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James Gunn’s DCU - Includes Superman Discussion

Dandy

Dandy

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I thought it would be a good idea to have a thread discussing the new DCU since it is fresh and seems promising after the Superman movie has hit theaters and gotten great reviews. Discuss the official canon movies and shows in this thread.

Matt Reeves’ The Batman, The Penguin, etc. will not be a part of the DCU and will be handled as Elseworlds stories at this time.

I’ll edit the title and this first post whenever a new show or movie is the latest to drop. I think it is fair to use spoiler tags for two weeks on any new show or movie, then everyone should understand to avoid the thread until they watch.

———

Current Content

Parts will be canon and parts will/have been retconned:

The Suicide Squad (2021)
Peacemaker - S1

TV Shows:

Creature Commandos (2024 - ?)
Peacemaker - S2 (August 2025)
Lanterns (Early 2026)

Movies:

Superman (July 2025)
Supergirl (June 2026)
Clayface (September 2026)
 
I was blown away by Superman. James Gunn nailed the character of Superman and it was very bright and colorful which was not only sorely needed after Snyder’s run, it looked like most Superman comics. The casting and acting was superb in my opinion.

Spoilery thoughts:

• Lex using a strand of hair from a Superman action scene at some point to create a clone was exactly how Nuclear Man was created in Superman IV. The Hammer of Boravia’s color scheme and insignia was also reminiscent of Nuclear Man.

• Ultraman/Superman’s clone being thrown into the black hole and being a dumbed down version of Superman could conceivably lead to him becoming a version of Bizarro in a future film or show. There were plenty of hints all through the movie that Ultraman was a clone of Superman (comics lore for one; gaining access to the Fortress of Solitude; etc. There were also plenty of hints that Ultraman was not very smart or good at anything except for what Lex controlled.

• I loved the Kents even though some have commented on them being shown as stupid. I just felt like they weren’t interested in technology. Jonathan telling Clark it wasn’t a parent’s job to give a kid advice or tell them how to act but mainly just to love their children shows exactly why Clark cares so much about everyone, including a kaiju that he hoped to prevent from being killed.

• Gunn did a great job of setting the ground rules of this universe with some simple text across the screen at the start of the movie. And then showing the interdimensional imp battle in the background lets you know Mr. Mxyzptlk can show up. He is on record saying that battle did not show him as he is much more of a problem.

• Too many people online are saying Boravia and its leader are Israel/Netanyahu. Superman’s creators mentioned Boravia way back in 1939 before Israel was formed as a country, and Gunn finished the script and likely much of the filming before Israel bombed Palestine. The portrayal of an inept figurehead doing Lex’s bidding as Lex controls a plot to meet his needs is pretty typical. People are reading into it what they want to read into it.

• Guy Garder was great. Mr. Terrific was great. Hawkgirl was more in the background. The Justice Gang uses Maxwell Lord’s logo as he funds them, and it not only shows what could be seen as a JG for Justice Gang—which no one but Guy wants—but also a JL for when someone better than Guy can name it Justice League.

• Krypto was awesome, but was very close to being overused. I’ll allow it though as it set a great tone for the film and sets up the Supergirl movie greatly along with her short cameo at the end.

• Jimmy Olsen was amazing. I’m glad we will be seeing so much more of him.

• Lex was amazing. Hoult played him so well.
 
Brought over from the other thread which I changed back to the MCU thread.

Changing this to both Marvel and DC catchall. If people want to make individual threads for movies please do but I think a catchall for capeshit isn't a big deal.

Anyway, Superman was fantastic. The first time I have ever found Superman to be a sympathetic and relatable character. All it took was giving him a dog! Lex Luthor was just the right mix of actual menace and over the top. "The Justice Gang" was legit entertaining. Really everything people were bitching about before the movie came out (Guy Gardner, Krypto, Superwoke) were the best parts of the movie.

A Superman who actually cares enough to stop wars instead of what he usually does in comics (stand around and talk about how he can't interfere) is so much more interesting. It opens up a lot of interesting issues that are complicated but then at the other end you have a guy that is just worried about his fucking dog. Really good job. They also did a good job at hinting at future tieins in a pretty organic way, much more like the first handful of MCU movies. Not doing an aftercredits was a nice move too.
 
Dandy said:
I was blown away by Superman. James Gunn nailed the character of Superman and it was very bright and colorful which was not only sorely needed after Snyder’s run, it looked like most Superman comics. The casting and acting was superb in my opinion.

Spoilery thoughts:

• Lex using a strand of hair from a Superman action scene at some point to create a clone was exactly how Nuclear Man was created in Superman IV. The Hammer of Boravia’s color scheme and insignia was also reminiscent of Nuclear Man.

• Ultraman/Superman’s clone being thrown into the black hole and being a dumbed down version of Superman could conceivably lead to him becoming a version of Bizarro in a future film or show. There were plenty of hints all through the movie that Ultraman was a clone of Superman (comics lore for one; gaining access to the Fortress of Solitude; etc. There were also plenty of hints that Ultraman was not very smart or good at anything except for what Lex controlled.

• I loved the Kents even though some have commented on them being shown as stupid. I just felt like they weren’t interested in technology. Jonathan telling Clark it wasn’t a parent’s job to give a kid advice or tell them how to act but mainly just to love their children shows exactly why Clark cares so much about everyone, including a kaiju that he hoped to prevent from being killed.

• Gunn did a great job of setting the ground rules of this universe with some simple text across the screen at the start of the movie. And then showing the interdimensional imp battle in the background lets you know Mr. Mxyzptlk can show up. He is on record saying that battle did not show him as he is much more of a problem.

• Too many people online are saying Boravia and its leader are Israel/Netanyahu. Superman’s creators mentioned Boravia way back in 1939 before Israel was formed as a country, and Gunn finished the script and likely much of the filming before Israel bombed Palestine. The portrayal of an inept figurehead doing Lex’s bidding as Lex controls a plot to meet his needs is pretty typical. People are reading into it what they want to read into it.

• Guy Garder was great. Mr. Terrific was great. Hawkgirl was more in the background. The Justice Gang uses Maxwell Lord’s logo as he funds them, and it not only shows what could be seen as a JG for Justice Gang—which no one but Guy wants—but also a JL for when someone better than Guy can name it Justice League.

• Krypto was awesome, but was very close to being overused. I’ll allow it though as it set a great tone for the film and sets up the Supergirl movie greatly along with her short cameo at the end.

• Jimmy Olsen was amazing. I’m glad we will be seeing so much more of him.

• Lex was amazing. Hoult played him so well.
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People for sure saw what they want with Boravia because he seemed more like Putin to me lol.
I loved Krypto. I agree he was getting close to overused but it just worked so well. Jimmy and Lex's GF storyline was perfect. The way they turned what seemed a throwaway character into a central part of the story was brilliant.
 
Were you not aware he was playing Rick Flagg, Sr. in the DCU? Don’t mean that in a snarky way, I am just wondering if this is how you found out.
 
Nick Hoult lost me in a few scenes as Luthor but I enjoyed the film overall and was relieved to finally see a good Superman flick in theaters (Man of Steel is more underwhelming than outright bad). The theater collectively marked for
Supergirl

It's not as good as the Batman but better than everything else in the DCU at the moment.
 
Dandy said:
Were you not aware he was playing Rick Flagg, Sr. in the DCU? Don’t mean that in a snarky way, I am just wondering if this is how you found out.
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I generally don't pay attention to this stuff anymore and figure I'll find out what I need to from here. Watching the trailer is how I found out.

No offense taken, btw.
 
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Anyone check out Creature Commandos? Only through 4 episodes, but GI Robot is now my favorite thing ever, LOVE this guy. And the Weasel episode will break your fucking heart.
 
Superman is streaming on HBO Max now for anyone that hasn’t seen it. You can get a free seven day trial and watch that and Peacemaker season 2 if you plan your time accordingly.
 
Started Peacemaker S2 and god damn Tim Meadows is stealing every scene he's in. I lost at at "fucking bird blindness". Just the way he delivers all his lines is so good.
 
Peacemaker 2 was great but I think that

Flagg Sr's descent into full villainhood was a little too rapid. Doing it all in basically a montage while entertaining didn't really work for me. I did appreciate that they had the boldness to do a relatively quiet and emotional season finale instead of a big actiony episode. They set up the next season as well as the DCEU (ARKHAM) well.

I don't know if everyone has been watching the extended scenes after the credits every episode but they are extremely entertaining. The cast are a fucking riot.
 
Fun season overall. Ending was the most telegraphed I’ve seen in a bit.

Season two theme song grew on me after a bit.

One of my favorite things about season one was Vigilante violence. They really kept him on a leash until episode seven. That was a bit of a letdown.
 
James Gunn has no plans for Peacemaker season 3.

Gunn indicated that as of now, he isn’t planning on bringing “Peacemaker” back for another season. “This is about the other stories in which this [cliffhanger] will play out,” he said. He was quick to add that he hasn’t ruled out a Season 3. “Never say never. But right now, this is about the future of the DCU.”
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Wonder if there's any thought about doing a Checkmate series?
 
Yeah I'm pretty sure he's just playing coy and there will be some kind of continuation under a different name. They'd be nuts not to because they've finally found something that works for them. If anything the biggest problem of the show this season was leaving too much in the air to build DCU stuff. It was still a really fun season and a lot of laughs but I think Season 1 was better.
 

Seeing the expected bitching about how there's not enough Green in it or that it's not in space blah blah. I think it looks interesting. Focusing on the character's and the detective side of GL is a much more promising angle for a tv show. You also don't toss everything out in the trailer.
 
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