After years of attempting to get the franchise up and running, DC Studios co-head James Gunn explains why his attempt at building the DC Universe will be successful this time. The filmmaker is set to wrap up his Marvel Cinematic Universe stint with Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. After that, he will exclusively work as the co-CEO of DC Studios alongside Peter Safran. Since news broke about this latest DCU shakeup, there has been eager anticipation of learning what the franchise's future would look like, and more importantly, whether it will finally have legs to go the distance.

It's no secret that Warner Bros. struggled to find the right approach to the DCU (DCEU then) for years. Considering several failed attempts, however, it's curious what makes this next approach different. Gunn cites his experience with the Guardians of the Galaxy films, which ends with the highly anticipated Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, and the MCU as a major advantage in finally getting the DCU up and running. Read his quote below:

My biggest difference is I've done it before. So I started Guardians 1 with a story of what that trilogy was, where it started and where it ended and it's in that. That story is just the smaller version of doing this. I've been inside a company that did it very well, it's very different than us. [...] So we are telling a big huge central story that is like [the MCU] except for, I think, that we're a lot more planned out than Marvel from the beginning because we’ve gotten a group of writers together to work that story out completely. But we're also creating a universe that is like, you know, Star Wars, where there's different times, different places, different things. Or like Game of Thrones, where characters are a little bit more morally complex.

How Gunn's GOTG & Marvel Experience Helps The New DCU

James Gunn and the Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 team of characters side by side.

Marred with production woes for films like Justice League, not to mention Batgirl's unexpected cancelation despite being almost finished, Gunn and Safran's new reign is expected to course-correct the struggling DCU. Admittedly, there are still those who are skeptical if Gunn is the right person to spearhead this new era of the franchise considering his long working relationship with Marvel. However, that may actually be the missing key that would set the DCU on a victorious path. As Gunn said, he has already successfully built an interconnected story, albeit on a smaller scale, with the Guardians of the Galaxy films. It's also worth noting that he was creatively involved in other Marvel projects including Avengers: Infinity War and Thor: Love and Thunder.

It's also worth noting that Gunn has been privy to how Marvel Studios really works. The MCU's global success has been largely attributed to Kevin Feige's leadership. Gunn seeing that first-hand allowed him to adopt certain ways of doing things that he believes will be a great fit for the DCU and then improve on aspects he deemed Marvel Studios was lacking. Finally, since Gunn was once a filmmaker working on an interconnected franchise, he has an understanding of directors' experiences, including their woes and gripes, in that working situation. This allows him to have better relationships with filmmakers in the DCU. It's no secret that Warner Bros. didn't have the best director retention record for the DCEU, and Gunn can finally make up for that.

Only time will tell if Safran and Gunn's new approach to the DC Universe will finally work. Aside from their plan, there are other elements that would factor into the franchise's success or failure. But for now, the fact that they seem to have a clear vision of what they want the franchise to look like and where they want it to go is reassuring after years of convoluted and confusing storytelling from the old version of the franchise.

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