James Gunn is continuing to fly high. Earlier this summer, the co-head of DC Studios celebrated the release of his first standalone “Superman” feature (which he wrote and directed), and will soon see the release of “Peacemaker” Season 2. And that’s in addition to his work running the studio alongside Peter Safran (the pair were appointed co-CEOs in 2022).
Now, Gunn is pulling the trigger on yet another project: writing and directing “the next installment in the Super-Family,” as Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav said during the company’s earnings call, as Variety reported.
While it’s not set yet whether this will be a sequel to “Superman,” it has been confirmed that David Corenswet’s titular character will star in it. Before that, Craig Gillespie’s “Supergirl” will be released in 2026, with Milly Alcock’s role having been teased in “Superman.”
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Gunn and Safran previously unveiled a 10-year plan for the DCU, including a “Wonder Woman” reboot and 2026 releases “Supergirl” and “Clayface,” the latter of which Gunn said will be a “totally different thing” tonally. “Although it’s in the same universe, it’s a complete horror film, and that’s one of the things we want to do,” Gunn told CBS Mornings of “Clayface,” adding, “There’s not a company style. It’s not like every movie is gonna be like ‘Superman.’ The artists and the directors and the writers that create each one will bring their own sense to it. We don’t want people being bored.”
Gunn already teased to Entertainment Weekly that “Peacemaker” Season 2 is “very much connected to ‘Superman’ and it’s very much connected to what comes after.”
That “after” part has yet to be seen… However, it makes sense that Gunn will be writing and directing the franchise installment. Gunn’s “Superman,” which he also wrote and directed, earned $315 million in the U.S. and $550 million globally. Gunn admitted to Rolling Stone that he was surprised by how well the feature did at the international box office.
“Superman is not a known commodity in some places. He is not a big known superhero in some places like Batman is. That affects things,” Gunn said. “And it also affects things that we have a certain amount of anti-American sentiment around the world right now. It isn’t really helping us. So I think it’s just a matter of letting something grow. But again, for us, everything’s been a total win. Having the movie come out and be something that has been embraced by people everywhere — this is just the seed of the tree that Peter [Safran] and I have been watering for the past three years. So to be able to have it start off so positively has been incredibly overwhelming.”
