The new DCU under James Gunn is off to a solid start following the box office success of Superman, and with Peacemaker Season 2 about to launch and Supergirl on the 2026 release schedule, it looks like a brand new cinematic universe to rival Marvel is finally here. James Gunn spent years working in the Marvel Cinematic Universe before moving over to DC, but while he has worked in the most successful cinematic universe, he says the MCU isn’t really his blueprint.
In a piece for Interview Magazine, James Gunn says his inspiration in building the DC Universe isn’t Marvel, but rather Game of Thrones and Star Wars. This is because his focus isn’t on telling a longer narrative made up of multiple pieces, but on telling smaller stories within a larger universe. Gunn said…
You talk about George R.R. Martin, and he is really one of the guys who I love and look up to. I’m an enormous fan of his, and people say, ‘Oh, the DCU is doing what MCU is.’ But I think it really is a lot more to me what the Game of Thrones world is like or what Star Wars is like, because we’re building a universe and then picking out little pieces of it and telling individual stories from that universe.
While George R.R. Martin’s Song of Ice and Fire is (if it’s ever finished) a single massive narrative, he’s also told other stories within the world that the narrative created. Star Wars has done the same, with the Skywalker Saga at the core, but with numerous Star Wars movies and series telling individual stories that are set in the same universe, though not necessarily directly related.
We’re early enough in the first chapter of the DCU that we don’t really have a feel for the ways this franchise will be similar or different to the one from Marvel Studios. We expect to see characters cross over and team up. Gunn has said himself that we will see Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman on screen together at some point. It’s possible we won’t get anything quite like the Infinity Saga, which sees elements from multiple films play a part in a larger story.
If nothing else, if James Gunn takes a slightly different approach to the cinematic universe concept, it makes the DCU different in an additional way beyond simply having different heroes. This is probably a good thing in the long run.
It should also be said that while Marvel’s success has been incredible, the franchise is having difficulties now, and it’s been argued that the amount of “homework” fans have to do in order to keep the story straight is one of the reasons. Gunn’s approach may prevent that from being an issue.
