James Gunn Teases the DCU’s Main Character Isn’t Who Fans Think (& Offers a Hint)

You would think that James Gunn making his Superman movie the launchpad for a whole new DC Universe implies that the Man of Steel is the center of that franchise, but you would be wrong. In a new interview, Gunn actually teases that the “main character” of the DCU will be someone other than Superman, and not a character that most fans would guess. Of course, Gunn also couldn’t resist piercing the veil of secrecy with a tease about just who is the centerpiece of the DCU. See if you can decipher that for yourself.

Screen Rant’s Ash Crossan sat down with James Gunn for an interview about Superman and the future of the DCU, She asked about a popular fan theory that Krypto the super-dog’s appearance in Superman (and the ending establishing his connection to the forthcoming Supergirl movie) is actually the start of an arc that will have Krypto serving as the connective thread between DCU films – like Sam Jackson’s Nick Fury was to the Marvel Cinematic Universe early on. While Gunn debunked that idea, he did toss out the teaser that there is an unexpected character who will emerge as the connective focal point of the franchise: “Yeah. I don’t think it’s Krypto’s story. I think… I do know whose story it is. And it probably isn’t anyone anyone would ever expect.”

Gunn went on to put a finer point on the matter, confirming that there is a “throughline” to the DCU’s first arc, “Gods and Monsters”, and that “Yeah,” the character who is on that throughline is someone we’ve met already. He also confirmed that this throughline is leading to a major franchise event, “And it’s not what anyone thinks. It’s not what anyone would guess. But I think that if people watch the next season of Peacemaker, they’ll see where a lot of these things are going, and have a little bit more of a sense of maybe what can happen.”

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New Peacemaker Trailer Finally Explains DCU Canon Issues by Confirming a Major Theory

The most recent trailer for Peacemaker Season 2 has confirmed that John Cena’s Christopher Smith/Peacemaker, will be taking his own portal trip, hopping from the old DCEU franchise into this new DCU reality. We have to watch the sophomore season to see if Peacemaker pulls off his plan to infiltrate the DCU and possibly replace his own variant. If he does, it would set up an interesting interdimensional conflict that would pit the likes the DCEU’s Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) against DCU factions like General Rick Flagg Sr. (Frank Grillo), who has already appeared in the first two DCU projects (the Creature Commandos animated series and Superman), and probably won’t take kindly to finding out he had a son who was murdered in that other universe. That already makes Peacemaker, Flag Sr. and even the DCU Rick Flag Jr. (Joel Kinnaman?) possible candidates to be the main focal point for the this “Gods and Monsters” arc.

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Then there’s the director’s brother, Sean Gunn, who has already appeared as DCEU and DCU versions of animalistic character Weasel (in The Suicide Squad and Creature Commandos); Sean has also appeared as the DCU’s Maxwell Lord in Superman, and will join some of his “Justice Gang” heroes in Peacemaker Season 2. In comics, Lord is definitely the type of villain who sometimes acts as a mastermind schemer pulling many strings – the DCU could follow suit.

Hell, maybe its Eagly.

For now, Superman is playing in theaters and Peacemaker Season 2 is set to premiere on HBO Max on August 21st.