James Gunn has hailed Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman as the “diamond characters” of DC Studios as he defended his vision for the cinematic world.
James Gunn has hailed Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman as the “diamond characters” of DC Studios.
The 60-year-old filmmaker has clarified his and fellow DC co-head Peter Safran’s 2022 comments about an “eight-to-10-year plan” for the cinematic world and insisted it is important to have standalone stories as well as films that slot together.
He wrote on Threads: “You can look at my quotes from January ’23 when we started and I said we were going to do exactly what we’re doing.
“I said some stories would be standalone like the Guardians movies were (which is what Clayface is) and some stories would have part of a larger narrative structure, which is what the Superman Saga is. All that said, each piece of the larger story should work on its own with or without having to see everything else.
“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 as smaller characters we could turn into diamonds (Krypto, John Stewart, Peacemaker), how we would foster filmmaker freedom and allow for multiple tones and ratings, the influences of Star Wars George RR Martin, and so much more.”
The Superman: Man of Tomorrow director is “excited” about the way his vision has been coming together.
He said: “It’s exciting seeing things START to come together and all that makes me even more excited for what we have in store for everyone in Man of Tomorrow.”
Gunn’s new comments came after he took to the social media platform over the weekend to defend his decision to use “individual stories” to expand the DC universe after facing criticism for not building towards a major crossover saga.
He wrote: “DCU is just an alternate universe; we can enter at any location or time and tell THAT story. I dislike the idea that individual stories aren’t meaningful unless they lead to something else. People not understanding this is strange to me, because Star Wars has essentially been doing this for 50 years across movies, shows, games and books, admittedly without the tonal variety.(sic)”
He argued there is “connectivity” between his films – such as the story from Superman extending from the first movie into the sequel Man of Tomorrow.
Speaking about the Superman follow-up, he said: “(It) contains many characters we’ve introduced in other stories.
“But that doesn’t mean those other stories only exist to set up what’s happening there.
“I would love people to be seeing Clayface because it’s a great, fun horror movie unto itself, not because of where else Clayface will show up three movies from now.”
Clayface follows the Batman villain, played by Tom Rhys Harries, who volunteers for an experimental surgery after his face is disfigured.
James Gunn hails Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman as DC’s ‘diamond characters’
