James Gunn Clarifies the Canon Confusion between DCEU and His DCU

DC Extended Universe, a franchise that started as a great idea with so much potential, will go down in history as one of the most missed opportunities in the superhero genre. Behind-the-scenes feuds with stars and directors, the studio’s pressures to hastily compete with the MCU, the lack of vision and central storyline, and constant changes in the studio leadership brought this once great idea to the brink of collapse. Despite a few good and successful movies it spawned, DCEU as a cinematic universe was never meant to succeed, all things considered.

DCEU has one more movie to spawn before it’s closed for good. ‘Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom,’ although it’s a sequel to the highest-grossing DC movie of all time, has found itself in a very thankless situation since all the most recent DCEU movies have suffered commercial failures. Since DCEU has nowhere to go after this next flick, it appears that the audience doesn’t care anymore what DCEU has to say before the franchise is gone forever.

James Gunn says nothing is canon before ‘Creature Commandos’ and ‘Superman: Legacy’!

DC Studios, led by its current CEOs James Gunn and Peter Safran, is currently working on the next cinematic universe, DCU, that will start a whole new thing from the ground up. However, some fans are still confused regarding the transition between DCEU and DCU.

The reason for that confusion is that DCU promises to start a whole thing from the ground up, but on the other hand, we already have some official announcements that some DCEU actors reprise their roles in DCU, and some storylines from DCEU will continue in DCU. The best examples are the upcoming ‘Waller’ series with Viola Davis and the second season of ‘Peacemaker,’ which are both currently in development.

It’s known that James Gunn likes to spend a lot of time on social media, and he recently tried to clarify that canon confusion once again. This isn’t the first time he tried to do it, but this one makes the most sense out of all his past explanations.

“Nothing is canon until ‘Creature Commandos’ next year – a sort of aperitif to the DCU – & then a deeper dive into the universe with ‘Superman: Legacy’ after that. It’s a very human drive to want to understand everything all the time, but I think it’s okay to be confused about what’s happening in the DCU since no one has seen anything from the DCU yet.

And, yes, some actors will be playing characters they’ve played in other stories & some plot points might be consistent with plot points from the dozens of films, shows & animated projects that have come from DC in the past. But nothing is canon until ‘CC’ and ‘Legacy.’”

James Gunn on Threads (via DiscussingFilm)

It was previously said that ‘The Flash’ would serve as the breaking point between DCEU and DCU, which was backed when Gunn said that Jaime Reyes, the main character of ‘Blue Beetle,’ would be the first DCU hero. However, it’s known that ‘Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom’ is the 15th and final installment of DCEU, and only once it’s out can we enter the DCU era.

The next year won’t offer us as much DC content as this year. The only DC movie currently scheduled for 2024 release is ‘Joker: Folie à Deux,’ an Elseworld project that isn’t connected to either DCEU or DCU. However, the first DCU project, an animated series, ‘Creature Commandos,’ is set to premiere on the Max streaming service in 2024.

The first DCU movie, ‘Superman: Legacy,’ starring David Corenswet and Rachel Brosnahan and directed by James Gunn, is currently set to be released in July 2025. Gunn previously announced that production should start in January 2024 if the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike is resolved until then.

Are you looking forward to the upcoming DCU? What are you expecting from it? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below.

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