James Gunn’s Gods And Monster DC Update Sounds Awesome

DC seems to be in really good hands with James Gunn at the helm. James Gunn has finally released an 8–10-year plan detailing the future of the DC under his and Peter Safran’s vision with the first chapter being called “Gods And Monsters”.

If James Gunn can pull this off, then the DC now has a legitimate chance of catching up with Marvel and the MCU.

All DC fans were blessed with an almost unprecedented video on the main DC YouTube channel (I linked the video here and down below) today as James Gunn openly, vividly, and masterfully outlined his and Peter Safran’s overarching vision of the DC Universe for the next 8-10 years with numerous new projects being unveiled.

Some of the new and most notable projects that Gunn revealed in the video are as follows: Superman: Legacy (Movie), Waller (TV series), Lanterns (TV series), The Authority (Movie), Paradise Lost (Wonder Woman/Amazonian TV series), Batman-Brave And The Bold (Movie), Supergirl: Woman Of Tomorrow (Movie), Swamp Thing (Movie).

Pretty stacked lineup, right?

Now, there are other projects already announced of the old DCEU, such as Shazam 2, The Flash, and Aquaman 2, and there were some other new projects announced in the video, such as Creature Commandos, Blue Beattle, Booster Gold, and a few unannounced projects that were hinted at, but the ones I listed above were the most eye-catching for me. And, to be honest, for probably everyone else.

Some of the most famous superheroes in the DC lineup have just been given definitive projects and timelines for expected releases, such as Batman in the Brave And The Bold Movie, Superman in Superman: Legacy, Amanda Waller in the Waller TV series, Wonder Woman and the Amazonians in the Paradise Lost series, and Hal Jordan and John Stewart in the Lanterns series, while some other brilliant (but lesser used) superheroes/villains have also finally been given adaptation projects.

Finally getting a legitimate Supergirl movie (that Netflix TV series doesn’t count), a Damien Wayne portrayal (he’s the Robin in Brave And The Bold), and a backstory into Swamp Thing has me extremely excited for Chapter 1 of the Gunn DC.

These characters have so much history, potential, uniqueness, and personality to them (well, Swamp Thing has more mystery than personality, but you know what I mean), yet they have been criminally underused by past DC creators.

Christopher Nolan and Zach Snyder infamously disliked the “Robin” character (which is saying something about their view of the many Robins in Batman’s life) and ignored them from the films, while Matt Reaves’ Batman is still too young to have a Robin side character teaming up with him. And let’s not talk about Joel Schumacher’s Dick Grayson as Robin in Batman Forever as that was just an abomination of a movie and portrayal.

Nevertheless, I’m also really interested in how Gunn portrays Batman and Superman in these new films.

Gunn said that he was personally writing the Superman: Legacy film and that he was going to direct it for a July 11th, 2025 release date, which is pretty soon considering it wasn’t too long ago that Gunn was named the Co-CEO of DC Studios.

Anyways, Gunn’s style of directing (a quick-whit, edgy, gory drama/comedy) isn’t really what I would have a picked for a Superman movie’s tone be as the Man of Steel is a more reserved, constrained, heroic character dealing with his supreme power on an alien planet.

Zach Snyder’s Man of Steel movie was a decent attempt at making him grittier and brooding, but I (and probably many others) see him as more optimistic and caring of mankind than what Snyder probably envisioned.

Now, I don’t think Gunn will make Superman into the next Starlord or Synder’s Batman, but I do worry that he’ll make Superman too gory/blindly destructive as Synder had him. I hope I’m wrong.

As for Batman, Gunn’s directing style makes for a much better match, and especially with Damien Wayne involved. Batman has a brooding, cynical, scary, and violent (but not murderous as Synder would have us believe) exterior and his son Damien imitates much of that given his affiliation with the League of Shadows, his mother Talia al Ghul, and his grandfather Ra’s al Ghul.

The Brave And The Bold movie sounds like a fantastic concept as it is loosely adapting Grant Morrison’s run, which is a quite dark and violent iteration of the Caped Crusader and The Bat Family. Needless to say, that kind of violence, gore, and humor is right up Gunn’s alley, and should make for a great movie.

Though, like I said with Superman, the tone of the Batman movies is the only thing that scares me as even though Batman has a tough, angry, cynical, brooding exterior, he is actually quite compassionate, kind, noble, and sympathetic on the inside. I hope that isn’t lost in these new movies.

It’s too early for me to comment one way or another on the other projects as there just isn’t that much information out there, nor was there any additional information given in the video.

So, I’ll wrap up by saying that I’m extremely excited for Gunn and his idea of the DC Universe, and I pray that these new movies and shows work out better than the DCEU.

Images Source: Featured Image: (Warner Bros. Discovery/DC) (Chapter 1 – Gods and Monsters | DC Studios | DC – YouTube)

In Text Image 1: (Warner Bros. Discovery/DC) (Chapter 1 – Gods and Monsters | DC Studios | DC – YouTube)

In Text Image 2: (Warner Bros. Discovery/DC) (Chapter 1 – Gods and Monsters | DC Studios | DC – YouTube)