James Gunn Approves Of Fan-Made DCU Timeline, But Admits "Timelines Give Me Anxiety"

The DCU officially launched with Creature Commandos in 2024, but the franchise has quickly become bogged down in confusing continuity issues.

Much of that stems from James Gunn decision to make his DCEU works, Peacemaker and The Suicide Squad, DCU canon. The events of the latter played out in the same world as Superman, but Gunn has admitted he doesn't know whether Margot Robbie's Harley Quinn was fighting alongside Task Force X...which raises even more questions.

While Gunn isn't too concerned about continuity and timelines, fans are. One of them has created their own DCU timeline based on how these movies and TV shows have played out (combined with previous insights from the DC Studios co-CEO), and it's received the filmmaker's seal of approval. 

The first five episodes of Lanterns took place in 2016, with Clayface then set in 2021, a year before The Suicide Squad. Peacemaker Season 1 was in 2022, while Blue Beetle played out in 2023, sandwiched between that series and Creature Commandos.

Next up is Superman, the first DCU movie, with Peacemaker Season 2 and the upcoming Creature Commandos Season 2 set before Supergirl. Finally, we have the final few episodes of Lanterns and next summer's Man of Tomorrow. 

"I think that The Suicide Squad is within the canon of the DCU. It's decided," Gunn recently said. "I'd say we have one small asterisk, which is what exactly is the future of Harley Quinn. I want to be given a little leeway with this by the fans because I'm not sure exactly how that's going to manifest itself. But other than that, I think we can pretty much say the entire movie is canon. I don't think there's a problem."

"Maybe somebody is going to come to me on Threads, and I accept the challenges in trying to answer them...we're going to make mistakes in this movie and in other movies, but for the most part, I think it actually fits much more easily into canon than Peacemaker Season," he continued. "Not only is The Suicide Squad canon, but it's the first canon film in the DCU."

DC Studios has not officially greenlit any DCU movies beyond Man of Tomorrow and no TV shows after The People vs. Gorilla Grodd. It's unclear when Gunn and Peter Safran will announce what's up next, especially with nothing dated for 2028.

Check out this unofficial "official" DCU timeline in the Threads post below.