James Gunn tweets DC Comics inspiration for new DCU

Director in October 2022 James Gunn and producer Peter Safran were named co-chairs and co-CEOs of DC Studios, a newly formed division replacing DC Films. Gunn told fans at the time that he and Safran would lay out their plans for the future of the DC Universe (DCU) in January 2023 and on January 31, he kept that promise.

On Tuesday, Gunn and Safran revealed the DCU’s “Chapter One: Gods and Monsters” (vs. Marvel Studios Phases), the first chapter in a 10-year contiguous saga, a room filled with handpicked reporters. Ten film and television projects have been announced as part of Chapter One, including the one written by Gunn Superman legacyan adaptation of DC Comics’ Supergirl: The woman of tomorrow by Tom King, Bilquis Evely, and Matheus Lopes, to be released on July 11, 2025. Also announced The brave and the bold (Movie), The authority (Movie), swamp thing (Movie), creature commands (animated TV show), catfish (TV show), lanterns (TV show), Booster Gold (TV show) and paradise lost (TV show).

During the DCU announcement, Gunn spoke about the DC Comics inspiration behind the stories told in Chapter One and touched on King’s influence women of tomorrow and Grant Morrisons Batman Comics. For example when it comes to the comic inspiration behind it The brave and the boldhe said: “This is a story about Damian Wayne, the actual son of Batman, whose existence he was unaware of for the first eight to ten years of his life. He was raised as a petty murderer and assassin. He’s my favorite Robin. It’s based on the Grant Morrison comic book run, which is one of my favorite Batman runs.”

Then on Thursday February 2nd Gunn tweeted more of the DC Comics inspiration behind the new DCU: (1) All Star Superman by Morrison, Frank Quitely and Jamie Grant; (2) The authority by Warren Ellis, Mark Millar, Tom Peyer, Bryan Hitch, Dustin Nguyen and Quitely; (3) Batman by Morrison, Andy Kubert and Jesse Delperdang; and (4) Absolute swamp thing by Alan Moore, Stephen R. Bissette, John Totleben, Rick Veitch, Shawn McManus, and Dan Day.

In addition to tweeting images of four comics that inspired him, Gunn wrote: “We’ve been talked about a lot woman of tomorrow, but these are more the comics that inspired #DCStudios and the new #DCU in those early days. That doesn’t mean we adapt all of these comics, but that the feel, look, or tone are touchstones for our team. Check ’em out!” Check out the tweet below:

See Also: James Gunn Says An Unfriendly Minority Will Never Influence DC Studios’ Decisions

James Gunn responds to fans on Twitter

Gunn is a social media savvy and bane of nerds, regularly interacting with his fans on Twitter (and occasionally slightly antagonizing his “louder” critics).

In response to Gunn’s recommendations, one person tweeted, “The Brave and the Bold really needs to be the tonal/visual opposite of The Batman to stand out. It can’t just be: ‘Here’s the bat family, we haven’t seen that in any movies.’ I think it really has to encompass everything that’s offbeat, flashy, and surreal about these Batman comics.”

Responding to the fan, Gunn wrote, “I don’t think a vision for a good film starts with being ‘not’ something.