James Gunn Explains What Makes DC Studios Different From Marvel Studios (But It's A Little Contradictory)

James Gunn Explains What Makes DC Studios Different From Marvel Studios (But It's A Little Contradictory)

DC Studios' James Gunn has talked more about the differences between the DCU and MCU, but has the Superman director contradicted himself? It seems so on the surface, but not when you look at past comments.

By JoshWilding - Nov 26, 2024 09:11 AM EST
Filed Under: DC Studios

Having worked with Marvel Studios for the better part of 10 years on three movies and a TV special, it's fair to say that Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn got a lot of insights into the studio's inner workings. 

On several occasions, the filmmaker and DC Studios co-CEO has made it clear he intends to do things differently from his former employers. It's not that the Superman director is throwing shade at the MCU; instead, he plans to take his own approach, no great surprise given Marvel Studios' often chaotic habit of fixing its movies and TV shows with reshoots. 

However, Gunn's latest remarks have raised a few eyebrows. Asked on Threads whether DC Studios will ever deliver an MCU-style slate reveal, he responded, "It won’t be exactly like Marvel because nothing is greenlit before we have a finished script."

Many fans have been quick to argue that DC Studios kicked off the DCU by announcing 10 movies and TV shows as part of its "Chapter 1: Gods and Monsters" slate reveal. We know the likes of The Brave and the Bold and Paradise Lost aren't close to having completed scripts even now, so is Gunn contradicting himself?

Not quite. Gunn has said before that there's a difference between announced and greenlit projects and we're guessing he probably wouldn't have chosen to reveal all those movies and TV shows that early (Warner Bros. Discovery, however, likely wanted to have a list of future DCU titles to hype up). 

Still, why announce movies and TV shows that won't happen?

There have also been some grumblings online about DC Studios not attending events like Comic-Con and CCXP to share release dates and logos, but that's the Marvel Studios way of doing things and Gunn surely doesn't want to replicate the DCEU's failings. 

Will Swamp Thing and Booster Gold, for example, ever see the light of day? Only time will tell. For now, we have Creature Commandos coming next month and Superman and Peacemaker season 2 on the way in 2025. Beyond that, Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow and Lanterns are eyeing 2026 debuts. 

"We’re not about that. We’re not about 'See how it does,'" Gunn recently said. "We’ve got one opportunity to take these characters and really press forward and do what we believe."

"I am a great believer that if we tell good, authentic stories, if a movie does well or doesn’t do as well, if you keep with that same philosophy, that you’re going to build a universe that people are going to love and want to be a part of for a long time," he concluded.

Check out Gunn's latest Threads posts below.

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ItsNotForMeWahh
ItsNotForMeWahh - 11/26/2024, 8:57 AM
"We've announced projects, but they aren't greenlit"

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MG0019
MG0019 - 11/26/2024, 11:22 AM
@ItsNotForMeWahh - Because “announced” and “greenlit” are two separate things.

I’m not a James Gunn defender, or fan or anything. Moreso, this website’s “journalism” is utter trash.

Production companies make announcements on future projects; to encourage investors.

Greenlighting them means, starting the production phase. Getting the trucks moving, equipment ready, sets being built, cameras start rolling.

Kathleen Kennedy has “announced” a thousand projects that were never close to being “greenlit.”

Gunn is saying announced projects like Brave & Bold will not be greenlit until the script is actually done. As it’s supposed to be when you care about the story over making a corpo product.
MR
MR - 11/26/2024, 9:01 AM
CBM looking for something that isn’t there. Looking for something to write about and comes up with a nit picky “article” like this.
slickrickdesigns
slickrickdesigns - 11/26/2024, 9:05 AM
@MR - normal JW “content”
Lisa89
Lisa89 - 11/26/2024, 9:02 AM
"We only announce films with finished scripts, with the exception of the several films we announced with any scripts."

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Lisa89
Lisa89 - 11/26/2024, 9:09 AM
*without any scripts
slickrickdesigns
slickrickdesigns - 11/26/2024, 9:03 AM
The difference between the MCU and the DCGunnerverse is that MCU has an established universe and Gunn is just getting his started.
TheVisionary25
TheVisionary25 - 11/26/2024, 9:08 AM
While he is right that there’s a difference between an announced & greenlit project , the audience like us doesn’t really know that so it creates a false impression unfortunately.

That’s certainly a risky play since a project could get cancelled so you have egg on your face then which makes me wonder if revealing that initial slate was a Gunn & Safran idea or from higher up (given the formers comments , I think it might be the latter).

Anyway , I’m excited for the DCU and hope it turns out well!!.
GiverOfInfo
GiverOfInfo - 11/26/2024, 9:10 AM
In Gunn We Trust !

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AllsGood
AllsGood - 11/26/2024, 9:11 AM
Marvel Studios has made Billions and Billions and Billions and Billions and Billions 31 BILLION and Counting.

Marvel Studios has NO Competition. Marvel VS Marvel they hold ALL Box Office Records.

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Lisa89
Lisa89 - 11/26/2024, 9:13 AM
@AllsGood - I don’t believe you’re a bot anymore. Bots are less redundant.
AllsGood
AllsGood - 11/26/2024, 9:19 AM
@Lisa89 - My life is Great so many new Marvel Movies Coming sooner not later.
bobevanz
bobevanz - 11/26/2024, 9:55 AM
@AllsGood -
AllsGood
AllsGood - 11/26/2024, 10:08 AM
@bobevanz - All I care about is Marvel Studios Winning :)

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marvel72
marvel72 - 11/26/2024, 9:21 AM
Good to have a new alternative to the MCU because let's be honest most of it since Avengers:Endgame has been pointless shit with a few things here and there that are watchable and good.
AllsGood
AllsGood - 11/26/2024, 9:34 AM
@marvel72 - Compared to WB/ DC Studios ONE movie a year, maybe. A Big Nothing Burger.

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Matador
Matador - 11/26/2024, 9:37 AM
@AllsGood - Hope that changes cause it's getting stale.
AllsGood
AllsGood - 11/26/2024, 9:41 AM
@Matador -
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marvel72
marvel72 - 11/26/2024, 9:46 AM
@AllsGood - Quality over Quantity.

Also Marvel Studios only released one movie this year and two pointless shows Echo and Agatha.
marvel72
marvel72 - 11/26/2024, 9:48 AM
@AllsGood - A movie makes a billion at the box office and claims the MCU is fine, wait until next year and see if any of those make a billion.

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Matador
Matador - 11/26/2024, 9:51 AM
@AllsGood - Thank about it when a competitor has no competition he reaches a plateau and just cruises along doing the same thing over and over again. If DC actually becomes marketable again without Zack Snyder horrible version & CEO interefences someone that actually understands the characters it might be good. It's asking allot.

But I'd rather have two great universes going head to head always topping each other story wise like the good old days of comic books.
AllsGood
AllsGood - 11/26/2024, 9:58 AM
@marvel72 - Marvel Studios has made $31,056,507,006 BILLION Dollars. When was last DC movie that made 1 billion dollars? At least you have Joker: Folie à Deux to add to library.

Check for yourself :)

https://www.the-numbers.com/movies/franchise/Marvel-Cinematic-Universe#tab=summary

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AllsGood
AllsGood - 11/26/2024, 10:03 AM
@Matador - WB / DC Studios will need a Miracle.

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marvel72
marvel72 - 11/26/2024, 10:09 AM
@AllsGood - But what about their box office failures.

You use the movies that make big money like Avengers:Infinity War and Avengers:Endgame and then spread all of the takings over the MCU to try and make the others look better.

Sad really
Matador
Matador - 11/26/2024, 10:11 AM
@AllsGood - They do even James Gunn knows that if they fail it's the last nail in DC's coffin.

Gunn recently said. "We’ve got "one opportunity" to take these characters and really press forward and do what we believe."
AllsGood
AllsGood - 11/26/2024, 10:16 AM
@marvel72 - You need to be more worried about ZERO HITS from WB/ DC Studios. WB / DC Studios can't even compete with Marvel Studios 2 or 3 losses.
marvel72
marvel72 - 11/26/2024, 10:22 AM
@AllsGood - What the likes of The Marvels, Eternals and Ant-Man:Quantumania.

I'm not worried at all, I like movies from DC and Marvel, if one fails more than the other so be it.

Marvel Studios doing well isn't my whole life.
Izaizaiza
Izaizaiza - 11/26/2024, 10:29 AM
@marvel72 - I agree with you to a point, but I would flip part of your argument. I thought echo and Agatha were good shows, not great, but good. I laughed and enjoyed Deadpool Wolverine, but as time passes, it is becoming one of my most hated comic book movies. Just so [frick]ing pointless and empty. A series of random jokes, fanboy moments, and cameos strung together into a 2-hour montage. Truly a vapid piece of Cinema
AllsGood
AllsGood - 11/26/2024, 10:31 AM
@marvel72 - Marvel Studios the Marvels, Eternals and Ant-Man: Quantumania hasn't even SLOWN Marvel Down making new movies. Where are DC WINS and movies?

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MaximusTheMad
MaximusTheMad - 11/26/2024, 9:44 AM
So DCU Batman isn't greenlit?
bobevanz
bobevanz - 11/26/2024, 9:48 AM
"It won’t be exactly like Marvel because nothing is greenlit before we have a finished script."
This is absolutely true, we know a handful of DC movies, not the next 15 movies and 100 shows like Marvel. This is why writers and directors would rather not work for Marvel, they're simply hired to finish THEIR vision. Committees writing scenes and action sequences YEARS before they even have a script. [frick] Marvel, I'm glad phase 4 has been this roller coaster. People are starting to get smart
bobevanz
bobevanz - 11/26/2024, 9:49 AM
@bobevanz -
bobevanz
bobevanz - 11/26/2024, 9:50 AM
Incoming "hAtER" comments lmao
Doomsday8888
Doomsday8888 - 11/26/2024, 9:49 AM
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Itwasme
Itwasme - 11/26/2024, 9:50 AM
I don't think they should worry about being different tbh. There's probably a lot they should pull from. Just focus on making it good, entertaining, heroic, and with rich characters. Who cares if it's similar? Eventually they can organically evolve it into its own thing, but don't stress on being different right away - just focus on being good.
TheVisionary25
TheVisionary25 - 11/26/2024, 9:52 AM
@Itwasme - it doesn’t seem like they much are but moreso scoopers or articles pointing that out and bringing attention to it.
TheFinestSmack
TheFinestSmack - 11/26/2024, 10:02 AM
Odd that Chandler's article that uses the same picture of Superman and Krypto was the first link on the homepage, but now it got bumped down and this is still up top.
slickrickdesigns
slickrickdesigns - 11/26/2024, 10:47 AM
@TheFinestSmack - normal cbm stuff.
LeoAtrox1
LeoAtrox1 - 11/26/2024, 10:08 AM
I love his philosophy for making individual movies. For running a connected series of films in a shared universe though? Eh ... You're working against waning audience and talent interest, so time is against you. If you cannot lock up those actors and start production as quickly as possible--say, when you have a detailed outline but not a finished script--you risk losing your actors and tanking your franchise. Actors aren't wanting to sign long-term multi-picture deals anymore, which could force them to pull out of other projects they've committed to. And if you're going to wait for a finished script to greenlight, you're delaying the process of signing your talent. Corenswet is going to be a massive star in the near future. And while he'll likely want to do Superman, he's going to be in-demand and want to do other things too. You're not going to just be able to wait until there's a finished script to book 4-months of his time for a massive superhero feature to start shooting right away. You're adding a year or more to the gap between films.
RedFury
RedFury - 11/26/2024, 10:10 AM
I feel like people are just too entitled these days. It's bloody annoying..

Back before CBM's were all the rage we would have lost our shit to have seen an giant upcoming list of films. But here we are getting articles angry about the fact that they're trying to get fans excited about a slate of upcoming projects? How dare they map out a direction for fans that constantly scream that they want direction and plans. How dare Gunn say things that make sense like Greenlit, and Announced being two totally different terms. It's not his fault people these days have the comprehension skills of a rock lol. It's the entertainment business... things change like the wind. Nothing is for sure until the production is finished so try not to scoff at every little thing and take it for what it is. Entertainment.

I wish this culture of "gotcha!!" Didn't exist anymore. It's so damn tiresome...
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