James Gunn Talks SUPERMAN Follow-Up, Ultraman’s Possible Return, Mural Characters, and More

James Gunn isn’t done talking about the Superman. During a recent interview with Rolling Stone, the filmmaker opened up about his plans for the future of the DC Universe, teasing a “kind-of-but-not-really” sequel, the potential return of Ultraman, and the meaning behind that mysterious Hall of Justice mural.

While Superman was a self-contained story without an obvious sequel setup, Gunn has confirmed that he’s already working on a follow-up. However, fans shouldn’t expect a traditional sequel. When asked about what he called a “semi-, not-exactly sequel,” Gunn simply said:

“I mean, it follows Superman. What am I gonna say? I don’t know what to say.”

He went on to add:

“I think people like Superman because it’s unexpected in certain respects, and I think that what we do next is gonna be unexpected. I just follow that. Listen, do I notice that people love Mr. Terrific and they love Krypto? Yes. I notice those things.”

One of the more exciting possibilities Gunn hinted at is the return of Ultraman, a twisted version of Superman from an alternate reality. While he didn’t confirm anything, his comments suggest fans could see this villain in the near future.

Gunn also addressed the Hall of Justice mural that had fans speculating about the DCU’s future. The artwork features several iconic and obscure characters, and according to Gunn, it wasn’t just background decoration:

“Oh, there was a ton of thought put into it. A ton of thought.”

When asked if we will be seeing these characters in the DCU at some point, Gunn:

“Not necessarily specifically see all of them. But yes, some of them we already have in the works in different things in different ways.”

Characters spotted on the mural include Jay Garrick, Wildcat, Super-Chief, Shining Knight, Silent Knight, Gunfire, Atomic Knight, Vibe, Dr. Fate, Freedom Beast, Black Pirate, Alan Scott, Dolphin, and Amethyst.

When asked about the possibility of introducing the 31st-century team, Gunn admitted it’s crossed his mind but isn’t something he’s eager to tackle:

“I’ve thought about it. I’m not a time-travel person. I like science fiction, but time travel’s a rough one for me. I am not into that. I’m not really into teleportation [either]. I have weird things that just aren’t for me.

“Now, you can say that the pocket universe is teleportation, but I don’t think of it as that. I think of it as traveling from one point in dimensional space to another as opposed to teleporting, which I think of as the person dying and being recreated.”

Gunn is keeping a lot of things under wraps for now, but the future of the DCU sounds anything but boring.