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SYFY WIRE James Gunn

James Gunn & Peter Safran mapping out longterm plan for 'one great overarching' DCEU story

But will those plans include a standalone film for King Shark?

By Vanessa Armstrong
James Gunn GETTY

James Gunn and Peter Safran have only been in their new roles as head of all DC film and television projects since the beginning of November, but that doesn’t mean that the two haven’t been busy. 

Gunn and Safran joined Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav on a virtual town hall this Thursday (via The Hollywood Reporter) and shared why they’re so excited about their new positions and the work they’ve already done so far. And it sounds like they have a plan.

“This was such a unique opportunity to tell one great overarching story,” Safran said during the virtual event. “One beautiful big story across film, television, gaming, live-action, and animation.”

RELATED: Has DC finally found its Kevin Feige? James Gunn takes over as creative head of DC film, TV projects

“The opportunity to make DC as great as it can be and as it should be — that is the reason why I’m doing this job, because I know that Peter and I can do that,” added Gunn. “We spent the past couple days with a group of some of the best thinkers in the industry, the best writers in the industry, starting to map out that eight to 10-year plan of what it’s going to look like in theater, in TV, in animation, across the board for these characters.” 

Gunn didn’t share any details of what they’ve mapped out in this overarching plan, though given his penchant for bringing relatively unknown comic book characters like Polka-Dot Man and King Shark to the big screen, odds are good we’ll see some obscure characters added to the DC Extended Universe in the next decade.

That doesn’t mean, however, that Gunn eschews the big DC players. “I love Superman, and I love Batman,” he said. “I love their interaction. I love the ways in which they’re the same and the ways in which they are completely different.”

Sadly, it will likely be awhile until we’ll see Safran and Gunn’s plan unfold, as they’re only in the early days of their time at Warner Bros. Discovery. We do have the promise from Henry Cavill, however, that he’s “back as Superman,” so odds are good that he’ll be donning the red cape sooner rather than later. 

Looking for more superhero action in the meantime? Stream Fantastic Four and more on Peacock right now.