As James Gunn prepares to kick off the rebooted DC Universe with Superman, the DC Studios co-CEO has said each movie in the works will be tonally different — so don’t expect an All-Star Superman-inspired DCU.
Speaking to IGN on the Superman red carpet, Gunn said that every DCU project “has its own stamp,” so Grant Morrison’s hugely influential All-Star Superman, which heavily inspired his new Superman film, won’t be used as the basis for the DCU overall.
“I mean it’s this movie,” Gunn said of All-Star Superman’s influence. “It’s really important to me that every project has its own stamp on it. This movie is very different from the R rated movie we’re making, a body horror movie with Clayface. It’s very different from the Sgt. Rock movie we’re developing. It’s very different from Supergirl, which is a space fantasy — Craig Gillespie just walked by here a second ago, who directed that. So every one of these movies is completely different.”
As well as casually confirming the Sgt. Rock movie is still in the works amid development trouble, Gunn pointed to the strategy employed by DC Comics, which sees works of various tones released within its own universe, as the template he wants to employ for the DCU.
“What I love about DC Comics and the graphic novels is that they allowed the individual artists and writers to create their own projects, and they each had their own voice,” Gunn said.
“The Long Halloween, All-Star Superman, Dark Knight, Watchmen, those things have very little tonally in common with each other, except for they’re a part of the set of communal characters that are in the DC Comics universe. And now, we’re doing that same thing in the DCU.”
In our chat, Gunn namechecked the Clayface movie, due out next year. In February, Gunn, alongside co-CEO Peter Safran, confirmed its DCU canon status and R rating. Clayface, a former criminal in Gotham City with the power to change his clay-body to become anyone or anything, is one of Batman’s oldest foes. The first iteration of the character, Basil Karlo, first appeared in Detective Comics #40 (1940). The Clayface movie is due out September 11, 2026. Gunn called Clayface “pure f***ing horror, like, totally real. Their version of that movie, it is so real and true and psychological and body horror and gross.”
As for Supergirl, also out in 2026, Gunn calls that one a “space fantasy.” Expect Jason Momoa’s Lobo to star alongside Milly Alcock’s Kara Zor-El / Supergirl. Presumably Gunn’s new Batman movie, which is causing him trouble, will have a unique tone, too.
Superman of course launches July 11. Gunn recently said rumors surrounding exactly how much money it needs to make in order to be considered successful are wide of the mark. Check out IGN’s Superman review to find out what we think of the film.
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
