James Gunn's Final DCU Movie Could Be JUSTICE LEAGUE as New Details Emerge Following His DC Studios Exit
It’s been a wild couple of days at DC Studios. James Gunn and Peter Safran are out, Marvel Studios veteran Jeremy Latcham is taking over, and now we're hearing that Gunn's final DC Universe movie could be a Justice League film, and it might even be a two-parter.
According to insider Jeff Sneider, Gunn had been working on a third Superman movie before his departure, but those plans have apparently changed. Sneider reports that the project has "since morphed into a 'Justice League' movie (possibly a two-parter) that could introduce Batman, whom Gunn had originally hoped to introduce in The Brave and the Bold."
That's a pretty big change, especially considering the DCU hasn't even introduced its version of Batman yet. Gunn originally planned to bring the Dark Knight into his universe through The Brave and the Bold, but if this report pans out, Batman could make his debut alongside Superman and the rest of the Justice League instead.
The bigger question is whether Gunn will actually stick around to write and direct the movie. His departure from DC Studios comes just four years after he and Safran took control, and only weeks after they suggested David Ellison supported keeping them in charge following the Warner Bros. and Paramount merger under Skydance.
Gunn has since released a statement saying he's looking forward to being a "pure" filmmaker again, leaving the executive headaches and studio politics behind. Considering how involved he's been in shaping virtually every corner of the DCU, I can understand why he'd want to get back to simply making movies.
But the timing of this reported Justice League project raises some concerns. We've already watched DC make the mistake of rushing from Superman into Batman and a larger superhero team-up before. That approach helped turn the previous DC Extended Universe into a chaotic mess of competing creative visions, studio interference, and course corrections.
Does anyone at Warner Bros. remember how that worked out? Gunn has spent the past few years building a DC Universe that has personality. Instead of simply throwing the biggest superheroes together, he's explored the stranger corners of DC Comics.
That's cool, and I've appreciated that approach. But I've also argued from the beginning that Gunn should have launched the DCU with Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman.
Give those three characters their own great movies, establish a strong foundation for the new DCU, get audiences excited about the direction of the franchise, and then start digging into the more obscure characters.
Instead, we've spent years hearing about projects involving lesser-known DC heroes and villains while Batman and Wonder Woman, two of the biggest DC characters, have yet to receive their proper introductions in this new universe.
I wouldn't be surprised if that played a part in Skydance's decision to bring in new leadership. With the enormous debt tied to the Warner Bros. and Paramount merger, the company probably wants its biggest franchises generating serious money as quickly as possible.
Of course, rushing a Justice League movie to satisfy corporate expectations is exactly the kind of Hollywood thinking that screwed things up the first time.
Meanwhile, Gunn's Man of Tomorrow is still scheduled for release next year, but the future of other DCU projects remains uncertain, including the recently announced Poison Ivy series. We don't even know whether Latcham intends to preserve Gunn's interconnected universe or eventually steer DC in another direction. Reports say Gunn’s vision will be dismantled, though.
If Gunn does get to finish his DC run with Justice League, I guess there's something exciting about the possibility. He could finally bring Batman into the world he's created, establish the character's tone and casting, and leave the franchise with a major superhero event. But then, what’s the point if it’s not going to go anywhere after that?
For now, Sneider's report remains unconfirmed, and there's no guarantee that Gunn will direct the project or that it will actually become a two-part movie.
Sure, it’d be fun to see Gunn take a crack at Justice League, especially if he's given the freedom to make the movie he wants without a bunch of executives trying to engineer the next billion-dollar hit in a boardroom, but that probably won’t happen with the new leadership.
If Skydance is already pushing DC toward another rushed superhero team-up because it wants a faster return on its investment, we've seen this movie before, and the ending wasn't pretty. It might be in Gunn’s best interest just to jump ship and start swmming away from DC Studios at this point.