The last decade of DC entertainment has been widely recognized for its inconsistency and lack of cohesion, most notably in its feature film department. When James Gunn, director of Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy, was hired along with Peter Safran to head DC Studios, he announced a fresh start for DC’s cinematic universe with an emphasis on interconnected storytelling backed by a clear plan mapped out for the next ten years. What fans didn’t expect is that this plan would also include DC’s animation and video game projects, two areas that had traditionally remained separate from one another and from DC’s cinematic universe.
James Gunn’s plan for DC’s interconnected universe will come in parts, with Part One being “Gods and Monsters,” and will feature new Superman, Batman and Supergirl films beginning in 2025. On how games will weave into this plan, Gunn said in an interview with DC.com:
“It’s not like we’re going to have the Superman movie come out and have this Superman game come out. It’s more like we’ll have the Superman film come out, then maybe two years later, we have the Supergirl movie coming out. So, what’s the story in between there? Is there a Krypto game that we can play that comes in between them? Something that’s still set in the world with these characters, but is its own thing. We want to give the prominence to games that they deserve.”
It seems DC’s upcoming games will be used as world-building tools to fill the gaps between films and animated projects. Gunn’s approach to include DC’s games, movies, television, and animated projects has received criticism, most notably from the director of Marvel’s Midnight Suns, Jake Solomon, that it is unrealistic to expect games to be made within the same timeframe as a movie due to their longer development schedules:
However, Gunn has responded that the timeline issues won’t be a problem due to how ahead in time DC’s upcoming plan stretches into. Furthermore, Gunn has also responded “no” to the idea that these games are vital pieces needed to understand DC’s overarching story, and that the games can be ignored for film-exclusive viewers.