The DCU is in motion with the release of Creature Commandos, Superman, and the unfolding Peacemaker season two, but what is the big planned pay-off for it – and could that pay-off be connected in anyway to James Gunn’s viral social media picture with Zack Snyder? Decoding James Gunn’s blueprint for the DCU has been the bane of every nerd’s existence, especially with Gunn and Snyder throwing such a twist into the mix and stirring widespread speculation of the latter making a return to DC (to say nothing of the pair’s respective fanbase’s interpreting the picture in ways that fit the narrative aligned with either one).
The Gunn-Snyder picture received some clarity with the duo voicing themselves on an episode of Rick & Morty a few months later, but while this was what ultimately brought them together for the picture, that doesn’t seem likely to be the entirety of its context. The fact of the matter is that Gunn and Snyder both undoubtedly knew that it would cause a huge stir online and in the media, at a time when Gunn’s DCU is just barely starting to get off the ground and attempting to leave Snyder’s DCEU behind – with their photo together therefore completely undercutting that very mandate.
But what if Gunn and Snyder’s photo together was a bigger signal of things to come? What if the meeting of two DC filmmakers it showed might be a subtle hint that a meeting of two DC universes might be a project Gunn has in mind under the DC Studios banner? And what if it plays right into a secret DC Studios project that Gunn has alluded to, but which he has thus far kept entirely under wraps? Could it be that project might involve a crossover through the many doorways of DC’s multiverse between Gunn’s DCU and Snyder’s DCEU, bringing their individual characters together in clash of Justice Leagues, a battle against a larger threat, or both?
Gunn’s DCU Is Building Rather Fast (But Why?)
With the DCU in full swing after the release of Superman, one thing that has begun to stand out is how swiftly numerous projects and the overall momentum of the universe is getting underway, especially with Superman’s fast-tracked sequel, Man of Tomorrow. With Man of Tomorrow slated to hit theaters almost exactly two years to the day after Superman’s release, coming on the heels of Peacemaker season two’s multiverse story, and just a year after the 2026 release of Supergirl, it is hard to miss the speed at which the DCU’s production and release timeline has been moving, and how much Superman himself is leading the way of that.
Amid that swiftness is also the vagueness of how Gunn intends to pay-off the DCU’s ten-year plan. Gunn has notably teased an extremely secretive DCU project that he has yet to unveil other than describing it as his “favorite” DC Studios project (via Variety). Moreover, in that Variety interview, Gunn also stated that he has gone out of his way to keep that secret project under lock and key “because I felt like it was too easy to rip off by another company.” Presumably, “another company” is likely “Marvel Studios” in this context, but with Gunn being so secretive about it compared to DC Studios numerous other projects on the docket, that could suggest that it could entail some kind of crossover of alternate realities with how central that concept has become for both DC and Marvel on film.
If only there were another DC cinematic universe for the DCU to crossover with, the planning of which would surely necessitate such secrecy on Gunn’s part…
The Snyder-Gunn Picture Heard ‘Round The World
One of the biggest twists in the lead up to Superman’s theatrical release was the aforementioned picture Gunn released on social media of himself with Zack Snyder, Gunn commending Snyder as a “consummate filmmaker (and a doubly consummate storyteller)”. Needless to say, fans are still trying to dissect the meaning behind that picture, and while Gunn and Snyder’s Rick & Morty appearance is reportedly what brought the two together to take the picture in the first place, Snyder and Gunn’s obvious awareness of the reaction the picture would spark (along with the episode in question airing just days before the theatrical release of Superman) makes it evident that there was surely some kind of teasing going on with Gunn’s social media post.
Before you dismiss the above as mere tin foil hat fanboy talk, the idea of Snyder working on a project under DC Studios is one that has been proposed, or at least not denied, right from the horse’s mouth. Speaking to Variety after sharing the picture with Snyder to social media, Gunn replied to the question of whether he and Snyder had discussed any future collaborations with the coy reply that he and Snyder “sometimes talk about different things”. While that leaves a wide chasm of interpretation about what that may or may not entail, that could potentially involve one DC Studios project with Gunn and Snyder that would be a wild curveball from both.
Gunn’s Secret Project Could Be A DCU-DCEU Crossover With Snyder
While the idea of James Gunn’s freshly started DCU crossing over with the Snyderverse might seem far fetched to many (especially to the two director’s most devoted fans and many in the media), to quote the sagely Morpheus, is it really so hard to believe? Snyder and Gunn’s viral picture together stirred the pot in a manner that both surely saw coming, and the two already have a working relationship with their respective director and screenwriter roles on 2004’s Dawn of the Dead. The idea of disparate comic book movie universes crossing over might also have seemed far-fetched a decade ago, but after Spider-Man: No Way Home, The Flash, and the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars, it is becoming increasingly absurd to write off such possibilities, and the idea that any such crossovers cannot be facilitated is becoming harder and harder to take seriously with the precedent already set for it.
There’s also the role that both Superman and Peacemaker season two themselves are playing in their roles as the introductory projects for the DCU. Superman introduced the concept of pocket universes as a plot device being put to use by Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult), literally tearing Metropolis in two with a dimensional rift, with Mister Terrific (Edi Gathegi) also going into detail on the reality-shattering possibilities of even the tiniest error in creating a pocket universe like Lex Luthor’s.
Peacemaker season two is using the pocket universe concept even more extensively, with John Cena’s toilet seat-helmeted anti-hero running into one of his doppelgangers from another reality, and the show establishing from the get-go that at least 100 parallel universes co-exist in the known multiverse as established on the show. Where it gets even more interesting is in the upcoming final three episodes of Peacemaker season two, which Gunn has teased as being particularly wild and twist heavy while also holding back on releasing press screeners for, Gunn even saying he hasn’t even shown his own publicist the last three episodes (via GamesRadar).
With the combination of the multiverse and pocket universe’s early roles in the DCU’s intro, whatever big reveals unfold in the final three episodes of Peacemaker season two look increasingly curious. Adding in Gunn’s friendly social pic with Snyder, the retcon of the Justice League’s cameo in season one to that of the Justice Gang in season two, and Gunn’s own admission that he and Snyder “sometimes talk about different things” on a collaborative level, the possibility of DCEU characters being on the other side of one of the pocket universe portals that Peacemaker walks through is not only tantalizing, but is completely plausible with the very foundation established in the DCU’s intro.
While something as simple as Ezra Miller’s Flash zooming in to try to get back to his own George Clooney-less universe or Jason Momoa’s Lobo coming face-to-face with Momoa’s Aquaman, such an acknowledgment of the DCU’s predecessor franchise could be far more than a one-off nod to Snyder fans of the “see, it’s still out there” variety, but a hint of a much larger crossover between the two realities.
What Could The DCU-DCEU Crossover Be Like (A DC Video Game Already Showed Us)
While a DCEU-DCU crossover project is certainly an exciting comic book movie story of an undoubtedly epic scale, the question of what form it would take springs to mind, and funnily enough, the 2008 video game Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe might actually show the exact template for it. In Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe, Darkseid and Shao Kahn are both sent through dimensional portals simultaneously by Superman and Raiden, causing them to merge into the singular being Dark Kahn. In turn, this causes the DC Universe to begin to merge with Earthrealm, with the heroes of both universes believing the other to be the aggressor. Eventually, Superman and Raiden learn both sides have been duped by Dark Kahn, leading them to team-up to defeat the merged villain, with Darkseid being sent to the Netherrealm while Shao Kahn is banished to the Phantom Zone.
That exact story structure could splendidly facilitate a DCU-DCEU crossover movie or mini-series, with a villain like Darkseid, the Anti-Monitor, or Brainiac causing a calamity to splice the two universes into one, pitting the DCU and DCEU heroes against one another at first, before they eventually come to realize their worlds face a common threat, leading them to join forces. Adding to the intrigue of a DCU-DCEU crossover would be the potential for Gunn and Snyder to directly collaborate, with each overseeing their respective hero roster’s role in the story, which would work especially well if played out as an HBO Max limited series. As an epic scale multiverse crossover of two DC movie universes, a Gunn-Snyder collaborative project of this nature could really be a DC movie or series like the world has never seen, and just as importantly, could solve the biggest problem that has plagued DC films for nearly a decade.
Why A DCU-DCEU Crossover Project Could Be A Fantastic Idea
Let’s face facts – the Snyderverse is never going to go away. However polarizing Snyder’s Man of Steel, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, and Zack Snyder’s Justice League may be, the impact they’ve left is one that few, if any, superhero movies have ever managed to make with such enduring longevity. Coupled with the bitter circumstances of how Snyder’s planned story and epic finale were derailed in the first place, the Snyderverse’s legacy is nothing short of a modern legend. That’s also bolstered further by the fact that Snyder’s most ardent detractors, flooding social media daily with their disdain for his DC films and overall body of work (and frequently using Gunn’s DC projects as a cudgel of the “This is how it’s supposed to be done!” variety) have arguably done a far better job than Snyder’s fans of keeping the Snyderverse front and center in all things DC – quite an accomplishment, indeed, with Snyder’s fanbase unrivaled in their ability to hashtag in the millions.
The point stands that, despite Superman’s box office success, its failure to match the take of Man of Steel, Batman v Superman, Wonder Woman, or Aquaman despite widespread (and arguably short-sighted) predictions in the press of it landing in the $800 million to $1 billion range is clear evidence, alongside the acrid conversation constantly hovering over DC on film, that the scars of the DC’s tumultuous cinematic history of the last decade remain as palpable as ever. Those scars, in turn, embody a ceiling that DC has yet to find a way to break through, and one that it likely never will without properly reconciling with the wounds of its past. That’s where a potential collaboration between Gunn and Snyder uniting the pair’s respective DC Universes comes into play not only as a behemoth of a comic book movie or series that would be virtually guaranteed to draw maximum eyeballs, but as a means to finally heal the wounds that still linger, and finally enable DC on film to progress forward in a way that unites its extremely fractured fanbase and fickle general audience.
Zack Snyder’s Justice League vs. James Gunn’s Justice Gang in a crossover of DC Universes that forces them team-up against a larger threat to both. If that’s not the most meta DC Studios project that could possibly be on the docket, nothing is. Hopefully, it could also be one of the many different things that Gunn and Snyder “sometimes talk about”.
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