James Gunn Addresses DC Fans’ Canon Concerns

James Gunn might have the best answer regarding what is or is not canon in the DCU. James Gunn’s Creature Commandos is the soft launch of his new interconnected DC Universe, which will continue in 2025 with Superman and Peacemaker Season 2, followed by Lanterns and Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow. Just because Creature Commandos is the start of the DCU, it still has some ties to previous franchise titles like The Suicide Squad and Peacemaker. With all of that in mind, many fans are wondering about what is or is not canon within the new DCU, since Suicide Squad must have taken place, but the key event around it – Superman’s death in Batman V. Superman: Dawn of Justice – can’t because of the new Superman film.

With all that confusion, James Gunn spoke to IGN ahead of the premiere of Creature Commandos and laid down a little bit of advice for fans to follow regarding canon. “One of the weird things to me is none of this is real,” said Gunn. “It may be alarming to people, but none of it is real. It’s all just stories that we’re telling about characters.” Just because it is fiction doesn’t mean that Gunn and the rest of the creative team don’t take it seriously, but the priority is on telling genuine stories that honor these characters and less so on how the events of one story connect to another, or how this is all building to something. Gunn said:

“Hopefully there’s authenticity and truth to those stories because we care about those stories, the characters, the actors, the performers, the animators they all care about these stories, but it’s not real”

Gunn’s approach to DC canon is nothing new for DC as a franchise in particular. DC Comics has rebooted itself multiple times, with some relaunches, like The New 52, wiping the slate clean on most titles but keeping the continuity of the Green Lantern and Batman stories. While DCEU films like Man of Steel, Batman V. Superman, and Justice League all shared a strong continuity, the underperformance of those releases led DC and Warner Bros. to downplay the canon aspect. Movies like Shazam!, Birds of Prey, and The Suicide Squad certainly had ties to the DCEU, but they were made to function as standalone films as well. The DCEU’s loose approach to interconnectivity allowed Blue Beetle to port over to the DCU with no issues despite being developed for the DCEU.

Canon Is a Blessing and a Curse

Gunn’s statements about canon are likely going to ruffle the feathers of fans who obsess over canon to the point that how different stories connect to each other becomes more important than the actual story being told. While the obsession with canon and continuity is certainly a fun feature of shared universes like DC, Marvel, Star Wars, Star Trek, and more, it can also, over time, become an obstacle for new fans to get into the franchise. Star Trek‘s 40 years of continuity made it almost impossible for new fans to join in, so in 2009, J.J. Abrams rebooted the franchise to incredible box office and critical success. While the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s interconnectivity was a strength in the beginning, now, 16 years after Iron Man hit theaters, it certainly can feel daunting for people to keep up – something reflected in the diminishing commercial and critical reception to new MCU films.

This also speaks to how much canon has become a dominating force in franchises. Some fans are still upset that Disney and Lucasfilm jettisoned the original Expanded Universe in favor of a new canon with the sequel trilogy and spin-offs. Yet, at the end of the day, none of it is real; it is all made up. If post-Return of the Jedi looks more like The Heir to the Empire trilogy to some people than The Force Awakens, then that could be the canon one person follows, because it isn’t like Disney and Lucasfilm can force someone to watch the new movies or throw out their old books. If someone finds the Star Wars Legend brand of storytelling derivative and likes the new direction explored in stories like Andor, Skeleton Crew, and The Last Jedi, that person is just as much a fan as anyone else. These franchises are supposed to be fun, and the obsession over what is or is not canon not only zaps some of the fun away but makes it feel more like homework. And one of the reasons we got into these franchises in the first place is because they’re more enjoyable than doing homework.