James Gunn's DCU: Embracing the Morrisonverse

Here are just a few of our plans. Up, up, and away! #DCStudios #DCU @DCComics pic.twitter.com/8XNDNLUEPq

— James Gunn (@JamesGunn) January 31, 2023

I mean these are basically all good choices as far as I can see?

Doom Patrol/Watchmen team do a Suicide Squad spin off, Gunn does presumably fun takes on Creature Commandos and Booster Gold, Morrison's takes on Superman and Batman and Green Lantern and The Authority, Tom King on Supergirl, pseudo-Moore horror anthology for Swamp Thing.

i assume he was given Flash and Shazam and Blue Beetle and told to make it work.

I hope everybody gets paid and these stay story forward in the same way Peacemaker was.

https://variety.com/2023/film/news/zachary-levi-anti-vaxx-pfizer-tweet-james-gunn-responds-1235507013/

yeah between that ezra miller, they really handed him a bag of shit to start with
i assume he has final approval for casting moving forward considering how immensely fucked up it's been until now

are they bringing back rpatz???

Separate continuity:

https://gizmodo.com/the-batman-2-title-release-date-robert-pattinson-dcu-1850053257

Separately, group interview with Gunn and Safran:

https://gizmodo.com/james-gunn-dc-slate-info-flash-aquaman-justice-league-1850051467

Well, Gunn's definitely not, uh, thrilled about the past:

Gunn: The history has been shit. It’s been a real fucked up journey for DC. I think that there was basically no one minding the mint and they were giving out IP to any creatives that, you know, smiled at whoever was in charge. There was never any real power given to the people in charge. And so somebody could always go over their head and do whatever they wanted. And, you know, we had the DCEU, which then became the Joss Whedon Justice League, but it also became the Snyderverse, which became this. And we have Wonder Woman and we have Wonder Woman [1984], which doesn’t even match what happened in Wonder Woman one. And then we have the Arrowverse and even us, coming in with The Suicide Squad and Peacemaker. And then all of a sudden Batmite is a real guy.

This is not the Gunnverse

cautiously optimistic this won't be as flat and predictable as MCU

Peacemaker bought a LOT of goodwill from me. Hard to think of anyone else I would even be even slightly optimistic taking the controls.

The problem with the DCEU wasn't that the continuity was poor. It was that its tentpole films sucked -- superman, superman v batman, justice league were all terrible, wonder woman 1 was ok. The continuity problems came afterwards when WB went into panic mode.

I bet half of these newly announced projects don't come out as described.

what's Bat-Mite in?!

that zachary levi thing is disappointing, he convincingly plays likable people; good actor then I guess because he appears to be a shit. that said I'll probably still see that since I liked the first one and I watched Leticia Wright in WakandaForever.

Maybe Zachary Levi just wants stringent price controls on the COVID vaccine.

its tentpole films sucked

I blame Snyder for that more than WB tho

James Gunn def a good creative choice, his movies are fun for one thing. Also I was a big fan of the most recent Batman flick, a pretty swift 170+ min and compellingly slow burn atmospheric vs the diminishing returns of the Nolan approach. I kinda hope they do keep it separate from the rest of the DCU, and Joker-free.

sic otm give me Bat-Mite

Bat-Mite is mentioned in the second episode of the DC Extended Universe series Peacemaker, "Best Friends, For Never", when John Economos mentions he would rather be working with Bat-Mite than Peacemaker.

I watched and liked Peacemaker but don’t remember that joke BUTTTT also I like it (and/but have 0 opinion over whether it means bat-mite is a dude)

Oh man, please please please gimme a good Swamp Thing movie with the Anatomy Lesson

BatMite in Canon & Morriverse has me hoping for some Zur-Eh-arrh references in the batfilm.

Sad to see, still no news on reviving the weird hunchback that lives in batmans cellar and fixes his stuff.

when's he gonna get his six part series on HBO?

most anyone who clicked the post already knows all this but for people unfamiliar with writer Grant Morrison's work in the DCU, this is a not-unreasonable primer (sic may disagree):
https://www.inverse.com/entertainment/james-gunn-dc-universe-chapter-one-why-you-should-read-grant-morrison

Okay obviously not GunnCU but since this might as well be the rolling thread now:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hebWYacbdvc

a) shades of Rick and Morty
b) no cosmic treadmill no credibility
c) i hope keaton got paid well

I think Swamp Thing would work better as a tv streaming series. I don’t know that it would pace right for a 2 hour movie.

Wasn’t there a Swamp Thing series recently?

Ah, there was, cancelled after 1 series.

It was better than the movies, but that's really faint praise. Swamp Thing can't be a dude in a suit, it just doesn't work.

I was surprised to see the Blue Devil turn up in it.

v weird to see the keaton batman, who was almost completely immobile in the burton movies, nimbly flapping around in this like prequel-era cgi yoda

maybe there'll be a scene explaining his new yoga regime

Very recognisably Glasgow city centre at about the 0.11 mark on that trailer, complete with bus stops.

All narrative roads lead to the multiverse.

while I think that superhero fiction is a net negative in culture and wish that its period of dominance in popular culture would end, there is a part of me that feels sad that the DC milieu got fucked up SO BAD for movies by WB in the last ten years…WB and DC had decades of synergy so that they could get this right and not watch Marvel/Disney run away with this shit…I almost think that its too late and they should focus on the post CW TV shit and build their franchise there…I tried to watch some of the tv Crisis crossovers, but it was too much for me, a 60s-80s DC alt earth expert…

Is it not also odd that Marvel got to the different earths/timeline shit before DC? since 1961, that's been DC's thing, and Marvel only messed with that sparingly, almost as a commentary on that stuff being a cornerstone of DC storytelling/universe building. I would almost think Gunn should see to it that none of his films should mess with that conceit if Marvel is making Dr Strange movies about multiverse shit…

A thing:

https://deadline.com/2023/03/james-gunn-direct-superman-movie-warner-bros-dc-1235300632/

In what should come as no surprise, James Gunn will be directing his own script for Superman: Legacy, a major lynchpin project which will off the the multi-platform connected DC universe – “Chapter One, Gods and Monsters” ­– which he and his DC’ Co-Chairmen & CEO Peter Safran are launching....Superman Legacy tells the story of Superman’s journey to reconcile his Kryptonian heritage with his human upbringing as Clark Kent of Smallville, Kansas. He is the embodiment of truth, justice and the American way, guided by human kindness in a world that sees kindness as old-fashioned. Gunn has already mentioned on social that his Superman will be younger than his forties. The all-new action adventure is set to soar into theaters worldwide on July 11, 2025.

xp The contrast w/Marvel is pretty fascinating; esp. considering that DC had the "studio synergy" in place for decades longer.

Okay, so:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhUht6vAsMY

Weird that they de-aged Brendan Fraser and got the guy from the New Radicals to play Lex Luthor.

Is this the first time they've done Krypto? Shame there's no sign of the rest of the Legion of Super-Pets.

https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/marvel_dc/images/b/b6/Legion_of_Super-Pets_01.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20220507020755

there was a Super-Pets animated movie a couple of years ago but it seems to have left absolutely no cultural footprint

Everything Gunn has directed has been solid, including that new cartoon, but they have also been pretty quippy, a vibe that just don't jibe with Superman, so I guess I'm ... intrigued?

At first I could have sworn they were playing the music from "Top Gun," which would have been funny.

I’m excited!!
love Krypto being in this <3
Also my god Corenswet is a handsome fellow

I hope we find out how Superman got his powers.

Predicting it now: there will be one touching Christopher Reeve easter egg in this. Like, a hospital called Reeve General or something like that.

I hope we find out how Superman got his powers.

Gunn's been saying how the film basically starts in the middle of an action scene and that we don't have origin story stuff. Thank goodness.

when i saw corenswet in twisters i thought he looked like a tesco value henry cavill and i fucking hated cavill’s superman

gunn’s take on the character seems like a good one, though, and krypto was a very pleasant surprise, so fingers crossed for this

Really liked Jyoti Mishra/White Town's post here:

https://mas.to/@Jyoti/113680736982340185

I am a fan of Zack Snyder's (flawed) take on DC superheroes, but between Snyder and Nolan's films of the last 20 years, it's pleasantly jarring to see a DC film that is not dark and gritty. (Sorry Shazam doesn't count)

Everything Gunn has directed has been solid, including that new cartoon,

Gunn has not directed a new cartoon. I don’t think I made it though a whole episode of PG Porn (and at least one of the Guardians films is bad).

Looks to be crammed with well-designed visual spectacle, but the music is completely unimaginative and paint-by-the-numbers. That's about all I can derive from that trailer.

lol sic burn, you're right, he didn't direct the new cartoon series, he just wrote, produced and created it. My bad.

keeping guy gardner's bowl cut comic-accurate is not the hill i'd die on, but i salute the sacrifice
https://cdn.imgchest.com/files/4apc59wawd4.png

Promo interview about Lanterns up.

And new trailer for same:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmcIjxwLJcY

I caught Superman late, just this week. I wondered if anyone had the same experience - I thought the first half was just terrible and awkward and the timing of the editing and gags seemed conspiscuosly off. And then... something changed and I thought the end was quite involving. For once the CGI-heavy conclusion seemed more interesting than the setup (even if the FX were only okay). Corenswet is especially good, sort of a more likable, less smarmy, Chris Pratt thing going on.

I liked the Supergirl comic a lot but there was no Lobo and I can’t square Lobo with the mood of the comic. I always assumed Lobo was a lame-o Wolverine ripoff.

you can’t square a character you’ve never read with appearing in a story with a character who’s had half a dozen completely different incarnations?

I have read the specific Supergirl series that this movie is based on and I enjoyed it very much. I have not read Lobo but I am familiar with the tone of the character and how he is presented and it does not fit with the tone of the comic.

I don't know. I thought the new Wuthering Heights was excellent with the Jim Carrey cameo.

I’ve never read a Lobo comic by anyone except Giffen, just noting that these two statements

I always assumed Lobo was a lame-o Wolverine ripoff.

I am familiar with the tone of the character and how he is presented

are non-contiguous

ffs

Dude, I was really into comics when Lobo came out. I made an assumption about him based on ads and occasional guest appearances in other comics. Maybe I’m wrong, I acknowledged I was making an assumption so I could totally be wrong.

Can you tell me if you think Lobo is a good fit with this particular run of Supergirl? And yes, I’m aware that comic books are different things than movies.

From Wikipedia, FTR:

The character had a short run as one of DC's most popular characters throughout the 1990s. This version of Lobo was intended to be a satire of the Marvel Comics superhero Wolverine. Simon Bisley's biker lifestyle played a significant role in shaping Lobo's design, infusing the character with a rugged, rebellious aesthetic that resonated with fans.

In a 2006 interview, Keith Giffen said: "I have no idea why Lobo took off... I came up with him as an indictment of the Punisher, Wolverine hero prototype, and somehow he caught on as the high violence poster boy. Go figure".

It's a Wikipedia entry about a comic book character, so there's much, much, much more.

Having now seen Supergirl: good, not great, and a couple of things I'm very much "HMMM" at. It perhaps says something that I'm kinda most excited learning Keeley Forsyth played an alien healer in CGI effects guise. (Check her music, it's next level.)

I feel the same way. The messaging about vengeance was pretty rote and underdeveloped and it got seriously dark with the whole warlord sex trafficking thing. But I did enjoy Alcock's performance and the first half had the right blend of humor and emotional core. Didn't finish quite as strong

Same reaction here too. It was… fine. Some things not so successful but nothing egregious to make me hate it. As superhero movies go it was exactly average.

First time we've seen a superhero pee?

I will say - Milly Alcock did a good job overall, and I could see some interesting dynamics if her character showed up in future DC movies. Someone as powerful as Superman but a little more… morally nuanced… could be interesting.

So, new trailer front -- next month:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7UIBOsuUwc4

And October...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9bNA42dPgQ

Finally saw Supergirl & match other reactions upthread, ie it was fine?
Okay but not great.

I think they waited too long to deploy her superhero shift. Like, messy Kara is a good bit but they leaned on it waaaay too long.

And the dark storyline didn’t quite gel with the messy Kara humor, there was something sort of tonally off somehow.

Matthias Schoenaerts was a weird casting choice for villain. He was fine, not great.

Lobo belonged in a different movie, it felt like they were just scared of not having Another Name in the movie & threw him in.

the flashbacks were great though: like, I’d watch a whole movie of those!?

My biggest gripe was that fuckin pissweak breathy cover of Jimmy Eat World in the climactic fight scene. So bad.

I am vaguely emotionally invested in cinematic depictions of Lobo.. Momoa seems like a good fit. I'm actually sort of surprised Lobo hasn't been showcased more or had his own flick or whatever, he seems like he would be highly marketable. Maybe a dumb question but I've wondered if the band Kiss ever had an issue with his face?

idk I thought he looked more like King Diamond than KISS

Anyway Lanterns talk now in its own thread so looking ahead:

https://gizmodo.com/dcs-jimmy-olsen-tv-show-has-its-official-title-cast-and-more-2000801656

HBO just greenlit the long-rumored Jimmy Olsen TV show which, as expected, also focuses on Gorilla Grodd. It’s called The People v. Gorilla Grodd, and it’ll be done in the format of a true crime documentary following Olsen investigating the past crimes of the famous DC ape.

“A superintelligent ape is convicted of murdering his father, the King of Gorilla City,” the official logline reads. “In an eight-part ‘true’ crime docuseries, the Daily Planet’s Jimmy Olsen reopens the case, investigating whether Gorilla Grodd was wrongly convicted in one of Metropolis’ most famous murder trials.”

Skyler Gisondo will reprise his role as Jimmy Olsen and Jimmy Tatro will, as expected, play Gorilla Grodd. As for the rest of the cast, it’s basically everyone from the Daily Planet scenes in Superman, minus Clark Kent and Lois Lane. There’s Beck Bennett as Steve Lombard, Mikaela Hoover as Cat Grant, and Wendell Pierce as Perry White. Tony Yacenda and Dan Perrault are the writers and showrunners, with Yacenda directing all eight episodes.

It be funny if they used the Jimmy Olsen show to sneak in as much Kirby Fourth World stuff as possible. Cosmic hippies and the boomtube!

Anyway, one last trailer for this...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCR-rz0YfD4

I'm tired of all the super peoples being so good-looking. I want a Harry Dean Stanton hero.

What's with all the handsome grandsons
In these super-hero movies?
What have they done with the fat ones?
The bald and the goateed?

Do I wanna watch The Peacemaker?

You do

I’ll give you a BUT

you need to be generally sympathetic to John Cena trying to be a non-kayfabe thespian

Season 2 gets a little wearing but it’s mostly a good time

alright thanks both, i will begin

kind of willing the DCU to be fun and weird (and successful), the superman one got closest to feeling like a viable non-Marvel vibe and i kinda liked Lanterns

I suppose Matt Reeves' Batman films aren't really DCU but sad to hear he likely can't finish this film and Soderbergh is stepping in to wrap it up. Not sure if Reeves is ill or it's a family member.

Family member. From the sound of reports, Reeves will be regularly consulting with Soderbergh -- who it seems approached Reeves first with the offer -- as it all goes forward. Basically doesn't strike me as a Snyder/Whedon situation. Also it's just interesting to see Soderbergh being the workhorse he is; definitely a career I wasn't foreseeing when sex, lies first came to notice.

I want a Harry Dean Stanton hero.

You had the Penguin as a protagonist (still gave him a super hot nemesis, though).

i know people hate on soderbergh for his lame recent movies and his apparent current interest in AI but I commend him for this.

In this capacity he seems like a mensch

(Complimentary)

which of his recent movies are people hating on for being lame

Magic Mike's Last Dance, maybe?

I'm not even sure, I feel like ILX is not a fan of his, I believe there is a thread. I've liked a lot of his stuff and been bored by a lot of it too

let haters do their own work imo

i think of soderbergh as being "weird"

he went through this phase where he did these weird fucked up "fan edits" of movies like raiders that were pretty unwatchable, like kind of a "you've got nailz" style approach

ok i should probably cite my work here because idk how widely "you've got nails" is known

https://archive.org/details/ygn-v-2-sob

which of his recent movies are people hating on for being lame

I liked The Christophers, and recall hearing a lot of good things about Black Bag, which I haven’t seen yet but want to.

Both are perfectly fine exercises, so was Presence. Certainly didn't hate 'em!

I’ve only seen 13 of the 14 movies or series he directed in the last seven years, but they all range from “fine or intersting” to “quite good.” Cmd+Z might tank the average, but it’s a series, and only about seven ppl in the world watched it.

he went through this phase where he did these weird fucked up "fan edits" of movies like raiders that were pretty unwatchable

His version of Raiders has no edits whatsoever, and exists as an exercise to show you how eminently watchable Spielberg’s visual storytelling is with no words or emotive score.

it has no *cuts* but it’s obviously an edit, if I have the terminology right

I guess I’m not familiar with the usage, but his Psychos, Heaven’s Gateses, 2001, Blow Up, Criss Cross/Underneath, and Harry Palmer edits are all extensively edited, so the distinction seems relevant 🤷‍♀️

(Stereoscopic Killers trimmed the ‘46 to get both the same length, but it only exists to play as party wallpaper, there’s no intent for a viewer to reassess the narrative of Siodmak’s version.)

anyway presumably Sodes will have accidentally cut the entire Batfilm during a toilet break on the third-last day of shooting, so if Reeves is still unavailable they can wrap early, do color timing by the weekend, and release it the following week with a temp track of FlyLo b-sides and save on orchestration.

can’t believe our favorite facts-based guy is posting about the DCEU in the DCU thread when the right thread was revived Robert Pattinson IS The Batman