James Gunn’s DC Studios Cleans Up the “Messed Up” DC Universe With New Strategy

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James Gunn, the co-chairman and CEO of DC Studios along with Superman producer Peter Safran, candidly admitted in January 2023 that the history of DC has been quite disorganized. He made these remarks following a shift in power at DC Films towards the end of 2022, during which he pointed out that various DC intellectual properties had become fragmented. The Arrowverse (including shows like Arrow, The Flash, and Supergirl) and the waning DC Extended Universe (with multiple versions of Justice League movies), along with separate universes for The Batman led by Matt Reeves and Safran, and Gunn’s own Suicide Squad (a revised version of 2016’s Suicide Squad), are all part of this fragmentation.

At one point, Gunn stated that no one was overseeing the mint. Instead, they seemed to hand out intellectual property (IP) as if it were party gifts to creators who simply looked favorably upon them. However, what we intend to do moving forward is to guarantee that every project starting from now on will be unified in its approach.

In unifying the DC world into a single, interconnected DC Universe, excluding Reeves’ Batman Crime Saga which stands alone but falls under the DC Studios label, Gunn and Safran aim to ensure high-quality standards for the DC brand in the movies and TV shows being developed by DC Studios.

In the future, we’ll mainly focus on DCU stories, but every now and then, you might come across Elseworlds tales. These stories have certain characteristics that make them suitable for Elseworlds. When it comes to our animated projects, they are a unique category; they aren’t all like the Creature Commandos,” Gunn explained to Entertainment Weekly when discussing the balance between stories set within and outside of the DC Universe.

The mature animated series “Creature Commandos” is officially part of the same universe as “Superman” and the forthcoming season 2 of “Peacemaker”. In contrast, other upcoming shows like “My Adventures with Green Lantern”, “Starfire!”, and “Super Powers” are DC Studios productions, but they fall under the category of “Elseworlds”, which means their stories do not align with the main DC Universe continuity.

Gunn emphasized that DC Studios encourages storytellers to explore diverse narratives, stating, “There’s certainly space for various tales to be shared… When it’s a significant voice like Matt Reeves – someone I’ve long admired for his ability to balance both artistic vision and commercial success in epic filmmaking – you can’t help but pay attention.

As a company that prioritizes script development, Gunn emphasized, “The script must be strong; we won’t proceed if we don’t appreciate it.” (Recently, Gunn disclosed that DC Studios cancelled a project that had already been given the green light because the script wasn’t satisfactory.) Projects produced by Gunn, such as the upcoming The Batman 2 and potential sequel to Constantine, developed by Keanu Reeves, fall under the Elseworlds banner but will follow the same rule as any other production by DC Studios.

Gunn stated, ‘If a story falls under Elseworlds, it might get complex and perplexing for some readers. However, our aim is always to make it clear what belongs to Elseworlds and what’s part of the DC Universe. Furthermore, we don’t want to hand out our properties like party favors to low-budget TV shows or projects where we have no control over quality. Instead, we strive for quality control in everything we do.’

With DC Studios now in charge, James Gunn and Peter Safran function much like the iconic duo Batman and Robin. They are working together to restore order to a brand that, as Safran put it in 2023, had been somewhat disorganized or chaotic.

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2025-06-19 19:40