SUPERMAN Flies High, So What’s Next for the DCU?

Published: July 22, 2025

Theater popcorn movie — Photo by Felipe Bustillo via Unsplash

By Mallory Mattingly

After many failed films, the DC Universe is back on the map with the No. 1 movie in the world — SUPERMAN — which has already pulled $250 million at the box office worldwide.

But despite SUPERMAN’s overwhelming success, DC Studios head and SUPERMAN director James Gunn says upcoming DCU projects won’t follow its example stylistically.

“We’ve got CLAYFACE we’re making, which is, like, a totally different thing,” Gunn told CBS Mornings. “Although it’s in the same universe, it’s a complete horror film. And you know, that’s one of the things that we want to do. There’s not a company style.”

“It’s not like every movie is going to be like SUPERMAN, the original,” he continued. “The artists and the directors and the writers that create each one will bring their own sense to it. Just like I’m looking at all your comics over there. Look at how totally different they look, how different Superman looks, at how these things look different. And so it’s like, that’s what we want to bring to the films, because we don’t want people being bored.”

PEACEMAKER Season 2 is next up for the franchise, followed by a SUPERGIRL movie and LANTERNS TV series, Variety reported.

@cbsmornings

James Gunn tells @Vladimir Duthiers that while he still doesn’t know what Batman’s costume is going to look like, fans can expect a diverse and exciting lineup of upcoming DC projects, each bringing its own unique style: “There’s not a company style. It’s not like every movie is going to be like ‘Superman.'” #superman #superman2025 #jamesgunn #batman #supergirl #dc

♬ original sound – CBS Mornings

The comic books majorly inspired Gunn’s SUPERMAN, saying that “over the years, we haven’t really had a Superman movie that reflects what I experienced reading comics growing up.”

“When I started reading comics, I was three or four years old — I learned to read through comics,” he revealed. “I wasn’t entering a world where I’m seeing Superman landing in a spaceship, just him alone among a bunch of human beings. I was seeing a world where Superman had superhero friends and he had a Superman family, and there were robots and giant monsters and he had a flying dog and technology so extreme, it seemed like sorcery.”

Gunn wanted capture the Superman comic’s action-packed world in his new movie.

“I wanted to bring that world to the screen,” he explained. “I thought that would be fun in a different way, while also focusing on a Superman that’s a little more personal and a little bit more flawed, that has a personal struggle about the way he’s looking at himself throughout this movie.”

Movieguide® praised SUPERMAN’s “strong moral pro-life worldview” while also advising caution for violence, obscenities and some thematic issues:

Writer/Director James Gunn packs SUPERMAN with lots of exciting physical and emotional jeopardy. The movie also has some funny moments. Also, some heartfelt content is morally uplifting. However, the movie changes Superman’s origin story in a significant way that destroys the original story’s biblical allusions to Moses and Jesus. Also, it creates a politically correct pro-immigration theme. Ironically, the movie contradicts this by showing that it’s Superman’s American, non-immigrant parents who make Superman a good guy. SUPERMAN has scary action violence, multiple obscenities and two gratuitous strong profanities.

As DC and Gunn venture into new projects, they should keep in mind that movies “focusing on family-friendly, uplifting content that promote a moral, biblical worldview” always perform better at the box office, per Movieguide®’s research.

SUPERMAN is now playing in theaters across the country.

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