James Gunn Addresses The Current State Of DC, Knows It's Pretty Rough Out There Right Now
It is the earliest of days in the James Gunn-Peter Safran era of the DC Universe, and while the trade breaks have hit fast and furious over the last two weeks, precious little has been confirmed.
Here's what we know for certain: Gunn is scripting a new take on Superman that will take place during Clark Kent's early days as a cub reporter for The Daily Planet. This means Henry Cavill, despite his much-hyped reappearance as the Man of Steel in "Black Adam," is moving on (though Gunn and Safran have said they're eager to find a role for him in their reimagined DCU). While Patty Jenkins is exiting as director of the "Wonder Woman" franchise, there's been no firm announcement about Gal Gadot's future as the Amazonian superhero.
According to Gunn, we'll have to wait until early January for more in-depth details on their plans for the DCU. This leaves fandom at least two solid weeks to speculate as to the fate of the character iterations created under the aegis of former DC Films executive Walter Hamada, which includes the last vestiges of the Snyderverse (namely Ezra Miller's The Flash and Ray Fisher's Cyborg).
Given that several trade reports have been disputed by Gunn, it's best to proceed with caution and to assume nothing. Alas, there are certain segments of fandom that believe they should have a decisive say in the telling of these fantastic stories, and when they don't get their way, they get very loud on social media. Fortunately, Gunn has been here before (he was briefly fired from Marvel's "Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3" due to the rediscovery of old, tasteless tweets), so, today, he pushed back against the rising tide of manbaby outrage.
Gunn pledges to run DC Studios on his own creative terms
I won't flatter the malcontents by linking to their petulant posts, but I will gladly share Gunn's level-headed, five-tweet thread. He began by noting, "One of the things Peter & I were aware of when we took the job as heads of DC Studios was a certain minority of people online that could be, well, uproarious & unkind, to say the least." I've been an online journalist for 22 years. I know. I really, really, know.
Gunn continues by assuring fans that they respect the 85-year history of DC Comics, and have made their decisions "with sincere hearts & integrity & always with the story in mind." He then acknowledges that while they don't enjoy being called names, they've "been through significantly worse," and will not buckle under such childish fury — or, as he put it, "the fractious nature of what came before us." He concludes by saying "[T]his means little to us in comparison to our jobs as artists & custodians in helping to create a wide & wonderful future for DC."
It's weird to treat such a common-sense statement as worthy of a standalone news story, but in my two-plus decades covering this beat, I've never encountered a more skillfully worded refutation of toxic fandom. I wish Zack Snyder had done this years ago instead of, according to Rolling Stone, weaponizing the worst elements of his fanbase. I dearly wish Kathleen Kennedy would've backed up Rian Johnson with a statement of support like this when a pack of rabid misogynists and racists freaked out over the portrayal of Kelly Marie Tran's Rose Tico in "Star Wars: Episode VIII – The Last Jedi" (before J.J. Abrams practically erased the character from "The Rise of Skywalker," but, hey, cowards gonna coward). Tran still has an Instagram account, but she hasn't posted since these bigots chased her offline.
Is Zaslav a patient man? For Gunn's sake, we hope so.
Here's the thing: Gunn and Safran are anything but safe at the moment. David Zaslav's half-year tenure as the CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery has been remarkably rocky; it's too early to tell if Zaslav's got an itchy trigger finger, but if he's bold enough to erase two films that have completed principal photography completely from existence, giving Gunn and Safran a premature heave-ho wouldn't shock me. George Steinbrenner used to fire managers on a whim as the owner of the New York Yankees, and a lot of fans and sportswriters found this charming even though it turned the team into a non-contending joke for most of the 1980s. (While I was writing this piece, I learned The New York Post published a rumor claiming that "Joker" director Todd Phillips was approached to supplant Hamada as the head of DC Studios prior to Gunn and Safran being offered the gig. Though I wouldn't trust a Post journo any further than I could bowl them, given what little I know of Zaslav, this is equally plausible and risible.)
Gunn has been on a wildly hot creative streak since taking on "Guardians of the Galaxy" in 2014. If Zaslav is smart, he'll give him plenty of runway — which, to have an accurate sense of whether his decisions are working, would be, like, five years minimum. It's a Herculean task before Gunn. But if he's going to survive this post-Snyderverse crucible, the imperturbable tone he conveyed via today's tweets will serve him well. I don't know how you can look at his two "Guardians of the Galaxy" movies and the endearingly silly "The Suicide Squad" and do anything other than wish him well. They're films about misfits overcoming their worst, self-destructive impulses and finding purpose in this universe. They're oddly, perversely kind. Look around you. We need a good-hearted goofball like Gunn at DC right now.