James Gunn has revealed that his and Peter Safran’s plans for the DC Universe will involve connectivity between multiple forms of media, including video games. In October 2022, Warner Bros Discovery set up a new unified banner, DC Studios, to establish one overall creative vision for the studio’s DC films, TV shows, and animation, and appointed the duo of Gunn and Safran – who worked on 2021’s The Suicide Squad – as co-CEOs.Since the announcement of DC Studios, many rumors have been spread surrounding the new creative direction and the state of upcoming projects such as The Flash, a potential The Suicide Squad sequel, and The Batman 2. Gunn has actively used Twitter to shut down most of the incorrect reports, stating that no one knows the plan except for him and Safran. Responding to fan questions on the platform, James Gunn (as spotted by Eurogamer) has reiterated that the DCU will “most definitely” be connected across film and TV, and later responded with a simple “yes” to a question about games being connected to the shared universe, seemingly hinting at a huge change in direction for Warner Bros. going forward, whose DC titles have all boasted their own separate continuities.Related: Batman: Arkham Origins Studio Nearly Made Suicide Squad Years Ago
A Shared DC Games Universe Would Differ From The MCU
While Gunn is yet to elaborate on his comments – and it’s possible they may refer to a DC multiverse rather than one shared mythos – they would seemingly indicate a change in strategy for Warner Bros., which has typically preferred its titles to take place in their own interpretations. The most famous of these is of course Batman: Arkham, with the DC Arkhamverse spawning spinoff media like comics and animated films set within its own continuity. Although the recently released Gotham Knights didn’t continue the series, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League will remain in the Arkhamverse and pick up after the events of Batman: Arkham Knight.
Gunn and Safran’s plans to incorporate video games into the DCU is a move that could set it apart from its main competition, the Marvel Cinematic Universe, where Gunn worked on the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise. Although DC’s long-term rivals Marvel has started greenlighting more AAA titles in recent years – such as Insomniac’s acclaimed Marvel’s Spider-Man series, the upcoming Marvel’s Wolverine, Eidos-Montréal’s Guardians of the Galaxy, and Skydance New Media’s recently announced World War 2-set Captain America and Black Panther game – it has stated that the different developers’ titles will not be a part of a shared universe.
Although some are likely to be excited by Gunn’s response, many fans have expressed concern that such a move would make the DC Universe difficult to follow, as well as stymie the freedom of studios to pursue their own unique interpretations of DC’s source material. Given how this is largely uncharted territory for a major comic book media studio, it will be interesting to see how DC Studios plans to interweave games into its overarching narrative in a way that can accommodate most of its fans – if that is indeed what Gunn has suggested.
Sources: James Gunn/Twitter (via. Eurogamer)
