One aspect that James Gunn and Peter Safran have been particularly careful about when crafting their new DC Universe is its lore. In 2023, for example, Gunn revealed on Threads that DC Studios was creating "an incredibly detailed world map" for the nascent franchise. Then, while speaking to Josh Horowitz on the Happy Sad Confused podcast in 2024, Gunn said his focus for the DCU was world-building.
Now, we've gotten another bit of lore information from the DCU. This one, however, is much more interesting, seeing as it provides more context regarding the classification of super-powered characters in the franchise. DC Studios recently released a series of character posters for Superman. Gunn posted the images on Threads, and captioned the post: "Our metahumans arrive this summer."
A user responded to the post, suggesting that the only character in the posters who was an actual metahuman was Hawkgirl, played by Isabela Merced. Gunn then provided this interesting reply:
"In DC Comics, a metahuman is a human-like being with extraordinary, often paranormal, abilities. These powers can arise from a variety of sources, including science, magic, alien origins, mutation, divinity, proficiency, or technology."
The director also clarified in the same post who in the Superman cast is a metahuman: "Therefore, [the character 4] is probably not a metahuman, but Terrific arguably is. Krypto is meta, but I won't say he's not human because he might read this."
Now, while Gunn's quote mentioned DC Comics specifically, the fact that he used it as an explanation for the designation of his DCU characters likely means the description also applies to the live-action franchise. His description makes a lot of sense for characters equipped with advanced tech. Mister Terrific, for example, may be a regular human, but his inventions give him a considerable edge over regular civilians.
Having said that, Gunn's explanation has intriguing, and perhaps, unexpected, implications for non-super-powered characters. The director stated that "proficiency" was sufficient to designate a character as a metahuman. Assuming that "proficiency" refers to things like athletic ability, scientific knowledge and combat expertise, characters like Batman, Green Arrow, Catwoman, Robin, and even Lex Luthor would fall into that category.
Now, keep in mind this probably won't affect anything about how characters are handled in the DCU. At the end of the day, it may just mean that physically skilled individuals like the Dark Knight and Peacemaker will be considered as being above average in the human pecking order of the DC Universe.
What do you think about James Gunn's explanation for who is designated as a metahuman in the DCU? Leave your thoughts in the comments!
Superman arrives in theaters on July 11, 2025.