James Gunn's DCU Plans Take Inspiration From DC's Animated Series
The DC Universe is undergoing its own Crisis event, with as much chaos surrounding what the franchise will and will not look like in the near future as a party organized by Joker. There's been cancellations, firings, fights with Dwayne Johnson, and poor-taste trickery about actors returning to roles without a single deal in place.
The thing is, as bad as the overall DC universe has been at times, we were just in the middle of a rather good run. Ever since the films stopped trying to copy Marvel and its interconnected universe, we've got some rather good (or at least interesting) films based on an eclectic collection of characters that would never have made it to the screen otherwise. Characters like Black Canary and Black Mask in "Birds of Prey," or the new version of Riddler in "The Batman," or King Shark in "The Suicide Squad." And this is not even counting the announced Blue Bettle film or having Firefly as the villain in the canceled "Batgirl" movie.
Now, we're back to competing with Marvel with a cinematic universe where everything has to be connected and uniform. Still, it doesn't seem like James Gunn and Peter Safran are completely shutting the door to experimentation. There are already plans for Elseworlds projects unconnected to the main DC universe, and now, Gunn says he is taking inspiration from the best when it comes to his new interconnected universe because he's looking at the DC animated series.
A world of possibilities
James Gunn took to Twitter to once again answer questions about the new DC Universe, giving a resounding "Definitely" when asked if animated DC shows like "Justice League Unlimited" and "Young Justice" served as inspiration for the new DC Universe.
Shows like "Justice League Unlimited," "Batman: The Animated Series" and "Young Justice" remain the best example of superhero stories that capture the feeling of an actual comic book. They are colorful, silly when they have to, absurd and fantastical, but serious, earnest, uncynical, and all-around fantastic.
Take "Young Justice," a show with serialized storytelling across several seasons that still finds a way to make individual episodes feel important, standalone, and fun.
It also knows how to embrace every aspect and corner of the DC universe, from the magic, to the horror, to the cosmic, even adapting Jack Kirby's "Fourth World" in exciting ways, all while serving as a blueprint for telling multigenerational superhero stories that are about legacy, and new people taking up the mantle of the old heroes.
Rather than try to emulate live-action movies, Gunn and his team should definitely look towards the animated world for inspiration in translating the cartoonish world of comic books to the big screen.