Freshly-installed DC Studios co-chief James Gunn has laid out his plan for the future of DC Comics’ movie, TV and video game adaptations, and a vision to unify much of the brand’s forthcoming output into a single MCU-style continuity.
In a video statement posted to Twitter, Gunn laid out a series of films and TV series which will form the official DC Universe, or DCU, storyline and tie-in to one another. This includes a new Superman reboot without Henry Cavill, after the star was ditched by DC right after his departure from The Witcher.
Gunn also addressed the various DC projects which will still be made, but set outside the canon DCU timeline. These will be “clearly labelled” as such, and given the name “DC Elseworlds”, a phrase that has previously applied to non-canon DC comic books.
Regarding the plan he has put together with fellow new DC Studios co-chief Peter Safran, Gunn said:
“One of our jobs – mine and Peter’s – is to come in and make sure the DCU is connected in film, television, gaming and animation. That the characters are consistent, played by the same actors, and it works within one story.
“If something is outside that – such as Matt Reeves’ Batman or Todd Phillips’ Joker or Teen Titans Go! – it’s [going to be] clearly labelled as ‘DC Elseworlds’ – outside the main DC continuity.”
It seems likely we will see the DC Elseworlds label applied to the upcoming Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, which is itself part of developer Rocksteady Games’ Arkhamverse series of video games.
The under-wraps Wonder Woman project currently being developed at Middle-earth Shadow of Morder studio Monolith seems likely to also now be labelled as an Elseworlds game, as work began long before Gunn and Safran were brought on board.
Back in the world of DC films, the Elseworlds label will be applied to the upcoming sequels already planned for Robert Pattinson’s take on Batman, and to Joaquin Phoenix’s take on Joker.
Still, it’s interesting to hear Gunn mention his new DC Universe canon can include video games in principle. It’s a step that Marvel, with its many, many video games in production, has never taken with an MCU video game story.
When we’ll see the first DCU canon game released is another matter.
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