James Gunn Details DC Universe Plan, Naming Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman 'Diamond Characters'

DC Studios co-head James Gunn has used Threads to explain more clearly how his plan for the DC universe is meant to work, and where individual characters fit within it.

Replying to a post that has since been deleted, Gunn said his early statements, made in January 2023, match what the studio is doing now. He noted that he had described some stories as standalone, in the way the Guardians movies were, and cited Clayface as an example. Other stories, he said, would belong to a larger narrative structure, as the Superman Saga does. Even so, he stressed that each piece of a larger story should stand on its own, whether or not a viewer has seen everything else.

In a second post, Gunn said people often blur together several ideas. The frequently cited "8 to 10 year roadmap" that he originally pitched, he explained, was not made up only of story points, though those were part of it. It was also a plan for DC as a whole.

That plan, according to Gunn, included a focus on what he calls diamond characters: Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman. It also covered smaller characters the studio could turn into diamonds, which he identified as Krypto, John Stewart and Peacemaker. Beyond that, he said, it addressed how the studio would encourage filmmaker freedom and allow for multiple tones and ratings, as well as the influences of Star Wars and George RR Martin, "and so much more."

The roadmap reference goes back to 2022, when Gunn and fellow DC Studios co-head Peter Safran spoke during a virtual Warner Bros. Discovery town hall. At that event, Gunn said they had mapped out a plan for DC spanning eight to ten years.

In a third post, Gunn said it was exciting to see things "START to come together," adding that this made him even more enthusiastic about what the studio has planned for "Man of Tomorrow."

The comments follow an earlier exchange on Saturday, when Gunn defended his decision to grow the DC universe through "individual stories." He was responding to criticism that his films are not building toward a major crossover event. When a commenter observed that Gunn does not necessarily need to establish one fully interconnected universe, he replied, "I couldn't agree more."

"DCU is just an alternate universe; we can enter at any location or time and tell THAT story," Gunn wrote. He said he dislikes the notion that individual stories are not meaningful unless they lead to something else, and called it strange that people do not grasp this, since "Star Wars" has essentially worked that way for 50 years across movies, shows, games and books, "admittedly without the tonal variety."

Gunn's next film, "Superman: Man of Tomorrow," is scheduled to reach theaters on July 9, 2027.