James Gunn Hints at the Next Superman Movie Storyline: Is It the DCU Justice League?

To paraphrase Perry White: Don’t call it Superman 2! James Gunn, the writer-director of this summer’s Superman, has been teasing some sort of follow-up to the first film in the new DC Universe that has grossed nearly $600 million globally since July. “Is it a straight-up Superman sequel? I would not say necessarily,” the filmmaker said previously, leading to speculation it might be a team-up movie based on Batman/Superman: World’s Finest or Superman and The Authority. But then Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav, in a call with investors, remarked that Gunn is “busy preparing the next installments of the DC Super-Family,” which includes 2026’s Supergirl movie as part of Gunn’s “10-year vision for the DC universe.”

On the social media platform Threads, Gunn confirmed that David Corenswet’s Superman “has a major role” in the unannounced movie but it’s “not ‘Superman 2.’” Asked if his new project is a “direct sequel to Superman,” he replied, “I’m not sure how you define ‘direct sequel.’ I pretty much think of Peacemaker season 2 as a direct sequel.”

However, in an interview published on August 19, Gunn referred to the next story in what he’s calling the Superman Saga as “the Superman sequel.” If the sequel isn’t Superman 2, might it be more of an ensemble like the Gunn-helmed Guardians of the Galaxy movies or 2021’s The Suicide Squad?

“It’s within the group of characters we’ve already met, and Superman is an important element in it,” Gunn revealed in a new interview on Deadline’s Crew Call podcast when host Anthony D’Alessandro jokingly asked if the sequel is “Superman and Friends.” “So that’s what I’ll say.”

“But that movie, that treatment is done. I’m now into the screenwriting phase,” Gunn continued. “I’m really happy with it. And we’re already prepping and figuring out where we’re shooting everything. That will not be too long.”

Super Friends: Is the Superman Sequel a Justice Gang Movie?

Superman introduced the Justice Gang, a Metropolis-based team of metahumans who operate out of the Hall of Justice: Green Lantern Guy Gardner (Nathan Fillion), Hawkgirl (Isabela Merced), Mr. Terrific (Edi Gathegi), and newest team member Metamorpho the Element Man (Anthony Carrigan).

The corporate superheroes are bankrolled by billionaire tech mogul Maxwell Lord (Sean Gunn) of LordTech, one of the four corporations that Gunn has teased is a major player in the DCU alongside Batman’s Wayne Enterprises, Simon Stagg’s Stagg Industries, and the villainous Lex Luthor’s (Nicholas Hoult) LuthorCorp.

Justice League International

The tentatively-named Justice Gang will return in Peacemaker, where Lord, Green Lantern, and Hawkgirl interview hero hopeful Chris Smith (John Cena) for a spot on the team. Gunn might be setting up the Justice Gang as Justice League International, based on the 1980s Keith Giffen and J.M. DeMatteis Justice League run that eventually became International.

“We find out in Superman — hopefully you’ve seen that by now, everyone — there’s a group called the Justice Gang. They’re sort of a nascent Justice League,” Gunn said on Peacemaker: The Official Podcast. “They’re run by LordTech Corporation, and they’re not yet the Justice League — if they ever do become, in fact, the Justice League.”

In Justice League International, businessman Maxwell Lord reorganized the heroes of the Justice League of America as an independent but United Nations-sanctioned international peace-keeping force. After the JLA was rechristened Justice League International, Batman stepped down from leading a team that included Guy Gardner, Black Canary, Blue Beetle, Booster Gold, Mister Miracle, Captain Atom, and Martian Manhunter.

Superman would team up with the JLI (along with Hawkman and Hawkwoman) for the first time in Justice League International #10, but declined membership in JLI #19. (“If I’m ever needed in an emergency,” the Man of Steel told Batman, “you can count on Superman!”) As their ranks expanded with the likes of Ice, Fire, and the Thanagarians Hawkman and Hawkwoman, new recruits like Metamorpho, the Flash (Wally West), Elongated Man, and Wonder Woman formed the spinoff team’s European branch in Justice League Europe.

That tracks with the “three factions” that are forming in Gunn’s DCU.

The New Frontier

“It’s a world in which some form of superheroes, which we call Metahumans, have existed for at least 300 years and they’ve been a part of our life,” Gunn explained in Interview Magazine. “But I think that we’re reaching a point in the DCU where there’s three factions. There’s the metahumans, the governments, and then the corporations.”

After Superman inspired the Justice Gang to thwart Boravian dictator Vasil Ghurkos’ (Zlatko Burić) invasion of Jarhanpur in Superman, US Secretary of Defense Mori (James Hiroyuki Liao) told General Rick Flag Sr. (Frank Grillo), “Glad you’re not concerned about the metahumans, Rick. ‘Cause now they’re the ones making the rules.”

Superman is now available to rent or own on digital; Peacemaker season 2 premieres Aug. 21 on HBO Max.