, will be canon and will be connected. We're using some actors from the past. We're not using other actors from the past, but everything from that moment forward will be connected and consistent."

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Stay tuned for updates on the future of DC Studios projects.

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