James Gunn Says the DCU’s Structure Is More Like Star Wars Than Marvel

DC Studios co-CEO and writer of Creature Commandos and Superman James Gunn has said his refreshed DC Universe is structured much more like Star Wars than its more direct rival the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Speaking on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, Gunn said his goal with DC is to create a variety of different projects that all exist within the same universe instead of a series of films or TV shows that have a shared overarching narrative.

“There are some things you gotta be kinda loose about,” Gunn said. “There are lots of product names in Peacemaker. He’s mentioning celebrities all the time. Superman’s a different sort of world. It’s not about real people in a real world. It’s about this mythical DC universe.

“Those are two stories created by the same person in the same universe and even those are different in terms of the vibrations they’re giving.”

Gunn said he loves how comic books have different artists and writers with different takes on the same subjects, despite them existing in the same universe. He therefore wouldn’t mind if someone, for example, introduced a slightly different version of Metropolis to the one he does in Superman.

“I don’t want everything to look the same all the time,” he said “I think the audience is smart enough to say, ‘Oh yeah, this is all connected but, also, come on.’ And I think that too often people get a little bit too strict about canon, and freaked out.

“I dealt with it at Marvel. They showed the Infinity Gauntlet early, in Thor or something. You saw it. [But] they retrofitted it. They retrofitted those other things to be Infinity Stones because that was never written until [Guardians of the Galaxy]. So it’s like, I’m used to that stuff. I think that it’s okay. You’ve got to be a little bit loose with it.”

He made clear the DCU will still feature some elements more akin to the MCU, like a shared baddie across a handful of films, but this will seemingly be kept to a minimum.

“This is about a connected universe,” Gunn said. “We’re world building. We’re not story building. We’re not writing one story that has a beginning, middle, and end. We’re creating a universe in which people can go and join into this universe and experience it. It is much more like Star Wars than Marvel in that respect.”

The DCU has now officially begun, with the first two episodes of animated series Creature Commandos debuting today, December 5. Many will consider this somewhat of a soft launch, however, and instead look towards Superman’s premiere date of July 11, 2025 as the true opening statement.

None of the other projects announced for the DCU’s Chapter One: Gods and Monsters, though the Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow film and two shows, Peacemaker Season 2 and Lanterns, are currently in production.

This leaves films The Brave and the Bold, Swamp Thing, and The Authority as in development, alongside shows Waller, Booster Gold, and Paradise Lost. Little is known about any of these, though some tidbits have emerged for a couple.

Swamp Thing, for example, will be written by Logan and Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny director James Mangold, who’s promised it will be a “simple, clean, gothic horror movie.” DC has also confirmed The Flash director Andy Muschietti will lead Batman story The Brave and the Bold.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.