James Gunn’s DCU Is Already Avoiding One the MCU’s Biggest Mistakes

While the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is still going and in its 16th year, while becoming larger than ever before, DC is finally restarting after struggling with the DC Extended Universe (DCEU). The new DCU will finally begin in December with the animated Creature Commandos series, with DC Studios heads James Gunn and Peter Safran having a 10-year plan to tell a story across two chapters for now.

The first chapter will go by Gods & Monsters, and several projects, including Swamp Thing and The Brave and the Bold, have already been announced as part of it. Like the MCU, the DCU will inevitably expand and grow as it goes on, but it seems DC Studios is not diving into the multiverse, which is a very good thing.

The MCU Has Struggled With the Multiverse

Marvel Studios’ Multiverse Saga leads toward Avengers: Secret Wars, poised to be the studio’s largest film yet. Projects like Loki, Spider-Man: No Way Home, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Deadpool & Wolverine, and The Marvels have dealt with the multiverse the most.

The MCU’s current crop of projects is part of the Multiverse Saga, which has allowed Marvel Studios to honor past Marvel films from other studios now that it has the character rights back. This has made virtually anything possible in the MCU, including Robert Downey Jr. back in the franchise as Doctor Doom, not Iron Man. The Multiverse Saga has also led to more nostalgic trips, with the returns of Tobey Maguire, Andrew Garfield, Patrick Stewart, and Hugh Jackman finally able to interact with other Marvel heroes.

Deadpool & Wolverine is the latest to rely heavily on the multiverse angle, and it continues to make the MCU more convoluted as it adds more layers to the storytelling device. The multiverse is a complex idea, with various holes audiences can poke through if they think about it long enough. The MCU has introduced concepts like sacred timelines, absolute points, anchor beings, nexus events, and, more likely, down the line. The MCU has never been more connected with old Marvel films, which are now part of its canon, but it has also made it very confusing and running into the same issue that usually leads to reboots in comics.

DC Has Also Done a Lot With the Multiverse

The Flash was the DCEU’s only multiverse project, and it saw the return of Michael Keaton’s Batman from the Tim Burton films. The most recent animated DC project for home video was Crisis on Infinite Earths, which was told in three parts.

The multiverse trend hasn’t just been played out in the MCU because DC has also used the storytelling device for projects like The Flash and the Arrowverse. At one point, the DCEU was building toward a live-action Crisis on Infinite Earths film, which is the DC equivalent to Marvel’s Secret Wars. However, DC eventually pivoted, with Gunn and Safran taking over and moving the franchise in their direction.

While the DCU will bring back familiar faces like Viola Davis as Amanda Waller, the universe doesn’t need to explain her appearance as some multiverse twist. Gunn has said that the official DCU canon will start with Creature Commandos, and it’s best to stick with this logic and not make it more confusing for audiences. One of DC’s primary goals is to take the franchise in a fresh direction, and because the multiverse has already been explored, that route would not add anything new to it.

Comic Book Movies Need To Go Back to Basics

James Gunn’s Superman film will not be an origin story like Spider-Man: Homecoming and The Batman. Superman will quickly introduce other DCU heroes, such as Guy Gardner’s Green Lantern and Hawgirl.

As the MCU looks to give old actors a chance to shine in a shared universe, DC needs to go back to basics because that’s what comic book movies need. Even the animated Spider-Man films atSonyare exploring the multiverse. As Marvel Studios’ Infinity Saga showed, there are plenty of other ways to tell shared universe stories. DC and Marvel can’t explore the multiverse at the same time because it makes their approaches far too similar. The DCU going in a different direction will quickly make it distinct from its competing franchises.

Comic book movies have evolved, which will continue, with solo films now able to bypass origin stories and incorporate different costumed heroes. Some have speculated that the DCU will address Peacemaker’s inclusion in a new universe. Instead, it seems the next season will resume some of the story beats from the first season, but it won’t be necessary viewing since it doesn’t fall in the DCU canon. Creating a cinematic universe is ambitious enough, especially with DC Studios looking to tell a large story across various mediums. DC Studios seems focused on building out its fictional universe instead of incorporating several right off the bat.

Elseworlds has been a label used in the comics to signify standalone stories for years. While Joker: Folie à Deux is technically an Elseworlds project, the official branding will not occur until projects developed under DC Studios begin to roll out.

Marvel Studios is starting to tell more stories outside its main timeline with X-Men ’97, but DC now has an entire banner dedicated to this. The Batman and Joker franchises fall under the Elseworlds banner, which allows DC Studios to tell distinct stories that introduce new takes on characters unrelated to the DCU’s ongoing arc. This way, DC Studios can take some bold risks with some of its most iconic characters and not have to worry about explaining them or connecting them to a larger universe.

Comic books have always featured alternate takes on characters that serve great importance since it’s those stories that evolve them. Marvel Studios is setting its Fantastic Four reboot on another Earth, but it will need to tie into the MCU down the road because most of the stories connect in some capacity. An Elseworlds banner allows the DC projects to still accomplish something fresh and exciting without the expectation of having it connect to the larger story, something that has gone missing with the emergence of the Shared Universe franchise. DC can always connect an Elseworlds project to the DCU down the line, but that doesn’t appear to be a focus at DC Studios at the moment, and that’s for the best.

The multiverse is as vital in DC’s comic book history as in Marvel’s. Still, comic book movies need a franchise that can explore other superhero stories for now to provide something different to the moving-going market. With the DCU early in its days, it needs to be digestible for audiences, and including the multiverse so soon would be a mistake because it would quickly confuse audiences since it is coming off the heels of a previous universe.

The DCU is also set to include familiar faces such as John Cena’s Peacemaker, but it doesn’t find itself in the same trap as the MCU with Downey Jr.’s Doctor Doom. The DCU will simply start fresh with some ties to the past but nothing that will require viewing. DC Studios’ focus for now is to communicate to audiences that a new universe is starting and will keep it simple. Going down this route sets the DCU up as Hollywood’s next major superhero franchise after many years of Marvel Studios dominating the genre’s landscape.