Yesterday Rolling Stone published an in-depth profile on DC Studios co-chair James Gunn. The Superman director sat down for a warts-and-all interview with journalist Brian Hiatt to discuss his first three years managing the studio and bringing the Man of Steel back to the big screen. But amongst other topics Gunn also discussed the challenges of bringing the rest of DC’s Trinity in to the burgeoning DCU.
It was January 2023 when Gunn and co-chair Peter Safran first announced “Gods and Monsters”, the first chapter in their planned multimedia DC Universe. Though Wonder Woman herself was absent by name there was a TV series, Themyscira, which would dive in to the history of the Amazons. Meanwhile Batman was ever present with the announcement of Batman: The Brave and The Bold which is still understood to have The Flash director Andy Muschietti attached.
In the two years since that announcement we’ve heard only small updates on Batman. That is until now as Gunn acknowledges the success of Matt Reeves’ The Batman poses an interesting dilemma for DC Studios prime universe.
“Batman has to have a reason for existing, right? So Batman can’t just be ‘Oh, we’re making a Batman movie because Batman’s the biggest character in all of Warner Bros.,’ which he is. But because there’s a need for him in the DCU and a need that he’s not exactly the same as Matt’s Batman. But yet he’s not a campy Batman. I’m not interested in that. I’m not interested in a funny, campy Batman, really. So we’re dealing with that. I think I have a way in, by the way. I think I really know what it’s — I just am dealing with the writer to make sure that we can make it a reality.”
It would make sense that Gunn doesn’t want to copy what Reeves has created with The Batman and that world. It’s also interesting to see him acknowledge this doesn’t mean that DCU Batman has to suddenly take on the camp qualities of Adam West’s 1966 portrayal. It just needs to be different.
Touching on the Dark Knight later in the interview, Gunn also impressed upon the interviewer that Batman and Wonder Woman remain a very important part of plans for the DCU and something he continues to work on to this day.
“Batman’s my biggest issue in all of DC right now, personally. And it’s not — I’m not writing Batman, but I am working with the writer of Batman and trying to get it right, because he’s incredibly important to DC, as is Wonder Woman. So outside of the stuff that I’m doing in the projects that are actively going, our two priorities are finishing our Wonder Woman and our Batman scripts.”
This would seemingly confirm that both characters are set to feature in solo stories over the next few years as the DCU fleshes out its world beyond Superman and Supergirl…
Which characters are you most looking forward to meeting in the DCU? Let us know in the comments below!
