Given how obscure characters like Star-Lord and Rocket Raccoon once were in the grand scheme of the wider Marvel Universe, James Gunn could do pretty much anything he wanted with them in the Guardians of the Galaxy movies without facing fan backlash.
The same could be said for the B and C-List villains he populated The Suicide Squad with. Now, as the head of DC Studios and the man responsible for creating the new DCU, the pressure is on the filmmaker to overhaul an entire world of iconic heroes and villains.
However, comic accuracy means something different to every fan, something Gunn pointed out during a recent exchange with fans on social media.
"I don’t think it means 'in current canon' as all of these characters have their up years [and] down years [and] not always at the same time," he explained. "I don’t think current readers should be weighted 100% [and] lifelong readers weighted 0%. Things evolve."
"Also, the DCU is a different universe than DC comics, just as Black Label is different from mainstream continuity," Gunn added. "'Comics accurate' to me means staying true to the nature of the character, which is obviously subjective, so every adaptor can only do his or her best."
He's not wrong and trying to head down the "comic-accurate" route for every upcoming DCU movie and TV show (or any comic book adaptation for that matter) would be no easy feat.
Gunn was also quizzed by fans puzzled by his recent comments about all of Peacemaker season 1 being canon aside from that scene with the DCEU's Justice League.
"If you listen to the interview that’s being quoted, you’ll see I didn’t change my mind, and I say the same thing," he insisted. "Basically everything is canon except the [Justice League] and a couple other things, but nothing can be considered pure DCU canon until [Creature Commandos]."
It's still a little confusing but essentially means that certain scenes no longer happened because Gunn wants to keep the DCEU projects and characters he worked on as part of this new shared world.
Whether this should still be considered a true reboot is thereby up for debate, though the vast majority of big-name characters are being recast (including Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman).
You can hear more from Gunn in his Threads posts below.