It's no secret that the superhero genre has been dominating pop culture for a number of years now. While there are fans who have spent years watching the Marvel movies in order, the DC side of things is going through a major change. Co-CEO James Gunn is crafting a new shared universe, which will begin with his Superman movie. Gunn recently explained a big way the DCU will be different than the MCU, and I totally agree with his assessment. Let's break it all down.
Both the MCU (which is streaming with a Disney+ subscription) and the former DCEU (which is streaming with a Max subscription) utilized serialized storytelling, where one project influenced the other thanks to crossovers. But in conversation with Collider about the forthcoming DCU, James Gunn revealed that he's making sure each new project is accessible for someone who has never seen its predecessors. As he put it:
I don't think of DCU as being, ‘Oh, this is a story we're telling over multiple films and TV shows about one big bad.’ I don't want to have to do, as an audience member, the homework to have to see every single thing. It is more of a connected universe that exists within one place, which is the DCU, which will have differences depending on who the artists and the directors and the production designers are that are making the shows.
Honestly, this sounds awesome. Because while I'm a hardcore superhero fan who will probably still catch every entry in both the MCU and DCU, not everyone is quite as obsessed as me. And as such, James Gunn wants to make sure that his developing shared universe will be more user-friendly, with each project able to be enjoyed independent of what happened before.
Of course, this isn't to say that there will be no connective tissue to the various projects that are coming from DC Studios. But the upcoming DC movies and TV will seemingly offer enough exposition that audience members won't have to be caught up to enjoy each new entry.
Gunn's comments make a great deal of sense, and should allow each upcoming DCU movie to be accessible. This is an issue that has seemingly plagued some MCU projects before. For instance, The Marvels served as a sequel to Captain Marvel, Ms. Marvel and WandaVision. Perhaps this amount of homework is why The Marvels ended up being a box office bomb.
All that being said, it does seem like Gunn's goal is to create a real DC shared universe. The DCEU in some ways abandoned serialized storytelling in favor of director-driven projects.
The DCU will begin with Superman on July 11th, 2025, which will be the first entry in Phase One aka Gods and Monsters. For now, check the 2025 movie release dates.
