In case you haven't noticed, there's a substantial shakeup of the DCU (DC Universe) underway. The Warner Bros. Discovery leadership under CEO David Zaslav decided to make sweeping changes, including the surprising cancellation of nearly finished movies like Batgirl.
Additionally, after a long time of relying more on standalone hits like The Joker and The Batman, Zaslav endeavored to follow in Marvel's footsteps to create a unified DCU. Following the decision to axe Batgirl, Zaslav stated:
We have done a reset. There will be a team with a 10-year plan focusing just on DC. It’s very similar to the structure that Alan Horn and Bob Iger put together effectively with Kevin Feige at Disney.
Kevin Feige is known as the golden goose that made the Marvel Cinematic Universe such a massive global phenomenon with his overseeing talent. Finding someone who could even attempt the same feat can't have been easy, and yet last month, Warner Bros. Discovery announced that James Gunn and Peter Safran would be named co-CEO and co-chairmen of the rebranded DC Studios division. More importantly, they would oversee the entirety of DC production, with James Gunn handling creative development and Peter Safran taking care of the business side.
James Gunn is known as the writer and director of movie hits like Guardians of the Galaxy, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, and The Suicide Squad. Most recently, he worked on The Peacemaker TV series (spun off The Suicide Squad) and the Disney+ Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special, while Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is scheduled to hit theaters next year.
Gunn is already hard at work on the so-called DCU Bible, a roadmap for the next few years of DC production across live-action films/TV, animation, and even games. That's what Gunn confirmed on Twitter, anyway.
Yes.
— James Gunn (@JamesGunn) November 27, 2022
It's a surprising turn of events. We knew early on that Warner Bros. Discovery wanted to bolster the output of DC games, but that didn't necessarily point to a connected universe. Marvel itself has never attempted to create a connected universe for games; doing so while taking into account both live action and animation films/TV series certainly sounds complicated, albeit exciting for fans.
It is unclear when games would begin to be connected to the DCU, though. The upcoming Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League open world co-op action/adventure game in development at Rocksteady will be part of the Batman: Arkham universe, and it would be too late to change that anyway, given that it's supposedly coming out in early 2023.
The only other announced DC game is Wonder Woman, the single player open world game in development at Monolith Productions. Announced at The Game Awards 2021, Wonder Woman was said to feature an original story, but the project may still be at a stage where changes can be made if need be, potentially integrating it into the dawning DCU.
About the author: With over two decades of experience in gaming journalism, Alessio Palumbo has led the gaming vertical at Wccftech since August 2015. He started working at a young age for Italian websites like Everyeye.it, Gamestar.it, Nextgame.it, and Multiplayer.it before kickstarting the indie English-language publication Worlds Factory as its founder and Editor in Chief. In the last decade, he has coordinated the overall output of Wccftech's gaming section, managed PR relations, assigned reviews, produced daily news coverage, edited gaming content as needed, and delivered game reviews. Arguably, his trademark content is the long series of exclusive developer interviews that have been cited by Wikipedia and by the biggest news media and gaming publications. His passion for technology also makes him knowledgeable when it comes to gaming hardware and tech. His favorite genres include RPGs, MMORPGs, and action/adventure games.
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