Gunn’s Appointment as DC CEO Puts Justice League 2 Plans at Risk

James Gunn coming on board as one of the CEOs of DC Studios has changed Warner Bros. Discovery’s plans of making Justice League 2. 

The DCEU’s team of superheroes, known as the Justice League, has not made an appearance onscreen together since 2017’s Justice League. Zack Snyder’s cut of the Justice League was released on HBO Max later on, but it is not considered a part of the canon.

According to THR, James Gunn’s appointment as one of the CEOs of DC Studios has made WB Studios reconsider their plans of making Justice League 2. Reports suggest that Pamela Abdy and Michael De Luca from Warner Bros. Pictures wanted at least one more film featuring the original cast from the 2017 Justice League.

But after Gunn and Safran came on board in DC Studios, they laid out their elaborate 10-year plan, which is currently being put into action. Their new plan aims at changing a lot of things in the DCU, including the established cast. Neither Gunn, Safran nor any official from Warner. Bros Discovery has spoken on this matter yet.

No creative team, writer or director came on board for Justice League 2, as no names were mentioned in the initial reports about the film. DC Studios still considers Joss Whedon’s cut of the Justice League as canon to the universe over Snyder’s cut, so the sequel would have picked up the story from Whedon’s version. 

However, though Whedon’s cut is considered canon to the DCU, it was a part of the old Warner Bros. regime. DC Studios would surely want to distance themselves from 2017’s Justice League, which was a critical and commercial disaster. 

With all these factors in play, it is hard to predict who would have come on board as writer or director, if Justice League 2 were to be made. It is easier to speculate about the cast instead.

Now that Henry Cavill is back as Superman in the DCU, he would have been an integral part of the cast. Other characters who would be expected to make an appearance include Wonder Woman, Aquaman and Batman. Who will portray Batman after the 2023 movie, remains to be speculated.

It is doubtful whether Ezra Miller would make an appearance as The Flash in Justice League 2, considering the legal troubles involving him. Justice League 2 could have also been the film to introduce Shazam in DC’s team of superheroes. 

Though the future of the Justice League seems bleak as of now, nothing is ever impossible! It is still possible for Justice League 2 to become a part of reality in the future. Safran and Gunn never explicitly mentioned anything against the project, so they may have figured out a way to include the same Justice League actors in their new plans.

But if James Gunn and Peter Safran decide to set things up in a new continuity altogether after scrapping all previous events in the DCU, it is hard for Justice League 2 to ever become a reality. As of now, it all depends on Warner Bros, Discovery and the new DC Studios CEOs.

About Justice League

The Justice League is a team of fictional superheroes appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The team was conceived by writer Gardner Fox during the Silver Age of Comic Books as a reimagining of the Golden Age’s Justice Society of America.

The team received its own comic book title called Justice League of America in November 1960. With The New 52 in 2011, DC Comics released the second volume of Justice League. In July 2016, the DC Rebirth initiative again relaunched DC’s entire line of monthly books, including the Justice League titles, with the third volume of Justice League. Since its inception, the team has been featured in various films, television programs, and video games.