In October 2022, director James Gunn and producer Peter Safran have been named co-chairs and co-CEOs of DC Studios, a newly fashioned division that changed DC Films. Gunn instructed followers on the time that he and Safran would ship their plans for the way forward for the DC Universe (DCU) in January 2023, and on Jan. 31, he delivered on that promise.
On Tuesday, Gunn and Safran unveiled the DCU’s “Chapter One: Gods and Monsters” (versus Marvel Studios Phases), the primary chapter in a 10-year interconnected saga, to a room of handpicked reporters. Ten movie and TV initiatives have been introduced as a part of Chapter One, together with the Gunn-penned Superman Legacy, an adaptation of DC Comics’ Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow by Tom King, Bilquis Evely, and Matheus Lopes, which is about for launch on Jul. 11, 2025. Also introduced was The Brave and the Bold (film), The Authority (film), Swamp Thing (film), Creature Commandos (animated TV present), Waller (TV present), Lanterns (TV present), Booster Gold (TV present), and Paradise Lost (TV present).
During the DCU announcement, Gunn talked in regards to the DC Comics’ inspiration behind the tales that can be instructed in Chapter One, relating the affect of King’s Women of Tomorrow and Grant Morrison’s Batman comics. For instance, when speaking in regards to the comedian e-book inspiration behind The Brave and the Bold, he mentioned, “This is a story of Damian Wayne, who is Batman’s actual son that he didn’t know existed for the first eight to ten years of his life. He was raised as a little murderer and assassin. He’s my favorite Robin. It’s based on the Grant Morrison comic run, which is one of my favorite Batman runs.”
Then, on Thursday, Feb. 2, Gunn tweeted out extra of the DC Comics inspiration behind the brand new DCU: (1) All-Star Superman by Morrison, Frank Quitely, and Jamie Grant; (2) The Authority by Warren Ellis, Mark Millar, Tom Peyer, Bryan Hitch, Dustin Nguyen, and Quitely; (3) Batman by Morrison, Andy Kubert, and Jesse Delperdang; and (4) Absolute Swamp Thing by Alan Moore, Stephen R. Bissette, John Totleben, Rick Veitch, Shawn McManus, and Dan Day.
In addition to tweeting photos of 4 comics that impressed him, Gunn wrote, “We’re talked a lot about Woman of Tomorrow, but these are more of the comics inspiring #DCStudios and the new #DCU in these early days. That doesn’t mean we’re adapting all these comics, but that the feel, the look, or the tone of them are touchstones for our team. Check ’em out!” See the tweet for your self beneath:
James Gunn Responds to Fans on Twitter
Gunn is a social media maven and Bane of the nerdlingers, usually participating together with his followers on Twitter (and infrequently calmly antagonizing his extra “vocal” detractors).
In response to Gunn’s suggestions, one particular person tweeted, “The Brave and the Bold really does need to be the tonal/visual opposite of The Batman to stand out. It can’t just be ‘It’s got the Bat Family, we haven’t seen that in a movie.’ I think it really needs to embrace everything outlandish, flashy and surreal about those Batman comics.”
Gunn responded to the fan, writing, “I don’t think a vision for any good film starts with being ‘not’ something. It must be fully its own thing, not the shadow (nor the copy) of another work.”