Sorry DC Fans, but James Gunn Is Your Last Chance (& You’d Better Take It)

At long last, the DC Cinematic Universe (DCU) is about to kick off with its first animated project, Creature Commandos, premiering on Max on December 5. The series comes less than a year before the first live-action project, Superman, featuring David Corenswet’s debut as the titular Man of Steel. Both of these projects were developed by James Gunn, who now serves as the co-chairman of DC Studios alongside executive Peter Safran. Gunn and Safran plan to launch a cinematic universe of DC characters that borrows some characters and stories from the now-defunct DC Extended Universe (DCEU) but ultimately sets up new ones to carry the franchise forward.

In the days and months leading up to the first DCU project, I’ve never understood the sheer amount of backlash that James Gunn has received from DC fans. While this shift in direction is understandably disappointing for audiences who enjoy the darker leanings of the DCEU, the hate aimed at the DCU is both disproportionate and self-destructive. What many fans may fail to appreciate about DC Studios fully is that it is dangerously close to being labeled an unprofitable investment for Warner Bros. Studios, which is famously seeking new cost-cutting initiatives after a string of box office failures. With the state of DC as it is at the end of the DCEU, fans may not realize that Gunn’s new franchise is their last hope for a cinematic universe.

DC Has Been a Consistent Money-Loser for Warner Bros.

The Last Eight DC Extended Universe Movies All Flopped

Unlike the Marvel Cinematic Universe, DC’s franchise films have failed to consistently turn a profit at the box office. While there have been several smash hits, including Joker, The Batman, and Aquaman, DC has become more synonymous with box office bombs. The DCEU was never especially profitable and, at its lowest point, saw eight consecutive box office bombs, beginning with 2020’s Birds of Prey and ending with the franchise’s last installment, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom. Even Joker: Folie à Deux, the sequel to the hit 2019 film that made over $1 billion, became one of the biggest box office disasters in recent memory. Even worse, many of DC’s box office flops were also disliked by critics and audiences, leaving very little room for positivity when it came to the DCEU in particular. One thing is clear to me after witnessing flop after flop and disaster after disaster: if there isn’t a change very soon, DC is a dying brand.

One only needs to look at DC’s recent history with Warner Bros. to see that things are looking dour for the comic book studio. Warner Bros. has already shelved one fully completed DC project, Batgirl, choosing to take a tax write-off rather than risk the film bombing at the box office. Under CEO David Zaslav, Warner Bros. Discovery has infamously taken drastic measures to alleviate its recent box office struggles, of which DC seems to be the chief instigator. DC is one of Warner Bros.’s most expensive franchises, with films costing hundreds of millions of dollars each. With most DC films under the DCEU banner flopping, it won’t take long before Zaslav and his fellow executives begin wondering how much longer they can sustain the IP. DC needed a turnaround and James Gunn is the perfect person to do it. However, the rampant hatred and vitriol that some DC fans have leveled against him suggests that certain segments of the fanbase are dooming their franchise to an early demise, perhaps without even realizing it.

The Hatred Toward James Gunn’s DCU Is Self-Destructive (and Unearned)

DC Fans’ Hatred For James Gunn May Ruin the Franchise Forever

Campaigning for the failure of James Gunn’s DCU, as certain individuals have since the day it was announced, is a self-destructive and frankly ridiculous notion that will, if successful, completely and utterly destroy the DCU. The budget for James Gunn’s upcoming Superman movie has not been revealed, though some unproven rumors suggest that it is one of the more expensive superhero movies of the decade. If fans let Superman flop without even giving it a chance, they will be missing out on a world of opportunities for the DC brand moving forward. If the film flops, fans can be assured that Warner Bros. will begin to rethink any projects greenlighted under Gunn–and anything else that may be deemed too risky. Fans won’t get the long-awaited Lanterns series. They will never see Batman and Robin tackle their relationship in The Brave and the Bold. Lesser-known DC characters like Booster Gold and Swamp Thing will never get the chance to shine in their own spinoff projects.

If Superman comes out and isn’t good, that would be one thing. But to reject the film from its very inception simply because it isn’t directed by Zack Snyder is to doom the DCU to an early grave and leave DC Studios in a worse position than it has ever been in before. With DC a proven unprofitable IP, Warner Bros. will likely cut back on anything related to the brand, going back to the days when fans got a new Batman or Superman movie every few years and not much else. The loud minority of the DC fanbase might not like it, but James Gunn is the franchise’s only hope of any semblance of a future. They would be wise not to torpedo his first film before it’s even released its first trailer.

DC is on its last legs, but there is a path that takes it straight to the top, right alongside the Marvel Cinematic Universe. All that is required of the fanbase is to give a chance to a director with a proven track record in making high-quality superhero movies. That doesn’t seem like a very high price to pay.