"Darkseid is."
That phrase is frequently used in the DC Universe, and it's apt because Darkseid is many things. For a lot of fans, he's the ultimate big bad and a character who has yet to be done right in live-action.
Zack Snyder had big plans for the villain in the DCEU, while there were even discussions about Ava DuVernay helming a New Gods movie. Ultimately, Darkseid was relegated to a few brief scenes in Zack Snyder's Justice League. However, the idea had been for him to step out of the shadows in the filmmaker's unmade sequels.
Talking to New Rockstars, DC Studios co-CEO James Gunn confirmed that his Salvation plans aren't necessarily connected to Darkseid. In the comics, it's revealed to be DeSaad's training ground for Parademons, but in the DCU, the prevailing theory is that Rick Flag Sr.'s Metahuman prison is a new take on Dinosaur Island and the Centre.
Gunn, who is currently working on his Superman sequel, Man of Tomorrow, went on to explain why he's not considering Darkseid for the big bad of "Chapter 1: Gods and Monsters."
"It's the New Gods in general that are, to me, interesting," he started. "We're dealing [with that] in Mister Miracle. There's that aspect of it, and then there are aspects of Darkseid in Thanos, in that they're obviously very similar. They look very similar."
"Because of that, to give you probably more than an answer than you probably expected, using Darkseid as the big bad right now is not necessarily the thing for a lot of reasons," Gunn confirmed. "Zack did it so cool in his way, and then there's Thanos and Marvel."
There are similarities between the two villains, so it's not hard to see why Gunn would rather not launch the DCU with a Thanos-lookalike as its main threat. Hopefully, we will get to see Darkseid down the line. While the Superman director said he hasn't read the first episode's script yet, he strongly hinted at the character having a presence in the animated Mister Miracle.
Later, when it was put to Gunn that Salvation could be the dimension where Ultraman ended up after being sent through that black hole, he responded, "He could be, but that would be quite a huge coincidence."
It would indeed, and while fans have speculated about Ultraman returning as Bizarro, Gunn likely only planned for the Man of Steel's clone to be a one-off threat (though the groundwork has, of course, been laid for Lex Luthor to create both Bizarro and Superboy).
Man of Tomorrow arrives in theaters on July 9, 2027.