James Gunn Just Teased An Obscure Superhero Team, Does This Mean We'll See Them In The New DC Universe?

Terrifics members Plastic Man, Mr. Terrific, Metamorpho and Phantom Girl
(Image credit: DC Comics)

Big changes are coming to DC media. Although there are still three upcoming DC movies to look forward to in 2023 following the release of Shazam! Fury of the Gods, in January, DC Studios co-head James Gunn revealed a slate of projects for the new DC Universe franchise’s Chapter One, a.k.a. “Gods and Monsters.” But that’s just the start of what’s to come, and now it’s worth wondering if an obscure superhero team Gunn teased on social media could be part of these plans.

Ever since he scored his leadership position at DC Studios, James Gunn has frequently gone on Twitter to share news about his work for the franchise, such as confirming last month that he’ll direct Superman: Legacy. But he also shares teases on the platform every now and then, and the latest of those is artwork featuring various DC superheroes and villains surrounding the team known as The Terrifics.

Introduced during DC’s “The New Age of Heroes” publishing line that ran from 2018 to 2020, The Terrifics is a pastiche on Marvel’s Fantastic Four consisting of Mr. Terrific, Plastic Man, Metamorpho and Phantom Girl. This quartet led their own series that lasted 30 issues and one annual, and it focused on them exploring the Dark Multiverse following the events of the Dark Knights: Metal crossover. Although the team itself is a new addition to DC lore, the characters have existed for many years, with Plastic Man being the oldest of the bunch, having debuted in 1941.

Given that the Terrifics team not only hasn’t been around long, but its members haven’t really appeared together since their series ended, it’s intriguing that James Gunn posted this image. However, since one of the DC Universe movies coming up will follow The Authority, a team not well-known to people who don’t read DC Comics, The Terrifics could easily follow suit getting their own platform to shine. It’s also possible that Gunn is teasing a few of the Terrifics characters will appear in live-action rather than the fully-formed team… or maybe Gunn just got done reading some issues of The Terrifics and simply wanted to spotlight them on his Twitter page.

It may be a while until we get clarification on what exactly is going on with The Terrifics on James Gunn’s end, if anything at all. For now though, there’s plenty to look forward to from the DC Universe. On the film front, The Authority and Superman: Legacy are joined by The Brave and the Bold, Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow and Swamp Thing, while the upcoming TV shows include Creature Commandos (which will be animated), Waller, Lanterns, Paradise Lost and Booster Gold. On top of those, there’s also Elseworlds-related projects to keep track of, including Joker 2 and stories set in Matt ReevesThe Batman universe.

Needless to say CinemaBlend will keep sharing more news on what’s happening with the DC Universe, but for now, catch up on the DC movies in order with your HBO Max subscription. If you want to learn more about The Terrifics, their comic book series can be read on DC Universe Infinite. 

Adam Holmes
Senior Content Producer

Connoisseur of Marvel, DC, Star Wars, John Wick, MonsterVerse and Doctor Who lore, Adam is a Senior Content Producer at CinemaBlend. He started working for the site back in late 2014 writing exclusively comic book movie and TV-related articles, and along with branching out into other genres, he also made the jump to editing. Along with his writing and editing duties, as well as interviewing creative talent from time to time, he also oversees the assignment of movie-related features. He graduated from the University of Oregon with a degree in Journalism, and he’s been sourced numerous times on Wikipedia. He's aware he looks like Harry Potter and Clark Kent.

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