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DC Universe (franchise)
The DC Universe (DCU) is an American media franchise and shared universe based on characters from DC Comics publications. It was created by James Gunn and Peter Safran, co-chairmen and co-CEOs of DC Studios. The DCU is a soft reboot of a previous franchise, the DC Extended Universe (DCEU), retaining select cast members and narrative elements but disregarding others. In contrast to the previous state of DC Comics adaptations, the DCU features a unified continuity and story across live-action films and television, animation, and video games. Concurrent DC adaptations that do not fit this continuity are labeled "DC Elseworlds".
After Discovery, Inc. and WarnerMedia merged to become Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD), CEO David Zaslav revealed a plan to revitalize the DC brand following the poor reception of the DCEU. Gunn and Safran were hired to lead the newly formed DC Studios in November 2022 after working on several DCEU projects, including the film The Suicide Squad (2021) and its spin-off series Peacemaker (2022–2025). The pair spent several months with a group of writers developing the overarching story for a new DC continuity that features a mix of popular and obscure DC characters. Some DCEU projects in development were abandoned in favor of new takes, while others—including Peacemaker—continued within the new franchise. Certain DCEU actors reprise their roles in the DCU, with others recast. Gunn and Safran wanted to focus on storytelling needs rather than forcing creators to complete their projects to meet specific release dates.
The story of the DCU is divided into chapters. The first chapter, "Gods and Monsters", begins with the first season of the animated series Creature Commandos, released in 2024. Gunn and Safran consider the chapter's first film, Superman (2025), to be the true beginning of the DCU.
Warner Bros. Pictures was deemed to be "lagg[ing] behind" rival company Marvel Studios and their shared universe of superheroes, the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), by late 2012. Warner Bros. began planning for Man of Steel (2013), based on the DC Comics character Superman, to start their own shared universe, which became known as the "DC Extended Universe" (DCEU). They announced a full slate of DC films in October 2014. Man of Steel director Zack Snyder was set to return for Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) and Justice League (2017), and spin-off films were planned for the Justice League members and other DC characters.
"The history of DC is pretty messed up. There is the Arrowverse. There is the DCEU which then split and became the Joss Whedon Justice League at one point, became the Snyder-verse at the other point. There was Superman & Lois, there's the Reeves-verse… we came in and did [The Suicide Squad] and that became Peacemaker and all of a sudden Bat-Mite is a real guy… No one was minding the mint, they were just giving away IP like they were party favors to any creators that smiled at them."
Batman v Superman did not meet Warner Bros.' box-office expectations and received negative responses from fans and critics. Warner Bros. felt they could no longer give Snyder the "long leash" he had on Man of Steel and Batman v Superman, and reorganized future DC projects under the new DC Films division. Executive Jon Berg and comic book writer Geoff Johns were set to run DC Films and wanted to make Justice League more optimistic and hopeful. When the studio was not satisfied with their efforts, Joss Whedon was hired to write reshoots for the film. Snyder left the film after the death of his daughter in March 2017, and Whedon completed the film with significant changes. Justice League was another critical and commercial disappointment for Warner Bros., and the studio was again rethinking its approach to DC in late 2017. Following the film's failure, Warner Bros. met with Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige to discuss if he would lead DC. Feige apparently entertained the idea, but the talks reportedly "fizzled". Berg and Johns left DC Films, and a planned Batman spin-off film was reworked into director Matt Reeves's The Batman (2022), a film separate from the DCEU.
Warner Bros. intended for future DCEU films to be more standalone than their previous interconnected plan. Walter Hamada was appointed the new president of DC Films in January 2018. That October, James Gunn was hired to write and direct The Suicide Squad (2021), a standalone sequel to the earlier DCEU film Suicide Squad (2016) which retained some cast members but otherwise told its own story. He worked with producer Peter Safran, who also produced the DCEU films Aquaman (2018) and Shazam! (2019). In May 2020, Warner Bros. and Snyder announced that his original vision for Justice League would be released on the streaming service HBO Max as Zack Snyder's Justice League (2021). By the end of 2020, Hamada was planning spin-off DCEU television series for HBO Max, including Gunn's The Suicide Squad spin-off Peacemaker (2022–2025). At that point, there were around 25 other live-action and animated DC-based series in addition to the various film projects. Hamada planned to connect all of these using the multiverse, which was introduced in The Flash (2023).
In April 2022, Discovery, Inc. and Warner Bros.' parent company WarnerMedia merged to become Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD), led by president and CEO David Zaslav. The new company was expected to restructure DC Entertainment so the film, television, and video game divisions of the company could be aligned. Even before the merger was complete, Zaslav began meeting with candidates to take over DC—including film executive Emma Watts—with the hope of finding an equivalent to Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige. Despite some recent successes with DC films and series, Zaslav and WBD felt DC lacked a "coherent creative and brand strategy" and were underusing key characters such as Superman. Hamada was still contracted until 2023, and his supporters felt Zaslav was not giving him enough credit for his DC plans and successes. In June, Zaslav announced that DC Films would be separated from Warner Bros. within the WBD structure but would be overseen by Warner Bros. film chairs Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy until a new DC head was appointed.
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DC Universe (franchise)
The DC Universe (DCU) is an American media franchise and shared universe based on characters from DC Comics publications. It was created by James Gunn and Peter Safran, co-chairmen and co-CEOs of DC Studios. The DCU is a soft reboot of a previous franchise, the DC Extended Universe (DCEU), retaining select cast members and narrative elements but disregarding others. In contrast to the previous state of DC Comics adaptations, the DCU features a unified continuity and story across live-action films and television, animation, and video games. Concurrent DC adaptations that do not fit this continuity are labeled "DC Elseworlds".
After Discovery, Inc. and WarnerMedia merged to become Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD), CEO David Zaslav revealed a plan to revitalize the DC brand following the poor reception of the DCEU. Gunn and Safran were hired to lead the newly formed DC Studios in November 2022 after working on several DCEU projects, including the film The Suicide Squad (2021) and its spin-off series Peacemaker (2022–2025). The pair spent several months with a group of writers developing the overarching story for a new DC continuity that features a mix of popular and obscure DC characters. Some DCEU projects in development were abandoned in favor of new takes, while others—including Peacemaker—continued within the new franchise. Certain DCEU actors reprise their roles in the DCU, with others recast. Gunn and Safran wanted to focus on storytelling needs rather than forcing creators to complete their projects to meet specific release dates.
The story of the DCU is divided into chapters. The first chapter, "Gods and Monsters", begins with the first season of the animated series Creature Commandos, released in 2024. Gunn and Safran consider the chapter's first film, Superman (2025), to be the true beginning of the DCU.
Warner Bros. Pictures was deemed to be "lagg[ing] behind" rival company Marvel Studios and their shared universe of superheroes, the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), by late 2012. Warner Bros. began planning for Man of Steel (2013), based on the DC Comics character Superman, to start their own shared universe, which became known as the "DC Extended Universe" (DCEU). They announced a full slate of DC films in October 2014. Man of Steel director Zack Snyder was set to return for Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) and Justice League (2017), and spin-off films were planned for the Justice League members and other DC characters.
"The history of DC is pretty messed up. There is the Arrowverse. There is the DCEU which then split and became the Joss Whedon Justice League at one point, became the Snyder-verse at the other point. There was Superman & Lois, there's the Reeves-verse… we came in and did [The Suicide Squad] and that became Peacemaker and all of a sudden Bat-Mite is a real guy… No one was minding the mint, they were just giving away IP like they were party favors to any creators that smiled at them."
Batman v Superman did not meet Warner Bros.' box-office expectations and received negative responses from fans and critics. Warner Bros. felt they could no longer give Snyder the "long leash" he had on Man of Steel and Batman v Superman, and reorganized future DC projects under the new DC Films division. Executive Jon Berg and comic book writer Geoff Johns were set to run DC Films and wanted to make Justice League more optimistic and hopeful. When the studio was not satisfied with their efforts, Joss Whedon was hired to write reshoots for the film. Snyder left the film after the death of his daughter in March 2017, and Whedon completed the film with significant changes. Justice League was another critical and commercial disappointment for Warner Bros., and the studio was again rethinking its approach to DC in late 2017. Following the film's failure, Warner Bros. met with Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige to discuss if he would lead DC. Feige apparently entertained the idea, but the talks reportedly "fizzled". Berg and Johns left DC Films, and a planned Batman spin-off film was reworked into director Matt Reeves's The Batman (2022), a film separate from the DCEU.
Warner Bros. intended for future DCEU films to be more standalone than their previous interconnected plan. Walter Hamada was appointed the new president of DC Films in January 2018. That October, James Gunn was hired to write and direct The Suicide Squad (2021), a standalone sequel to the earlier DCEU film Suicide Squad (2016) which retained some cast members but otherwise told its own story. He worked with producer Peter Safran, who also produced the DCEU films Aquaman (2018) and Shazam! (2019). In May 2020, Warner Bros. and Snyder announced that his original vision for Justice League would be released on the streaming service HBO Max as Zack Snyder's Justice League (2021). By the end of 2020, Hamada was planning spin-off DCEU television series for HBO Max, including Gunn's The Suicide Squad spin-off Peacemaker (2022–2025). At that point, there were around 25 other live-action and animated DC-based series in addition to the various film projects. Hamada planned to connect all of these using the multiverse, which was introduced in The Flash (2023).
In April 2022, Discovery, Inc. and Warner Bros.' parent company WarnerMedia merged to become Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD), led by president and CEO David Zaslav. The new company was expected to restructure DC Entertainment so the film, television, and video game divisions of the company could be aligned. Even before the merger was complete, Zaslav began meeting with candidates to take over DC—including film executive Emma Watts—with the hope of finding an equivalent to Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige. Despite some recent successes with DC films and series, Zaslav and WBD felt DC lacked a "coherent creative and brand strategy" and were underusing key characters such as Superman. Hamada was still contracted until 2023, and his supporters felt Zaslav was not giving him enough credit for his DC plans and successes. In June, Zaslav announced that DC Films would be separated from Warner Bros. within the WBD structure but would be overseen by Warner Bros. film chairs Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy until a new DC head was appointed.