Since taking over as DC Studios co-CEOs four years ago, James Gunn and Peter Safran have slowly built a new DC Universe from the ground up. Loosely following Gunn’s work on The Suicide Squad and Peacemaker, the franchise officially kicked off in Dec. 2024 with Creature Commandos on HBO Max and continued with Superman in theaters in Jul. 2025. The saga continued to grow from there, with more to come in the next few years.
Almost two years into the Chapter 1: Gods and Monsters slate, David Corenswet’s Superman/Clark Kent is the only core Justice League member who has been introduced in live-action. Lanterns took a turn by introducing Kyle Chandler’s Hal Jordan but killed him off, and Aaron Pierre’s John Stewart is expected to eventually join the team. However, characters like Batman, Wonder Woman, and the Flash remain uncast. Thankfully, they will not be missing forever, according to the DCU’s top executive.
DC Studios co-CEO James Gunn narrowed down the three most important characters in the DC Universe. In a now-deleted Threads post (via Variety), he touched on the “8 to 10 year roadmap” that was originally teased for the franchise before it first debuted in 2024. He noted that this plan goes past “story points” and includes “focusing on diamond characters (Superman, Batman, and [Wonder Woman]), dubbing this trio the top heroes in the franchise:
“ALSO, some things get conflated here. The often cited ‘8 to 10 year roadmap’ originally pitched wasn’t only story points (although that was a part of it), but also the plan for DC as a whole, including focusing on diamond characters (Superman, Batman, WW) as well smaller characters we could turn into diamonds (Krypto, John Stewart, Peacemaker), how we would foster filmmaker freedom & allow for multiple tones & ratings, the influences of Star Wars & George RR Martin, and so much more.”
More to come…
