James Gunn is looking at his next film after Superman and won’t reveal what it is yet because other studios might copy it for themselves. He is the co-president of DC Studios and oversees the overarching development of the DCU, being very hands-on by writing and directing Superman. Even though many titles were announced in January 2023, Gunn’s next film will be a previously unannounced title, one that he was worried other studios might try to copy, like when Marvel Studios made Captain America: Civil War after Warner Bros. announced Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice. Speaking with Entertainment Weekly, Gunn teased his next DCU film following Superman. Gunn has previously said it won’t be a traditional Superman sequel, but has been vague about what exactly the concept is. Gunn revealed it is not one of the previously announced titles for the “Gods and Monsters” slate. In fact, it is a top-secret film that has been planned since that initial slate but was kept off the schedule out of concerns that another rival studio might copy it. Gunn said:
“My favorite thing has not been announced at all. One of the scripts people kind of know about. My script people don’t know about. The other script people don’t know about. So it’s mostly stuff people don’t know about…. A couple of those things [announced in January 2023] are in pretty good shape in terms of coming up, but there was one thing that I knew about from the very beginning, that when I pitched to David Zaslav what the DCU would be, I pitched to him, but we did not announce in that first meeting because I felt like it was too easy to rip off by another company. And so that’s one of the main things.”

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What Is James Gunn’s Top Secret DCU Movie?

Warner Bros.

Fans likely won’t know what James Gunn’s next DCU film is until after Superman opens in theaters, but there are plenty of potential titles it could be. The popular fan theory is that it is an adaptation of 1996’s Kingdom Come, which sees Superman coming out of retirement to battle a new cynical batch of younger heroes and restore a classic sense of superheroism. Gunn has already pulled inspiration from the Kingdom Come Superman S-shield for his DCU Superman logo. He could spin it to have a younger Superman reminding older, cynical heroes why they fight. It would certainly fit Gunn’s description of his next DCU film, which is not a traditional Superman follow-up, as this would put Superman front and center in a larger DC story. One potential title could be The Terrifics, a team of DC superheroes meant to mirror Marvel’s Fantastic Four. Two of the four members of The Terrifics, Mister Terrific and Metamorpho, are set to appear in Superman. However, if the fear were that a competitor like Marvel could easily copy them, then the Terrifics wouldn’t fit that bill since the team itself is a homage to The Fantastic Four, and Marvel Studios had been working on the superhero team’s MCU film since before Gunn was hired to oversee the DCU. There are even more DC titles it could be. Gunn is a big fan of Tom King’s work and has adapted Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow (now titled Supergirl) and Mister Miracle. It could also be an adaptation of the 2020 Adam Strange-centric miniseries Strange Adventures. There is Mystic U, DC’s spin on a Hogwarts-like school of magic users that includes Zatanna, which could be a parallel to Marvel’s Strange Academy, a planned Disney+ series now seemingly on hold. It could even be an element like Dinosaur Island, a concept that would mirror Jurassic Park, but one that Universal Pictures has not been taking full advantage of. Superheroes fighting dinosaurs sounds like a billion-dollar movie idea that no one has taken advantage of, shockingly. There are many exciting titles that James Gunn could be playing for this growing DCU, and it is exciting to watch it grow with each new entry. Source: Entertainment Weekly

Superman

Release Date

July 11, 2025

Director

James Gunn

Producers

Lars P. Winther, Peter Safran