James Gunn’s DCU Plan Looks Great on Paper, But Will it Deliver?

After a long wait, James Gunn and Peter Safran have finally revealed the first chapter of their DC Universe plan, which is all set to revamp the DCU. The first chapter, titled “Gods and Monsters” includes ten movies and shows, which Gunn plans to release beginning in 2025.

If you ask me, the plan looks excellent on paper and is quite different from the previous DCU plans, which were bland, boring, and usual. There’s something about Gunn’s plan that spells ‘change; in terms of attitude, content as well as deliverance.

Gunn’s plan also looks quite ambitious, but you can trust Gunn to actually pull it off, especially since the man himself will be writing and directing some of the projects. However, the DCU is known to take up excellent ideas and turn them into trash. I mean, look at the Justice League.

DC executives and officials are known for their biasedness toward traditional ways, and their lack of a vision. Gunn and Safran seem to have both, but unfortunately an organization has to work with the same vision at all levels.

In this article, we’ll discuss chapter 1 of James Gunn’s ambitious labor of love, his DC Universe plan which he has been working on for a while. Moreover, we’ll also talk about how viable this is and if it all it works in reality. If you’ve been wondering the same thing, this is the right place for you.

How Gunn’s Plan is Different from Other DCU Plans

The unique feature of Gunn’s plan is that it doesn’t follow the quintessential DC way of making sequel after sequel without any world-building or greater purpose.

The previous DC formula failed miserably due to the lack of a clear vision, and focusing more on competing with the MCU than required.

The Justice League was created to compete with the Avengers and failed the audience as it could not even be a good stand-alone film. Gunn’s plan is different as it tries to explore several unexplored characters and themes of the DC Universe. Some of them are Wildstorm characters, Swamp Thing, and Booster Gold.

These characters have not been explored in the DC Universe before, but Gunn has decided to explore the vast world of the Dc Universe to make the new version of the universe much more colorful.

Gunn has also taken some bold steps while framing his plans, among which the most notable one is not casting Henry Cavill as Batman despite his return to the DCU in Black Adam. In fact, Gunn is writing the new Superman movie in his plan himself, so we know that it is in safe hands. In other words, he has hardly kept any actors whom the DCU fans are familiar with.

Unlike other DC executives, Gunn is not biased toward traditional ways of prioritizing nostalgia over change.

All of this makes his plan a unique one, but equally tough to implement.

Will James Gunn’s plan work?

If anything can save the DCU from its current miserable situation, it is James Gunn’s plan. I think most DC fans who have been familiar with the universe for a considerable amount of time will agree that serious change was needed to save DC Studios.

Gunn’s plan will work if DC executives let go of their old methods, and embrace Gunn’s vision. As he mentioned earlier, his plan will be largely story-driven than character-driven. This means Gunn wants to build an interconnected narrative and each project in his plan will contribute to forming a larger story.

This is in complete contrast to the DCU’s previous character-driven formula. Though it might take some time for people to accept Gunn’s idea, there is no reason why it can’t grow on people.

Unless the DCU goes terribly wrong in terms of script, direction, or performance, this can be a sure-shot success formula for DCU.

I am stressing about this even more as the MCU is not in its golden age anymore. Post Phase 4, the MCU has gone downhill and messed up a lot of things. This is a golden chance for the new and revamped DCU to claw its way back into the hearts of its fans.

If Gun can offer a simple yet powerful story through his elaborate plan, it can surely surpass the royal mess of the MCU’s timeline and multiverse saga.

Why Gunn is the Right Person to Lead the DCU Back to Glory

James Gunn has proved himself to be a competent director with the Guardians of the Galaxy universe, which arguably remains one of the most loved franchises within the MCU.

His stint with the MCU is all set to end with Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, after which we will see him work exclusively with the MCU. His experience while working for the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise will help him plan the future of the DCU well.

Here’s what Gunn himself said about his experience with the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise:

My biggest difference is I’ve done it before. So I started Guardians 1 with a story of what that trilogy was, where it started and where it ended and it’s in that. That story is just the smaller version of doing this. I’ve been inside a company that did it very well, it’s very different than us. […] So we are telling a big huge central story that is like [the MCU] except for, I think, that we’re a lot more planned out than Marvel from the beginning because we’ve gotten a group of writers together to work that story out completely. But we’re also creating a universe that is like, you know, Star Wars, where there’s different times, different places, different things. Or like Game of Thrones, where characters are a little bit more morally complex.

James Gunn

Thus, Gunn is definitely a great choice to captain the new DCU ship. However, all of this can only happen if Warner Bros. learns from its mistakes with the DCEU and doesn’t repeat them with the DCU.

Moreover, Gunn must focus the most on his planning considering the DCU’s biggest problem has always been a lack of a clear-cut plan of action.

Only time will tell what the DC Universe has in store for us, but here’s hoping for the best!