James Gunn Defends His DCU Plans and Reveals Which Characters He Wants to Turn Into "Diamond Characters"

James Gunn has some big plans for the DC Universe, and they go well beyond Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman.

The DC Studios co-head recently explained how his long-term DCU roadmap works, revealing that the goal isn’t just to tell stories about DC’s biggest superheroes. It’s also to turn lesser-known characters into major players that audiences can get excited about.

Gunn wasted more of his time on Threads to clarify his approach to building the DCU alongside Peter Safran, particularly the eight-to-10-year plan they first discussed back in 2022.

He explained that the strategy has always involved a mix of standalone projects and interconnected stories, rather than forcing every movie and TV series to contribute to one massive crossover event.

Responding to criticism of the DCU’s direction, Gunn wrote: “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,” the DC Studios co-head wrote responding to a now-deleted post.

“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.”

That approach allows something like Clayface to exist as its own movie while the larger Superman storyline continues across multiple projects. Audiences can follow the bigger picture if they want, but Gunn doesn't believe they should have to watch everything to enjoy an individual story.

He also explained that the original roadmap was about much more than plotting out the next decade of DC movies and television shows.

“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 & allow for multiple tones & ratings, the influences of Star Wars & George RR Martin, and so much more.”

Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman are obviously the heavy hitters, but Gunn sees characters like Krypto the Superdog, Green Lantern John Stewart, and Peacemaker as having the potential to become just as valuable to the franchise.

There's a massive library of heroes, villains, and weirdos to explore, and Gunn clearly wants to give more of them a chance to shine.

His comments also help explain why the DCU isn't rushing to bring all its superheroes together for some enormous team-up movie. Gunn recently defended his decision to develop individual stories after some fans criticized the lack of an obvious buildup toward a major crossover.

When one commenter suggested that the DCU didn't need every project to feed into a single interconnected narrative, Gunn responded, “I couldn’t agree more.”

He continued: “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,” he wrote.

Gunn's comparison to Star Wars makes sense. That franchise has spent decades telling stories across different eras, following different characters, without requiring every adventure to connect directly to the same central conflict.

He wants similar creative freedom for DC, allowing filmmakers to explore different genres, tones, and ratings without having to squeeze every project into the same formula. That could give us everything from traditional superhero adventures to horror movies like Clayface, all existing within the same fictional universe.

Gunn also made it clear that he's happy with how things are developing, particularly as the next Superman movie approaches. “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.”

Man of Tomorrow is scheduled to hit theaters on July 9, 2027, and it will continue the larger Superman story Gunn has been developing.

Not every superhero movie needs to end with a tease for the next big event. Sometimes a great standalone story is enough, and if Gunn can make these smaller DC characters as compelling as the franchise's biggest names, the DCU could end up being a much more interesting place to explore.

Personally, I’m on board with what Gunn is saying and doing. But, fans are going to be fans, and nothing Gunn says on social media is going to stop them from criticizing him and his plans. Gunn has got to have been more important things to do than engage with upset fans!