SUPERMAN & PEACEMAKER Director James Gunn Explains "The Basics" Of DCU Canon

SUPERMAN & PEACEMAKER Director James Gunn Explains "The Basics" Of DCU Canon

In a new video, James Gunn provides a rundown of the "basics" of DCU canon, before "getting into the weeds" a little with a slightly more complicated explanation...

By MarkCassidy - Jul 31, 2025 01:07 PM EST
Filed Under: Peacemaker

Ever since the announcement that James Gunn would be taking over as co-CEO of Warner Bros.' DC Studios, fans have wondered exactly what would and would not be considered part of the new DCU canon moving forward.

Though a full reboot did seem like the most logical step, we'd soon learn that Gunn was still planning to forge ahead with a second season of Peacemaker, which was obviously part of the DCEU and even featured cameos from Justice League members such as Aquaman (Jason Momoa) and The Flash (Ezra Miller).

Further clouding the waters somewhat was the fact that Gunn also helmed the movie that Peacemaker was a spin-off of, The Suicide Squad.

Here's what Gunn had to say about the DCU canon in a previous interview.

"Short answer: Only Creature Commandos forward is pure canon. For instance, Rick Flag Jr. was killed because we heard Rick Flag Sr. talking about it in Creature Commandos, not because we saw it in The Suicide Squad."

He added, "Long answer: Only CC forward is pure canon; Peacemaker is almost entirely consistent with that canon other than the Justice League; The Suicide Squad has a lot of consistencies, but I think of it as an imperfect memory."

Now, Gunn has attempted to simplify things a little by going over "the basics" of canon in a brief video shared by the official Peacemaker X account.

Basically, Creature Commandos, Superman and Peacemaker season 2 are now canon, but anything any character brings up that happened in the DCEU then becomes part of the new canon.

It remains to be seen how season 2 of Peacemaker retcons the likes of the Justice League showing up in the season 1 finale, but it doesn't sound like it's going to have anything to do with the pocket dimension, as many fans assumed.

“In season 2, Peacemaker discovers an alternate world where life is everything he wishes it could be. But this discovery also forces him to face his traumatic past and take the future into his own hands.”

"People are realizing that Peacemaker Season Two is about two dimensions, and that’s really the core of the show," Gunn explained during a recent interview with Rolling Stone. "But it’s not as if one of these is old DCEU and one’s DCU. That’s dealt with in a different way, very upfront in a season where most everything in Season One is canon and some things are not. And in fact, I did a podcast with [actors] Steve Agee and Jen Holland. And we did every episode of Peacemaker, and in those episodes, I talk about what’s canon and what’s not. I basically chip off little things from Peacemaker Season One that aren’t canon, like Aquaman. But most of the stuff is canon."

"The new season follows Christopher 'Chris' Smith, aka Peacemaker, the vigilante Super Hero as he struggles to reconcile his past with his newfound sense of purpose while continuing to kick righteous evil-doer butt in his misguided quest for peace at any cost."

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soberchimera
soberchimera - 7/31/2025, 1:02 PM
User Comment Image
WalletsClosed
WalletsClosed - 7/31/2025, 1:02 PM
The basics are that he doesn't give a shit about canon. He's already said this himself.
bobevanz
bobevanz - 7/31/2025, 1:40 PM
@WalletsClosed - they're in between a reboot, wtf do you want him to say? You sound like his ex lol
FrankenDad
FrankenDad - 7/31/2025, 1:42 PM
@bobevanz - You leave Jenna Fischer out of this, mister!
McMurdo
McMurdo - 7/31/2025, 1:50 PM
@WalletsClosed - take your psych meds, Sheriff.
DSAC294
DSAC294 - 7/31/2025, 3:19 PM
@WalletsClosed - because the concept to anyone but myopic fans is useless and dumb
regularmovieguy
regularmovieguy - 7/31/2025, 3:50 PM
@McMurdo

Pretty sure this dude is an alt account for MakeAmericaGrea. Guy's a loser.
RolandD
RolandD - 7/31/2025, 3:51 PM
@WalletsClosed - Have they let you back on your Snyder Reddit?
RolandD
RolandD - 7/31/2025, 3:52 PM
@regularmovieguy - That would be TyrantBossMedia.
regularmovieguy
regularmovieguy - 7/31/2025, 4:02 PM
@RolandD

Lol… that wasn’t actually TBM was it? I don’t think it was!
RolandD
RolandD - 7/31/2025, 5:02 PM
@regularmovieguy - I am not sure, but others have proposed the idea and pointed out that he had not been posting at all during the Maggot days and as soon as MAGA was banned, he started posting again. The latter part of that is true. I’m not sure about the front end. I certainly did not see TBM at all when MAGA was posting.
Mrnorth1921
Mrnorth1921 - 7/31/2025, 1:04 PM
As I see it:

The Suicide Squad, Peacemaker Season 1 (excluding the JL scene), Creature Commandos, Superman, and Peacemaker season 2. If you exclude that scene with the JL in season 1 PM, this works.
TheVisionary25
TheVisionary25 - 7/31/2025, 1:11 PM
@Mrnorth1921 - Yeah…

more or less with the exception of the JL cameo and maybe some references to the wider universe in S1 , the events of Peacemaker happened relatively the same in this universe as it did in the DCEU
Mrnorth1921
Mrnorth1921 - 7/31/2025, 1:13 PM
@TheVisionary25 - exactly. I just realized I forgot Blue Beetle. That can fit there, since that movie can fit fine in this new universe.
TheVisionary25
TheVisionary25 - 7/31/2025, 1:24 PM
@Mrnorth1921 - yep

Also debunks the whole “Gunn didn’t want to do a full reboot because he didn’t want to get rid of his work” since Blue Beetle is a part of this universe and he had nothing to do with that.
Mrnorth1921
Mrnorth1921 - 7/31/2025, 1:40 PM
@TheVisionary25 - exactly! Had flash been a success. It would have been in his universe. That would have been the start of his new universe. But we now know that Barry is confined (happily) in Clooneyverse.
SethBullock
SethBullock - 7/31/2025, 4:01 PM
@Mrnorth1921 - The Suicide Squad had Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn, who was part of the old DCEU, if she is canon then Joker Leto is canon too, etc...

This is just a mess.
Mrnorth1921
Mrnorth1921 - 7/31/2025, 4:10 PM
@SethBullock - not necessarily. Variants. I mean we saw at the end of Flash, when he was in the Clooneyverse that Aquaman was the same as the DCEU. Harley can fit.
SethBullock
SethBullock - 7/31/2025, 7:03 PM
@Mrnorth1921 - All the variants stuff has been a mess in both the MCU and the DCEU/DCU.

If that Robbie/Harley is just a DCU variant of the DCEU Harley, does that mean Robbie will be the Harley for a new DCU Joker that looks nothing like Leto or for a new DCU Batman that looks nothing like Affleck? Why is she the only one that looks exactly the same? People won't be confused by this?

Same thing in Marvel: if everybody (Strange, Mordo, Christine, Peggy, Maria Rambeau, Thanos, Wanda) seemed to look exactly the same in the Illuminati universe seen on DS2:MoM, and Xavier looked like Patrick Stewart, shouldn't that mean that all the other X-Men characters in 616 also look like the Fox-Men? And that the 616 should also have a Reed that looks like Krasinski? Why does JJ Jameson look the same in two universes where their Peter Parkers and everybody else (May, MJ, etc) look completely different?

None of that makes any sense and it's unnecessarily confusing and complicated.

You can have a multiverse with different timelines where the same characters might look slightly different, like Holland's Peter Parker is blond in a different timeline, or has longer hair and a beard, or is a little bit taller, or has a different girlfriend or job, but he still looks like Tom Holland, like the MCU 616 Peter Parker.

If he looks completely different because he is played by a different actor that looks nothing like Holland, which is the case of Maguire and Garfield, then those are basically different people called Peter Parker with similar spider powers and a similar story and costume.

But you can still say that since there are infinite timelines, maybe there are infinite ways the same character/person could look, ok, but then everybody else should look different too, that's why Marisa Tomei's May looks nothing like the old May from the Maguire and Garfield movies, and the same should have happened with Jameson even if Feige thought he was the best actor ever and perfect for the role, there are tons of other great actors who could have played a new MCU 616 Jameson.

Same for Wolverine/Logan, Jackman was great and iconic, but Marvel should have cast a new guy for the MCU 616 variant before (or instead of) bringing him back.

Now they brought Jackman back for D&W and they are bringing all the Fox-Men back for Doomsday, but plan to introduce the same characters later as the 616 variants played by other actors, except maybe they'll keep an 80 years old Jackman until 2050, but they'll get rid of all the other Fox-Men actors and will cast other younger people for the same roles, while in the DS2:MoM Illuminati timeline where everybody else looked like the 616 people, you had Patrick Stewart as Xavier.

You could argue: "infinite timelines, infinite possibilities and combinations, that means there are universes where everybody looks the same except for one or two or three guys that look completely different", but again, it's unnecessarily confusing and complicated when you can have the same actors playing the different variants of the same characters, like Hiddleston playing the Loki variant in the TV show (in Sylvie's timeline everybody else should also look different to 616) or Jonathan Majors playing the different Kang variants in that show and in Quantumania.

All of this multiversal sh*t should just be easier to understand for the general audiencies.

When Gunn decided to reboot, he should have gone for a full reboot and keep Peacemaker as a show set in the DCEU, keep him as a character from an alternative timeline/universe and maybe make him travel to the DCU through a portal, idk, I don't even follow that show yet, but all of this sh*t about "this is canon but this another thing in the same show/movie isn't because whatever" is completely unnecessary because he should have just done a full reboot and keep the DCEU and the DCU as totally different versions of the same DC universe, same way Marvel shouldn't have brought back the Fox-Men before introducing the new 616 MCU X-Men, same way they shouldn't have used Krasinki in MoM if they were not going to use him for the new FF movie, same way they shouldn't have brought RDJ back to play Doom instead of an evil Superior Iron Man/Tony Stark variant, all of this is the kind of sh*t that will cost them a lot of money because the general audiencies will be confused af.

Yes, they have made a lot of nostalgia money with NWH and D&W, but in the long run it's a huge mistake and they would have made similar amounts of money and probably even some more by doing things the right way, without so much unnecessarily confusing cr*p.

These things make these fictional universes less believable because everybody knows why they are doing all of this, that it's not because it makes sense for the stories they want to tell, it's because they know the new sh*t they are making is bad and it's failing, so they need to sell nostalgia, they need Maguire, Garfield, Jackman, Stewart, RDJ, Keaton, Clooney, Cage, Reeve, etc, to sell the tickets they can't sell with the new bad movies and tv shows they've made lately.

And same thing with Gunn being unable to get rid of the stuff he made before his pseudoreboot. It's not that the DCU really needs Cena playing Peacemaker or Robbie playing Harley instead of casting someone new, he could have kept those versions of the characters in the old DCEU and continue their stories there, but instead he gave us this half-assed confusing reboot that nobody wanted except him and his pals working on this show.

/Rant XD
vectorsigma
vectorsigma - 7/31/2025, 1:06 PM
This guy is not taking a break and he really likes what he is doing. Im all for it.

#InGunnWeTrust
hazapez
hazapez - 7/31/2025, 1:06 PM
he wasnt hired as an architect for dceu then, but his work is too good to throw away, so let's get used to it. obvs the canon matters now as a dcu architect.
asherman93
asherman93 - 7/31/2025, 1:07 PM
So, assume that if it hasn't been explicitly declared non-canon from the DCEU, assume it canon.

Schrodinger's Canon, similar to how the MCU treated the Netflix stuff pre-Echo and Born Again.
MisterBones
MisterBones - 7/31/2025, 1:12 PM
Basically whatever he deems so
GirshwinDavies
GirshwinDavies - 7/31/2025, 1:13 PM
Danny "Creams" Spumonker
DocSpock
DocSpock - 7/31/2025, 1:14 PM

Sick of the word canon regarding this.

Canon. Canon. Canon.

Barf!!
RolandD
RolandD - 7/31/2025, 6:51 PM
@DocSpock - Or Cannon, which is what I get when I voice dictate canon. Shades of William Conrad!
DocSpock
DocSpock - 7/31/2025, 6:58 PM
@RolandD -

Get Robert Conrad to kick their a$$es.
RolandD
RolandD - 7/31/2025, 7:07 PM
@DocSpock - User Comment Image
Clintthahamster
Clintthahamster - 7/31/2025, 1:25 PM
People get so tied up in knots about canon, it's wild. "If someone in an in-canon movie or show says something happened, that's canon" is a perfectly fine way to approach it.
McMurdo
McMurdo - 7/31/2025, 1:52 PM
@Clintthahamster - based
ModHaterSLADE
ModHaterSLADE - 7/31/2025, 1:36 PM
I gave up giving a Damn about canon with Gunn considering how confusing he's been making all of this so far. I'm just glad Peacemaker is around the corner.
Forthas
Forthas - 7/31/2025, 1:38 PM
User Comment Image

From the fake comic book and specifically Superman "expert" who did not know Superman's middle name
F4ntasticClunge
F4ntasticClunge - 7/31/2025, 4:09 PM
@Forthas - dude is a flipping charlatan!

An imposter of the higest order!

F4ntasticClunge
F4ntasticClunge - 7/31/2025, 6:43 PM
@Forthas - 😅😅😅 this is quite embarrassing.

Actions speak louder than words! If they were so happy with Superman's performance they wouldn't be scrambling to recoup like this 😅
Forthas
Forthas - 7/31/2025, 7:00 PM
@F4ntasticClunge -

@F4ntasticClunge - I think that is going to come to light really soon. Warner Brothers is already sending Superman to digital early...

James Gunn’s Superman (2025) Gets An Early Digital Release
‘Superman’ Heads to Digital August 15 After Just 35 Days in Theaters

I take it that is going to make it A LOT harder to secure more than $600 million at the box office.
Forthas
Forthas - 7/31/2025, 7:04 PM
@F4ntasticClunge -

"... this is quite embarrassing."

I know...right! After months of shills raging about what an amazing success it was! It might not even achieve the level of interest that Superman Returns had which Warner Brothers themselves once deemed a failure.
F4ntasticClunge
F4ntasticClunge - 8/1/2025, 2:54 AM
@Forthas - omg August 15 lmao let's see how rock reigns tries to spin this 😅😅
MouthyMerc
MouthyMerc - 7/31/2025, 1:39 PM
DCU should have been rebooted completely with nothing left over from the previous administration. Peacemaker should have hopped to the DCU in one of those portals. Would have been the simplest and cleanest explanation. Instead we have to play head canon. Thanks James smh.
DSAC294
DSAC294 - 7/31/2025, 3:16 PM
@MouthyMerc - but for the millions and millions of fans playing head canon for years that the DCEU didn’t exist it just became very simple - it no longer exists 😁
HashTagSwagg
HashTagSwagg - 7/31/2025, 1:43 PM
Whatever his wife says goes.
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