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The Obligatory DCU James Gunn Reaction

02/24/2023
I am really bad at having opinions about comic book movies.  

I do LIKE them, but I just don’t think they matter to me as much as they do to a lot of other fans of superheroes. I absolutely understand that for a lot of people this is the main way they consume their superhero content, but they’re really just not for me anymore. Even the best live action content is struggling to be as good as even the most mediocre animated adaptation, which is just a much better way to represent the comics, which are the things I ACTUALLY care about.

BUT… it’s kind of impossible to operate in a world of DC Comics and not talk about James Gunn’s DC announcement.  None of these projects actually exist, and to be perfectly honest I won't be convinced that they WILL exist until the credits roll, because Warner Brothers just isn't a stable enough company to sustain these projects. Their leadership seems to have roughly the lifespan of a hamster. Still, we have a slate of theoretical projects and a guy behind them who has a proven track record as a good writer, director, storyteller and, probably most crucially, actual comic fan. 

So... let's pretend that these things have a shot at actually being made and give some reactions.  I'm going to try to frame this as positive and less-positive thoughts so I avoid sounding like an old man shouting at clouds.  Also... I'm not going to bother explaining what any of this is.  If you're reading this, I'm going to assume you're up to date on what we're talking about here. 
Holdover Projects:
Aquaman 2, Flash, Shazam 2, Blue Beetle
Positive Thoughts
  • Shazam was great, and it's basically their game to lose.  I do like how the original movie managed to not really be part of the original timeline, so this one really can just slot effortlessly into the new one.
  • Blue Beetle is such a great, classic comic yarn, and it's easy to imagine what a great adaptation will look like.
Less Positive Thoughts
  • Aquaman was great, but man did it have the deck stacked against it.  There was every reason in the world for that movie to drop the ball, and it was just pure hard work and talent that let them pull that off.  This time it's some sort of weird artifact of the DCEU, it has the whole Amber Heard blowback to deal with… and is Jason Momoa even interested in playing this character anymore after the DCEU imploded and with Lobo potentially around the corner?  Do YOU think they can pull this off a second time?
  • Flash is going to be an absolute mess.  This project has been pinballing around so long between different creative teams across so many major changes in Warner Brothers management, it has to have been rewritten all to hell and back.  Ezra Miller should be in jail.  I love Keaton as much as anyone, but I can tell when they're trying to farm nostalgia instead of actually making a movie.
Creature Commandos
Positive Thoughts: 
  • Animated!  Animation is pretty much universally the superior way to do comic book characters.  The MCU is thirty plus movies in, and I’d argue it has yet to do anything as delightful as Moon Girl & Devil Dinosaur.​
  • This is probably going to be a really good fit for the James Gunn style.  I see Weasel there, who is played by Sean Gunn, so this is probably spinning right out of Suicide Squad.
Less Positive Thoughts:
  • I do have a bone to pick with the idea that they want the live action actors to voice their characters in animation, because those are two very different skill sets. Voice actors are pretty important, and I would hate it if they have to fail their way to realizing that. 
  • We're about to get a LOT of stuff in the James Gunn style, and I don't know if we NEED clever little spinoff projects like this?  ​
Superman: Legacy
Positive Thoughts
  • Yes, obviously… Please keep trying to get Superman right.
  • Gunn is a bonafide comic nerd and he is a great writer and storyteller, so we can at least be cautiously optimistic about him landing the tone.  The fact that they went straight to Frank Quitely's All-Star Superman for the reference art is a really good sign.

Less Positive Thoughts
  • What does a James Gunn movie that’s actually affirming and positive going to look like? 
  • ​​​​ We’re all pretty salty that Henry Cavill never got a chance to play Superman (without being hampered by being in movies that so fundamentally missed the point) because we can all tell that he would have been good at it, but at this point I think we can all safely move on; he’s probably fine.  He gets to continue to live his life as Henry Cavill, and that seems like it’s probably dope as hell.
The Authority
Positive Thoughts
  • This is right up James Gunn's alley.  This is going to work way better than a Gunn-flavored Justice League.The same sensibility that made us all enjoy watching John Cena shoot stuff in his tighty whities will probably also find a way to make this fun.
  • Man, this would have been a cool movie in 1999. I would have LOVED a standalone take on the Authority that just got to be in their own world doing their own thing… but...

Less Positive Thoughts
  • ​I wind up saying this all the time around here, but as much as I adore the Wildstorm universe, it just did not mesh into the DC universe in a way that allows the characters to operate correctly.  This is doubly applicable to the Authority, for whom a whole (really, REALLY good) comic exists proving that they absolutely don’t work as heroes in the same world as Superman.  Personally, I just haven’t seen a take on these characters that tried to shoehorn them into the main DC continuity that ever made them look like anything other than angsty pastiches of better characters.   
Paradise Lost
Positive Thoughts
  • There's a distinct right way to do this, and it's by leaning into the Edgar Rice Burroughs vaguely sci-fi raypunk fantasy aesthetics of the Marston comics.  If that happens, this would be the coolest thing ever.

Less Positive Thoughts
  • It's absolutely not going to be that.  This is an aftershock of a decade of television producers scrambling to copy Game of Thrones, despite the show beefing it so hard it's been dropped from the cultural zeitgeist faster than anything ever. ​​
  • The Game of Thrones angle is an idea, I guess... but the Amazons are supposed to be all about cooperation, and to copy GoT they're probably going to have to invent some unnecessary conflict… which reminds me…
  • ​​ ​​Gotham.  Krypton.  Pennyworth. I know there are people that like these shows set in the world of a superhero before the hero exists, but I honestly hate them, and i really doubt I'm alone there.
Booster Gold
Positive Thoughts
  • Everyone loves Booster Gold, and if they can make this based more on the Dan Judgens series than the Geoff Johns one, this could legitimately be fantastic.  Remember when Booster had his Justice League Unlimited episode? That was Jurgens, not Johns.  
  • Again, right up James Gunn's alley.

Less Positive Thoughts
  • The Johns version of Booster Gold is way more popular, and if I had to guess, that's where this one will be going.
  • This is kind of a nitpick, I know… but I do actually worry about how much of James Gunn's style we're going to be getting.  You can't eat the same thing every day.
Brave and the Bold
​Positive Thoughts
  • FINALLY some love for the Bat Family.  I get that owning Batman is a license to print money, but it is crazy that no one has figured out that we actually want to see this.
  • They actually specified that this is an adaptation of the Grant Morrison run.  The only other adaptation of ANY Morrison work that I can think of is Doom Patrol, which has been great, so this could be a lot of fun.

​Less Positive Thoughts
  • Don't get me wrong, I LIKE Damian… but focusing on him often means that we miss out on the notably better Robins, Dick & Tim, so I really hope they all get their time in the spotlight.​
  • ​Isn't the best part of Morrison's run when Bruce was gone and Dick was Batman?  Even in the artwork they're using here... that's Dick Grayson.  How is this going to work?
Swamp Thing
Positive Thoughts
  • This is the best story in DC's whole catalog, and it's not even close.
  • Of all the very James Gunn-flavored projects on this list, this is the one I am the least worried might be too much of the same thing. Nothing else is going to get even close to this one.  

Less Positive Thoughts
  • This comic is pretty much perfect, and I really don't see how any adaptation is going to measure up to the experience of just reading it.
  • Adapting Alan Moore never works out very well.
Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow
Positive Thoughts
  • This WAS a really good comic, and I really like the idea that part of the plan going forward is to select really slick, self-contained comic stories and adapt them to live action.
  • This comic is basically True Grit in space, and I am always going to have a place in my heart for space westerns.

Less Positive Thoughts
  • This actually isn't a very representative story for Kara.  It's kind of a deconstruction, and it is a really bad idea to start a version of a character by deconstructing them.  That was basically the earliest problem with the DCEU.
  • This is probably going to be the first one of these announced projects to be shut down when Warner Brothers management is inevitably replaced in 18 months.
Lanterns
Positive Thoughts
  • Man are we overdue for a good Green Lantern adaptation.  This premise is SO broad and can be so many different things.  Just TRY some stuff, you know?  Show us what you got.
  • Speaking of animation being better, they have done a bunch of really great animated takes on Green Lantern, so we know there's at least a roadmap here…

Less Positive Thoughts
  • They don't seem to be following that roadmap.  This keeps getting described as a 'True Detective'-like show, which feels like the least exciting take you could have on a premise that should watch like an over-the-top superhero space opera.  No one in True Detective ever single-handedly fought an armada of space pirates by manifesting tree-sized swords made of light, and I feel like anyone who is even passingly familiar with this property should be STARTING from that point and working backward.​
Waller
Positive Thoughts
  • Viola F-ING Davis. I have no idea what the newest EGOT is doing slumming in these superhero movies, but we need to protect her at all costs.
  • This is obviously the one live-action project that is expanding on the world Gunn had built in Suicide Squad and Peacemaker, and I'm all for that world continuing to expand, so if this series keeps adding more Gunn-flavored versions of obscure characters, that's just a win for everyone.

Less Positive Thoughts
  • Honestly, there's not much to worry about with this one.  I don't know if the character Amanda Waller should really be the main character rather than an ominous pseudo-antagonist, but I think we can all rely on Gunn to stick the landing on this one.
And that's it, for now.  There are more to come obviously, and I very much doubt that all of these will actually see the light of day.  I appreciate all the speculation, of course, but often when I'm talking with other comic nerds and the conversation turns to movies, I get a little sad, because I'd much rather talk about actual comics.  

Still, I don't want to sound like a grumpy old man complaining that his favorite hobby is the center of attention.  There are still some fantastic adaptations happening... Invincible is over on Amazon and is practically perfect.  I've been watching the aformentioned Moon Girl & Devil Dinosaur and enjoying it more than anything Marvel has made in years, and of course Sandman is still on Netflix and is hands down the best adaptation of anything I've ever seen.  Once some of these projects come out, I'll certainly check them out, if only because teenage me would be so mad at me if I didn't.
November 2022 - A Gift to All of Us
September 2023 - A Flash Movie Exists, Apparently aka A Strategy of Loss Mitigation