James Gunn Explains the New DCU Canon – And How It References the Old DCEU

“From James Gunn comes the new DCU,” declared the New York Comic Con trailer for Creature Commandos, the first series from Gunn and Peter Safran’s new DC Studios. The Max adult animated series — which Gunn has described as an “aperitif” to the rebooted DC Universe that will officially get up, up, and away with Gunn’s Superman movie in 2025 — is the prelude to a new canon under DC Studios (formerly DC Films), but will reference certain events from the old continuity: the DC Extended Universe.

“Nothing is canon until Creature Commandos next year – a sort of aperitif to the DCU – and then a deeper dive into the universe with Superman,” Gunn announced last year. “Some actors will be playing characters they’ve played in other stories and some plot points might be consistent with plot points from the dozens of films, shows and animated projects that have come from DC in the past. But nothing is canon until [Creature Commandos] and [Superman].” 

Gunn has since confirmed that Peacemaker season 1, set in the DCEU, isn’t canon with the DCU, but the upcoming second season of The Suicide Squad spinoff series will take place after the events of Superman in the new continuity. Confused?

“There are references to things that happened in the past, and those references then become canon in the DCU because we mention them,” Gunn explained during the DC Studios panel at New York Comic Con.

That includes John Cena’s Peacemaker killing Joel Kinnaman’s Rick Flag in 2021’s The Suicide Squad. Frank Grillo, who voices Rick Flag Sr. in Creature Commandos, will then reprise his role in live-action in Superman and Peacemaker season 2.

In addition to Cena’s chrome-helmeted anti-hero, Viola Davis reprises her role from The Suicide Squad and Peacemaker as Amanda Waller in Creature Commandos. The seven-episode series is set post-Peacemaker and tracks a secret team of incarcerated monsters recruited for missions deemed too dangerous for humans, including the mermaid-like Nina Mazursky (Zoe Chao), Dr. Phosphorus (Alan Tudyk), Frankenstein (David Harbour) and the Bride (Indira Varma), and Weasel and GI Robot (both voiced by Sean Gunn).

Gunn has also confirmed that Xolo Maridueña’s Jaime Reyes will be the Blue Beetle of the DCU, but the events of the DCEU-set Blue Beetle movie are not canon.

The Superman reboot is “the true foundation of our creative vision for the DC Universe,” Gunn said when announcing the DCU slate, titled Chapter 1: Gods and Monsters, in 2023. Added Safran: “The DCU’s a multiverse, but we’re going to be focusing on one universe from that multiverse. And if something isn’t DCU, we’re going to make that very clear. So, strictly adult fare like Todd Phillips’ Joker, or kids animation like Teen Titans Go!, we’re going to make it very clear that those are DC Elseworlds, just the same way that they do it in the comic books.” That includes Matt Reeves’ The Batman saga, while the DCU will launch its own Batman franchise with The Brave and the Bold, about dynamic duo Batman and Robin.

The DCU slate includes Creature Commandos (December 2024), Superman (July 2025), and Peacemaker season 2 (TBA 2025). DC Studios will soon begin production on HBO’s Lanterns series, starring Aaron Pierre and Kyle Chandler as Green Lanterns John Stewart and Hal Jordan, and the Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow movie starring Milly Alcock as Superman’s cousin, Kara Zor-El, slated for 2026.

Other announced projects include the Max series Waller, Booster Gold, and Paradise Lost, and feature films The Authority, The Brave and the Bold, and Swamp Thing.