It’s a hen! It’s a aircraft! It’s the very first film in James Gunn’s revamped DC Universe!
Now that Superman has hit theaters, James Gunn’s DC Universe is absolutely underway… Or is it? Whereas Gunn has now launched a film, a TV present (Peacemaker), and an animated sequence (Creature Commandos) underneath his stewardship, there’s nonetheless a lacking piece of the DC Universe puzzle: video video games.
Gunn informed followers again in 2022 that his grasp plan for an interconnected DC Universe contains video video games. However in contrast to on the films and TV aspect of issues, there have been no official bulletins relating to what the primary DC Universe online game might be.
An absence of reveals doesn’t imply we don’t have a fairly clear image of what to anticipate, although. Throughout a number of interviews and press occasions, Gunn and co-studio head Peter Safran have defined their plans, together with the truth that whereas they don’t technically oversee Warner Bros.’ gaming division, there’s now a a lot deeper collaboration between WB Video games and DC Studios that might dramatically alter the best way future DC video video games are made. With that in thoughts, let’s analyze what the way forward for video games will seem like within the new DCU period.
Gunn Takes Over DC
The primary time we discovered that video video games factored into Gunn’s DC plans was shortly after he and producer Peter Safran had been introduced as co-heads of DC Studios on October 25, 2022. Whereas answering fan questions on X, Gunn responded to 1 consumer who requested if video games could be linked to the DCU alongside movies and TV. To this, he merely replied, “Sure.
It wouldn’t be till just a few months later that Gunn revealed what motion pictures and reveals had been in growth as a part of Chapter 1: Gods and Monsters, which is the DCU’s equal of the MCU’s Section 1. And whereas video video games had been conspicuously lacking from the Chapter 1 roadmap, Gunn informed members of the press, “Tv, motion pictures, and video games all intertwine inside the identical universe. We’re going to solid actors who’re going to have the ability to play the characters in [animation and TV], in addition to in different issues.” This was the primary clear indication from Gunn that video video games had been certainly part of his plans for the DCU.
One vital factor to know is that Gunn’s job as head of DC Studios doesn’t embody management over any of Warner Bros’ online game studios, which embody builders like Avalanche Software program (Hogwarts Legacy), NetherRealm Studios (Mortal Kombat), Rocksteady Studios (Batman Arkham), and TT Video games (Lego).
Beneath the present Warner Bros. Discovery company construction, Warner Bros. Video games exists individually from DC Studios and is overseen by Warner Bros. Discovery’s CEO of world streaming and gaming, JB Perrette. However after Gunn and Safran had been named DC co-heads in 2022, Perrette seems to be deferring to the brand new DC bosses in relation to issues of comedian e-book video video games.
The Partitions Break Down Between WB Video games and DC Studios
In an interview with Selection in 2024, Perrette revealed, “Frankly, there hasn’t been as shut a relationship between the studio and the video games enterprise as there ought to have been. And James [Gunn] is definitely a gamer, so having somebody who’s obsessed with it’s tremendous useful.” Perrette added that the video games departments at the moment are “actively working with [Gunn and Safran] on the core franchises inside the DC Universe.”
Based mostly on this interview, it seems there was as soon as a wall that divided WB’s gaming division from the film and TV studios. And in keeping with Perrette, it was solely after Gunn and Safran took over DC Studios {that a} newfound sense of collaboration was achieved.
This dividing wall was confirmed a 12 months later throughout a DC Studios Presentation held on February 24, 2025. In the course of the occasion, James Gunn and Peter Safran confirmed Perrette’s statements relating to the separation between the 2 WB divisions and the way that relationship has modified since they took over.
“We work extremely intently with JB Perrette, who runs that division, and it’s actually the primary time ever it’s been this manner at Warner Bros,” Safran confirmed. “It’s been nice, and we’ve loved it enormously. All the pieces had been so siloed, and now that’s utterly damaged down, and it’s been nice. As a result of it additionally applies to shopper merchandise and experiences, and all the things that DC touches runs up via us now, which is superior.”
“James [Gunn] and I sit with actually the blokes that run the studios beneath JB,” Safran added. “Whether or not it’s NetherRealm or whether or not it’s Rocksteady, [we] sit with them and speak about characters and tales that we’re focused on and that they’re focused on.”
It’s humorous that Safran mentions Rocksteady, because it was reported earlier this 12 months that the studio is creating a brand new single-player Batman sport. Whereas it might be too quickly to inform, at the very least in keeping with Gunn and Safran, there’ll doubtless be some enter from their aspect of issues at DC Studios.
“We see designs for the initiatives of their very earliest phases,” Gunn stated on the occasion. “Once they’re speaking about what the story may be, we are saying, ‘Properly, perhaps you wish to go this manner as a result of we’re planning on perhaps doing one thing with this character and so forth and so forth,’ and assist cope with that.”
Does this imply Gunn might be absolutely accountable for the subsequent Rocksteady Batman sport? Not fairly. Gunn confirmed that “not all” video games might be linked to the DCU’s overarching story when one other fan on X shared their concern about dropping standalone experiences like Rocksteady’s Arkham sequence. So, relying on the place Rocksteady desires to take its subsequent single-player Batman sport, there’s an opportunity it may very well be included into the DCU, or handled as a separate universe like Matt Reeves’ The Batman motion pictures.
Moreover, Perrette stated within the aforementioned Selection interview that WB’s sport studios will nonetheless be making initiatives based mostly on what’s greatest for the studios and avid gamers, saying, “We’re not going to launch a Superman sport purely as a result of we really feel obligated. Now we have to do one thing that is sensible for the gaming technique and for followers and for the buyer.”
How James Gunn’s DCU Is Already Shaping Video games
Even when DC’s full gaming plans stay a thriller, we’re already seeing Gunn’s unified imaginative and prescient for DC play out in a number of video games proper now.
“Our characters can transfer out and in of animation or leap right into a sport or onto the large display, however they’ll stay constant all through: identical character, identical historical past, identical actor,” Gunn stated through the press tour for Creature Commandos final 12 months — a pair months after Peacemaker was added to Mortal Kombat 1 as a DLC character on February 28, 2024.
Simply as Gunn stated, NetherRealm enlisted John Cena to reprise his TV and film function as Peacemaker in Mortal Kombat 1. Not solely is his likeness and design equivalent to the model of the character that seems within the HBO sequence and The Suicide Squad film, however even his Victory Pose in Mortal Kombat 1 is a direct reference to Peacemaker’s glam rock-themed opening credit.
Equally, this month’s Superman-themed content material for Fortnite options skins for Superman, Mr. Terrific, and The Engineer, that are all based mostly on the likenesses of their film counterparts. So, fairly than a comic-book model of those characters, you’re enjoying as David Corenswet’s Superman, Edi Gathegi’s Mr. Terrific, and Maria Gabriela de Faria’s Engineer. Like Peacemaker, it appears that evidently any look by a DCU character in a online game might be equivalent to their film and TV counterpart, simply as Gunn promised (aside from these standalone initiatives Gunn additionally promised, in fact.)
“Since taking the reins, our true north has been to carry DC movie, TV, animation, and gaming into alignment underneath a single banner and convey a way of unity and consistency into the DCU as a complete,” Gunn stated forward of the premiere of Creature Commandos. “This frees us to create a variety of merchandise which are numerous and compelling, and ship nice stand-alone leisure experiences on each medium, whereas additionally being half of a bigger story that we’re telling inside our unified DCU.”
It’s been a tough couple of years for DC video games underneath Warner Bros.. Between the closing of Monolith Software program and the cancellation of a Surprise Lady online game, to Rocksteady’s Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League’s lackluster launch, the way forward for DC video video games seemed to be in main flux. Warner Bros. even thought of promoting off its gaming enterprise fully.
And whereas WB Video games’ fortunes have modified with the huge success of video games like Hogwarts Legacy, there’s nonetheless no official phrase but on the way forward for DC video video games. But it surely’s clear based mostly on statements from Gunn, Safran, and Perrette that Warner Bros. Video games and DC Studios are collaborating deeply in relation to any upcoming online game starring DC’s caped heroes. Though the essential expectation is that if a personality from DC’s motion pictures and reveals seems in a sport, it’s going to function the identical actor, the total plans for DC video video games, particularly from builders like Rocksteady, stay to be seen.
Remember to take a look at our full record of upcoming DC motion pictures and TV reveals, in addition to our Superman assessment for our full DC protection.
Matt Kim is IGN’s Senior Options Editor.