The DC Extended Universe: To Thanagar and Beyond!

[tv echo]

Creature Commandos: Release Date Set for Official Launch of James Gunn’s New DC Universe
By Matt Webb Mitovich, Rebecca Iannucci   September 5, 2024 
https://tvline.com/news/new-dc-universe-creature-commandos-release-date-tv-series-max-1235296153/ 

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Max announced on Thursday that its adult animated series Creature Commandos — which will be the first title to kick off the new DC Universe — will premiere on Thursday, Dec. 5. The first season spans seven episodes, with a new installment dropping weekly through Jan. 16.

Written and exec-produced by Gunn, Creature Commandos “tracks a secret team of incarcerated monsters recruited for missions deemed too dangerous for humans,” the logline describes. “When all else fails, they’re your last, worst option.” (You can watch a previously released Creature Commandos teaser above.)
*  *  *
The Commandos voice cast features Steve Agee as Economos (the role he has played in Suicide Squad and Peacemaker), Maria Bakalova as Princess Ilana, Anya Chalotra as Circe, Zoe Chao as Nina Mazursky, Frank Grillo as Rick Flag Sr. (a role he’ll also play in Peacemaker Season 2), Sean Gunn as GI Robot and Weasel, David Harbour (Stranger Things) as Frankenstein, Alan Tudyk (Resident Alien) as Dr. Phosphorus, Indira Varma (Game of Thrones) as The Bride and Suicide Squad‘s Viola Davis as Amanda Waller.

Edited September 6 by tv echo

[DisneyBoy]

I wonder if Gunn will have the right touch to steer DC's cinematic output for the next few years. It's a huge responsibility and the characters/franchises are all so different.

[tv echo]

James Gunn will be at NY Comic Con on Oct. 19 as part of the Creature Commandos panel...
https://www.threads.net/@jamesgunn/post/C_06fB_S6Ou?hl=en

Edited September 14 by tv echo

[tv echo]

James Gunn's Superman Adds Alan Tudyk in a Mystery Role
The Creature Commandos star might be playing two DC roles.
By Jenna Anderson - September 26, 2024 
https://comicbook.com/movies/news/james-gunn-superman-adds-alan-tudyk-mystery-role/ 

[BetterButter]

Batman Villains Bane, Deathstroke Getting Movie Treatment at DC Studios

[Affogato]

On 9/2/2024 at 8:52 PM, Fool to cry said:

I don't know why but it's true.

 

I think DC characters are just better characters, generally speaking. You want them to be seen at their best. 

[tv echo]

James Gunn teases Frank Grillo's role across Peacemaker and Superman: 'He is morally a complex human being'
By Christian Holub   October 3, 2024 
https://ew.com/frank-grillo-rick-flag-sr-peacemaker-supermam-james-gunn-teases-morally-complex-exclusive-8722231 

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The actor will first appear as team leader Rick Flag, Sr. in animated series Creature Commandos, which premieres this fall on Max. The character has roots in the DC universe already as the father of the late Rick Flag, Jr., a figure played by Joel Kinnaman in Gunn's The Suicide Squad (2021). The filmmaker previously confirmed that Grillo will also play Flag in season 2 of Peacemaker, which sets up potential conflict since it was that show's titular character (John Cena) who killed Flag's son in an earlier movie.
*  *  *
"He is a really cool character that Frank has been molding," Gunn tells EW. "The character's also in Superman, and he's an incredibly important part in Peacemaker. He is one of the primary characters in Peacemaker season 2. So we get to see this character from different angles, and he is not simple."

"This isn't just a good guy, not at all," Gunn continues. "We see all different sides of his character. He is morally a complex human being. Grillo is somebody who I've known for a little while, and I've wanted to work with him for a long time. He was one of the first people that I talked to when I took over the studio, like 'we're going to find something cool for you,' and now he is everywhere."

Edited October 4 by tv echo

[Affogato]

30 minutes ago, tv echo said:

James Gunn teases Frank Grillo's role across Peacemaker and Superman: 'He is morally a complex human being'
By Christian Holub   October 3, 2024 
https://ew.com/frank-grillo-rick-flag-sr-peacemaker-supermam-james-gunn-teases-morally-complex-exclusive-8722231 

Which proves my point. Marvel characters are not really morally complex. Conflicted, sometimes. Do bad for good, sure. Morally complex, no. 

[Tenshinhan]

6 hours ago, Affogato said:

Which proves my point. Marvel characters are not really morally complex. Conflicted, sometimes. Do bad for good, sure. Morally complex, no. 

Since when are DC characters any more morally complex than Marvel characters?  I don't really understand your point.

[Affogato]

19 minutes ago, Tenshinhan said:

Since when are DC characters any more morally complex than Marvel characters?  I don't really understand your point.

Or Jams Gunn’s point, apparently. I simply mean that the DC characters are often much meatier and multifaceted characters. The simplest answers are not always the best answers. You could write many theses on what drives Batman. The punisher is kind of a violent caricature of grief.  Etc. 

maybe you either see it or you don’t

[Palimelon]

I definitely think Marvel's characters are more morally complex than DC's characters. Yes, even more than Batman.

[Tenshinhan]

12 minutes ago, Affogato said:

I simply mean that the DC characters are often much meatier and multifaceted characters. The simplest answers are not always the best answers. You could write many theses on what drives Batman. The punisher is kind of a violent caricature of grief.  Etc. 

 

Yeah I wouldn't exactly call the DC characters "meaty and multifaceted".  If anything, the exact opposite.  It's DC's simplicity that is its greatest strength in my view.

I definitely don't agree about Batman's supposed complexity.  I think that he is far less complicated than Superman, WW, GL, Aquaman etc.

[Affogato]

1 hour ago, Tenshinhan said:

Yeah I wouldn't exactly call the DC characters "meaty and multifaceted".  If anything, the exact opposite.  It's DC's simplicity that is its greatest strength in my view.

I definitely don't agree about Batman's supposed complexity.  I think that he is far less complicated than Superman, WW, GL, Aquaman etc.

That kind of proves my point. That we can have such different concepts means we are looking at something that can be seen in a number of ways. 

[Palimelon]

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I definitely don't agree about Batman's supposed complexity.  I think that he is far less complicated than Superman, WW, GL, Aquaman etc.

To be honest, none of them are all that complicated either.

[baldryanr]

These characters have been around for decades - they can be portrayed as simplistic archetypes or multifaceted complexities as the writer sees fit. 

[Tenshinhan]

6 hours ago, baldryanr said:

These characters have been around for decades - they can be portrayed as simplistic archetypes or multifaceted complexities as the writer sees fit. 

I don't really think so.  Typically a writer cannot take a "simplistic archetype" and turn it into a "multifaceted complexity" or vice versa.  Despite decades of stories and various writers/artists, the DC/Marvel characters have not evolved beyond their original incarnations in this sense.  Attempting to do so has generally fallen flat, in my view.

[baldryanr]

3 hours ago, Tenshinhan said:

I don't really think so.  Typically a writer cannot take a "simplistic archetype" and turn it into a "multifaceted complexity" or vice versa.  Despite decades of stories and various writers/artists, the DC/Marvel characters have not evolved beyond their original incarnations in this sense.  Attempting to do so has generally fallen flat, in my view.

Well, the fun part is various fans have different views - see "Batman is complex" vs "he's actually pretty simple" and how the loudest members of each faction will argue their position is the only "true" interpretation of the character, with any deviation being a bastardization thanks to "those writers" trying to make a quick buck.

[Affogato]

Well, Superman has a healthy attachment style. He values family. He has firm boundaries, and respects the boundaries of others. He is nort using x ray vision to peep through clothing.  He saves people. Bridges collapsing, etc. on the other hand he personally is the reason a lot of villains attack and do a lot of damage. His family is often endangered. He is living a lie with people he respects. He could gather wealth and create foundations that would solve many of humanity’s problems, but he chooses not to, in part (probably) because it would disrupt his private life. (Mind you I’m not saying he solve the problems for us, which would weaken us. I’m saying facilitating). Abd of course, if he ever decides to steal or kill, easy for him to do that. He juggles this daily. Not to mention the trolley problem, which crisis do I avert this time. Do I save the plane full of doctors or the refugee camp full of kids? But these decisions all the time. 
 

so that creates a morally complex character. 

Edited October 6 by Affogato

[Affogato]

On 10/5/2024 at 5:46 PM, baldryanr said:

Well, the fun part is various fans have different views - see "Batman is complex" vs "he's actually pretty simple" and how the loudest members of each faction will argue their position is the only "true" interpretation of the character, with any deviation being a bastardization thanks to "those writers" trying to make a quick buck.

A lot of it is that things  are baked into the characters. Batman’s complex PTSD. Anger, sleep disturbances, disregulated emotions, suicidally high levels of risk taking, isolation,avoidant attachment. His extreme fluency in cultures and languages, has to have those. Much other stuff. There is a lot that just has to be there, no matter how simple you want him to be. 

[baldryanr]

23 minutes ago, Affogato said:

A lot of it is that things  are baked into the characters. Batman’s complex PTSD. Anger, sleep disturbances, disregulated emotions, suicidally high levels of risk taking, isolation,avoidant attachment. His extreme fluency in cultures and languages, has to have those. Much other stuff. There is a lot that just has to be there, no matter how simple you want him to be. 

Things change.

[Tenshinhan]

4 hours ago, Affogato said:

Well, Superman has a healthy attachment style. He values family. He has firm boundaries, and respects the boundaries of others. He is nort using x ray vision to peep through clothing.  He saves people. Bridges collapsing, etc. on the other hand he personally is the reason a lot of villains attack and do a lot of damage. His family is often endangered. He is living a lie with people he respects. He could gather wealth and create foundations that would solve many of humanity’s problems, but he chooses not to, in part (probably) because it would disrupt his private life. (Mind you I’m not saying he solve the problems for us, which would weaken us. I’m saying facilitating). Abd of course, if he ever decides to steal or kill, easy for him to do that. He juggles this daily. Not to mention the trolley problem, which crisis do I avert this time. Do I save the plane full of doctors or the refugee camp full of kids? But these decisions all the time. 
 

so that creates a morally complex character. 

You can say this about just about any other character in DC or Marvel.  It's not unique to Superman or to DC.

 

1 hour ago, Affogato said:

A lot of it is that things  are baked into the characters. Batman’s complex PTSD. Anger, sleep disturbances, disregulated emotions, suicidally high levels of risk taking, isolation,avoidant attachment. His extreme fluency in cultures and languages, has to have those. Much other stuff. There is a lot that just has to be there, no matter how simple you want him to be. 

None of what you mentioned is baked into the character.  Batman being written to those extremes has only ever been a thing within the last thirty years.  And even then, they are not the defining characteristics of the character, not by a long shot.

 

1 hour ago, baldryanr said:

Things change.

 

They don't change that much.  Again, the defining characteristics of all the characters have existed since their original incarnations.  Batman in the 50s/60s wasn't any more or any less "complex" than in any other era or incarnation.

 

1 hour ago, baldryanr said:

 

 

Edited October 7 by Tenshinhan

[ICantDoThatDave]

6 hours ago, Affogato said:

Well, Superman has a healthy attachment style. He values family. He has firm boundaries, and respects the boundaries of others. He is nort using x ray vision to peep through clothing.

To be fair, in regards to the various Superman movies, he did do this in Superman Returns, where he spied on Lois's life.

Granted I think that movie was... poop, so in general I agree that that's HOW he should be portrayed, but there are absolutely instances where he.... well hasn't been portrayed... well.

[Affogato]

8 hours ago, Tenshinhan said:

You can say this about just about any other character in DC or Marvel.  It's not unique to Superman or to DC.

 

None of what you mentioned is baked into the character.  Batman being written to those extremes has only ever been a thing within the last thirty years.  And even then, they are not the defining characteristics of the character, not by a long shot.

 

They don't change that much.  Again, the defining characteristics of all the characters have existed since their original incarnations.  Batman in the 50s/60s wasn't any more or any less "complex" than in any other era or incarnation.

 

 

Yes, well. Batman’s defining moment was losing his parents in that alley. He runs from it around the world and learns to be string enough to fight. So from the beginning he is defi ed by his trauma. But when you are writing a story using that character you have a lot to go on and you can go shallow or deep. He can be a pretty interesting character. 

[tv echo]

(source)

[scarynikki12]

Kyle Chandler's hair will be an excellent Hal Jordan.

 

[Bruinsfan]

On 9/2/2024 at 7:52 PM, Fool to cry said:

I don't know why but it's true.

For me, it's because the iconic DC characters were the ones I read about most as a kid, so they're the ones more tightly bound up in my love of comics. The MCU's worst movies tend to feature heroes I don't care about that much (sorry, Iron Man and Ant Man), whereas when DC stinks up the theater it's often marquee characters like Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman that are center stage.

[tv echo]

Connie Nielsen Thinks ‘It’s Crazy’ Wonder Woman 3 with Gal Gadot Isn’t Happening
By Don Kaye   October 10, 2024
https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/connie-nielsen-its-crazy-wonder-woman-3-gal-gadot-isnt-happening/ 

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“I think it’s crazy. I mean, frankly, I don’t understand it,” Nielsen tells us while sitting down to discuss another of her beloved roles, the Roman noble Lucilla who will be returning in Gladiator II next month. “[Wonder Woman] made $800 million just in the movie theaters, and it has an enormous and passionate, passionate fan base. These are spectacular films, and there’s just no reason I can understand whatsoever for not investing in that. If I were a business person, I would say that’s money on the table. It’s right there. Plus every time we’ve done it, [it was] with budgets that were way smaller than any of the other DC budgets.”
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“It’s a pity,” Nielsen laments. “I really hope that they change their minds, and that they realize this is crazy. This is a billion dollars that is lying on the table. Not claiming those fans and making them happy is something I just don’t really understand at all.”

[ICantDoThatDave]

That's certainly... a take.  Is Connie Nielson not aware that...

1) Wonder Woman 1984 happened? I mean, Joker made a billion dollars, but there's certainly not going to be a Joker 3 either.

2) James Gunn is rebooting the whole DCU?

 

[tv echo]

(source)

[BetterButter]

[Trini]

Krypto!

 

[tv echo]

DC Studios co-head James Gunn explains how DC onscreen canon actually works now that Creature Commandos hits the restart button
Graeme McMillan   Oct 19, 2024
https://www.thepopverse.com/live-tv-creature-commandos-dc-canon-james-gunn-new-york-comic-con-2024-nycc-2024 

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I don’t think it’s unfair to say that some people might be a little confused about how “new” the new onscreen DCU actually is. After all, everything starts fresh with December’s Max series Creature Commandos, but that series… is technically a sequel to both 2021’s The Suicide Squad and 2022’s Peacemaker spin-off…? Talking at New York Comic Con 2024, DC Studios co-chair (and writer/director of The Suicide Squad, Peacemaker and Creature Commandos) James Gunn explained how DCU canon officially works. Kind of.

“Well, I mean, it's really, for me, it's a first and foremost about story,” Gunn told the crowd at the Javits Center during the Saturday afternoon panel. “We don't want anybody coming to Creature Commandos and going, 'Oh, you have to watch The Suicide Squad to understand what happened to Creature Commandos! Oh, you have to watch Peacemaker!' We want people to be able to come in this totally blind and they're totally excited by it. So there's nothing that isn't explained in the show itself. However, there are references to some other things that happened in the past, and those things then become canon in the DCU, because we mentioned that in this show. So we have references to Peacemaker situations. We learned a little bit that, you know, your son died. We learned that, you know, other things that have happened in the past in other media have still happened.”

As confusing as that might seem on first blush, it’s actually more straightforward than it seems. Basically, nothing is actual canon outside before Creature Commandos… although versions of other, earlier shows and movies might have happened, but they will not be considered canonical until they’re referenced explicitly in the new canon.

Or, to put it another way: Creature Commandos is the new status quo, and everything else is someone else’s misremembering of earlier events and about as reliable as your untrustworthy older cousin telling you things when you were a kid.

Edited October 20 by tv echo

[tv echo]

James Gunn Talks SUPERMAN Trailer Release And Shares SUPERGIRL, LANTERNS, And DCU Continuity Updates
By Josh Wilding   Oct 20, 2024
https://comicbookmovie.com/superman/james-gunn-talks-superman-trailer-release-and-shares-supergirl-lanterns-and-dcu-continuity-updates-a214074#gs.gxrz9j 

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The filmmaker started by promising that Superman star David Coresnwet "is going to blow people the f*** away." Gunn added, "He's the best physical action star I've probably ever worked with. Rachel Brosnahan, people are going to die for her as well."

As for when we'll get a sneak peek in the coming months, the DC Studios co-CEO noted, "There's no trailer yet...it won't be too long, but it won't be too soon." 
*  *  *
Gunn also shared news on Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, teasing: "We start shooting in England in January. I just saw the screen test with Milly Alcock. It's based on Tom King's Woman of Tomorrow." 

"Ana [Nogueria] came and pitched the story, and it was just one of the best pitches I’ve ever heard," he continued. "She immediately wrote a first draft that was great, and it just got better and better." Gunn added that he recently watched Alcock's screen tests with actresses trying out for Ruthye.
*  *  *
As for Lanterns, Gunn revealed that he nearly cast Aaron Pierre as Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3's Adam Warlock and said he and Kyle Chandler are "so good together as Hal and John that you will be hooked on the two of them the moment they hit the screen."
*  *  *
"Every project of DC Studios will be its own thing. Everything is going tremendously well," he promised. "Superman, Supergirl, Lanterns. They are a part of this cinematic universe, but every one of those things will be very different aesthetically."

Gunn added, "We learn that other things that have happened in the past in other media have still happened. There are references to things that happened in the past. And those references then become canon in the DCU because we mention them."

Edited October 20 by tv echo

[tv echo]

Edited October 20 by tv echo

[Trini]

More Supergirl casting:

'‘Supergirl’ Finds Her Ruthye Marye Knoll In... Eve Ridley'

 

[tv echo]

James Gunn Was Asked To Confirm If The DCU's Green Arrow Will Be 'Comic Accurate,' And His Response Got Me Chuckling
By Adam Holmes  Nov 20, 2024
https://www.cinemablend.com/superheroes/james-gunn-asked-confirm-dcu-green-arrow-comic-accurate-response-chuckling 

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This exchange happened on Threads, where a fan brought up that while one can “assume” Green Arrow will appear in the DC Universe, they were wondering how faithful he would be to the source material, noting that Stephen Amell’s Oliver Queen from Arrow was “basically Batman, not GA.” Gunn answered, “I suppose it depends on what you mean by “comic accurate,” and then shared two images of Green Arrow-related comic book panels.

The first came from the Golden Age of Comics, where the Emerald Archer was driving around in his uncomfortably phallic-looking Arrowplane racer. The second comes from a Scooby-Doo comic book where Green Arrow is shooting at the Mystery Inc. gang and naming off rogues gallery members Merlyn the Archer, Count Vertigo and Clock King, the latter of whom Green Lantern mocks. Of all the comic book panels James Gunn could have shared without any context, I find it hilarious that he picked these ones, and can see where he’s coming from that not everything from the comics needs to be depicted in live-action.

Edited Yest. at 03:32 PM by tv echo

[Anduin]

If it was up to me, I'd be tempted to use the racer. Good thing it isn't. :)

[BetterButter]

Daniel Craig Circling DC Studios’ ‘Sgt. Rock’ With Director Luca Guadagnino