James Gunn Confirms More DC Elseworld Animated Projects Will Continue to Be Developed

James Gunn took to social media to confirm that more DC Elseworlds animated projects like Merry Little Batman will continue to be produced once the DCU is fully up and running. In a now-deleted post on Threads, a confused fan reached out to Gunn about the DC animated projects and the filmmaker explained these projects, which aren’t directly correlated to the DCU, will be released across multiple platforms in the coming years. Gunn said:

“Not sure where the anger is from, but you misunderstand. DC projects being spread across different platforms, so that more people have access to the stories, is not the same as not having any cohesion in the DCU timeline, which we very much do (starts with Creature Commandos). Merry Little Batman on Amazon is a fun animated kids’ movie that was already being made when we came aboard, but Elseword animated projects like this will keep happening. I’m not sure how that’s confusing.”

Gunn previously said that DC Studios is “actively’ developing DC Elseworlds projects. We just don’t know what they are yet. The Elseworlds stories are set outside of the main DC Comics continuity. This allowed for more creative storytelling and ended up leading to some of DC’s coolest and most well-known stories including 2008’s Kingdom Come, Gotham By Gaslight, Justice Riders, The Golden Age, JSA: Liberty Files, and more.

Gunn also previously teased that their plans are partly inspired by DC animated shows, and he also said that there will be no interference from the studio on the projects they make. It’ll be interesting to see how these Elseworld projects come together, but we still have to wait and see hwo the main projects in the DCU are going to shake out.

The new DCU will launch with Superman: Legacy on July 11, 2025.