Justice League: James Gunn Shares Animated Revival Update

Justice League: Unlimited‘s revival efforts just got an update from James Gunn. It seems like the success of X-Men ‘97 has some fans thinking about the same treatment for the DC Animated Universe’s flagship show. While that all sounds interesting in theory, Gunn confirmed that no such thing would be going down on his Threads account. The DC Studios head man explained, “X-Men ’97 is fun because it’s unique and not desperately trying to follow the trends of everything around it. So I’d rather just keep doing that.” While that’s an interesting read of the show, Gunn’s statement also effectively slams the door on all that fan chatter.

For what it’s worth, a lot of what made Justice League: Unlimited, Batman Beyond, and the other DCAU projects so fun is the connective threads that tie it all together. As some fans have pointed out, Kevin Conroy’s untimely passing makes one of the core threads unattainable. His work with Batman is absolutely legendary and trying to restart that whole corner of DC animation without him would be both daunting and unfair to whoever stepped into the voice actor’s booth. So, it probably was never in the cards to begin with. (To say nothing of Gunn’s larger point about ‘chasing trends.’)

Why X-Men Makes So Much Sense In The 90s

One thing that X-Men ’97 lines up with perfectly is the draw of nostalgia in modern pop culture. (Something that James Gunn’s take on Superman is reflecting on too, if we’re being real!) ComicBook.com’s Phase Zero podcast spoke to X-Men ’97 producer Brad Winderbaum about the 90s and their outsized influence on the Marvel heroes. For a lot of fans, the aniamted version of the X-Men is the definitive take on the character. Even with so many years of movies featuring the likes of Wolverine, Professor X and Jean Grey. Winderbaum views those connections as an absolute strength.

“Well, actually, it was kind of liberating to be able to stay in the 90s,” Winderbaum told us earlier last month. “It allowed us to go places that we could just do what we want. To be so iterative. Things that we couldn’t do if we were more MCU adjacent like What If…? is. I mean, What If…? is like we’re literally remixing the MCU. So, it’s harder to introduce characters. Because you want to see them in live-action. Although, we do see Bill Foster as Giant Man in the second season. That’s new!” 

Looking For That Nostalgic Kick?

Over on Disney+, fans have been loving Marvel Studios’ follow-up to X-Men: The Animated Series: “X-Men ’97 revisits the iconic era of the 1990s as The X-Men, a band of mutants who use their uncanny gifts to protect a world that hates and fears them, are challenged like never before, forced to face a dangerous and unexpected new future.”

“The voice cast includes Ray Chase as Cyclops, Jennifer Hale as Jean Grey, Alison Sealy-Smith as Storm, Cal Dodd as Wolverine, JP Karliak as Morph, Lenore Zann as Rogue, George Buza as Beast, AJ LoCascio as Gambit, Holly Chou as Jubilee, Isaac Robinson-Smith as Bishop, Matthew Waterson as Magneto and Adrian Hough as Nightcrawler.”

“Beau DeMayo serves as head writer; episodes are directed by Jake Castorena, Chase Conley and Emi Yonemura. Featuring music by The Newton Brothers, the series is executive produced by Brad Winderbaum, Kevin Feige, Louis D’Esposito, Victoria Alonso and DeMayo.”

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