Why James Gunn thinks the DCEU failed

With James Gunn taking over the new DC cinematic franchise, he’s also looked back on the previous extended universe.

When it comes to superhero movie directors, there are only a few like James Gunn. The fact that he has Guardians of the Galaxy and Suicide Squad under his belt has put a lot of fans’ faith in him, so much so that he was even able to navigate the controversial decision to take the DC cinematic universe in a new direction back in 2022.

The old DCEU began with 2013’s Man of Steel, and will now be ending 10 years later, with another Superman movie, Superman: Legacy, beginning the next chapter in 2025. And considering Gunn has a knack for taking flawed properties – such as the 2016 Suicide Squad movie – and turning them around, he naturally has many opinions about why the old DCEU is in need of a revamp.

And he revealed what he believed was the major flaw of the DCEU – which is set to officially end in a few months – to fans on Threads.

James Gunn calls out the DCEU’s lack of consistency

When asked about his new approach to building the DCU on Threads, Gunn revealed his thoughts about why the DCEU failed, which he mainly chalked up to a lack of consistency:

“One of the problems with DCEU content in the past was there was no real consistency within the universe itself. This never meant – & I never said, as this is how we always envisioned it – all animated & video game content would be in the DCU. I did (& still) say MOST TV & film will be in the DCU with the occasional Elseworld tale (like Matt [Reeve’s] The Batman), but it will have to be exceptional. Never mentioned streaming services but I like more people able to watch DC stories.

“And in addition there was just too much live action stuff happening and people weren’t sure what was connected to what because there was too much of it and it wasn’t labeled. I doubt anyone is going to wonder why Robert Pattinson isn’t in Merry Little Batman.”

One reason why the former franchise lacked consistency was due to there being no executive figure to plan an overarching narrative, like with Kevin Feige and the Avengers movies with Marvel. However, Gunn has confirmed that there is now an 8-10 year plan in place for the DCU, which will no doubt help create a larger consistent story for the franchise. And as well as making his own movies, he’s closely working on other projects, including Andy Muschietti’s The Brave and the Bold and James Mangold’s Swamp Thing.

Superman: Legacy will kick off the DCU by arriving in cinemas on July 11, 2025. Check out more of our Superman: Legacy news here, and you can also find out more about other major upcoming releases below:

Deadpool 3 | Rebel Moon | Ghostbuster Afterlife 2 | Venom 3 | John Wick 5 | Enola Holmes 3