Put your capes, and hopes of another opportunity for a long-delayed director’s cut away, it looks like James Gunn has just squashed rumors of a DC super hero team up. Gunn took to the nascent social media platform Threads to clear some things up regarding the creative direction of future DC Extended Universe projects.
One of Gunn‘s clearest messages was regarding a potential new Justice League movie. Over the weekend, some small hope of a new live-action Justice League film was sparked when DC announced a new animated Justice League film would be released in 2024. The film is based on the Crisis of Infinite Earths arc. The arc was large-scale comic crossover event, published by DC Comics from 1985 to 1986. The arc brought together many of DC‘s signature heroes for an event that still reverberated through the DC today. The announcement of an animated project taking on the storyline spurred talk of a potential live-action take on the story by the DCEU. And prior to the redirection of the DCEU, a live-action Crisis of Infinite Earths project was on the horizon.
However, Gunn was keen to cut such speculation short, shooting down a rumor of a live-action Crisis of Infinite Earths Justice League movie. A fan posted an article on Threads which was pretty clearly hinting at the upcoming animated film’s potential for a live-action pivot. The fan even went so far as to tag Gunn and ask, pretty bluntly, “…is it true?” To which Gunn responded with a brusque and definitive “No”.
Though even before rumors started swirling this weekend, a potential live-action Justice League at this point in the pivot of the DCEU, a pivot which Gunn is directing, seems unlikely, at least for now. DC‘s previous attempt at a Justice League film was, well, complicated to say the least. The project was originally released in 2017, with stars such as Gal Gadot, who reprized her Wonder Woman role, and Ben Affleck, who played Batman, coming together in a project that brought together some of the DCEU‘s most iconic superheroes. The film was not a hit with fans or critics, and effectively squashed hopes for further Justice League films.
The movie was recut in 2021, however, with the film’s original director Zack Snyder, who had to exit the film before completion, releasing his version of the film. Snyder‘s 2021 release was more well received than the 2017 version. However, with James Gunn now at the helm of the DCEU, hope for the Justice League, as it stands now, is all but lost. Gunn has been more than clear about his intentions to make some pretty extreme changes to the DCEU.
That being said, the upcoming Superman: Legacy will see a gathering of some signature DC characters. Gunn recently confirmed that Green Lantern, Hawkgirl, and Mister Terrific would all be a part of the film.
via Collider