James Gunn Confirmed That Two Characters From Superman's Hall Of Justice Mural Will Return - But Where?

Now that a couple of weeks have passed and heads have cooled down from the opening weekend hype, we can start to just admit publicly that, yes, James Gunn's "Superman" is pretty good. Is this the second coming of Richard Donner's original "Superman" from 1978, or as good as the Fleischer Superman cartoons? Not really. Is it a silly and fun return to form for the character after more than a decade of depressingly bleak Jesus allegories and "Superman as evil" what-ifs? Yes. Does it have arguably the single best portrayal of Jimmy Olsen on screen? Unquestionably. Does "Superman" work as a great introduction to a brand new DC Universe and makes it stand out from Marvel? Absolutely.

This last bit is important because there was a lot of speculation about what would happen if "Superman" didn't deliver the goods and how the DC Universe could build up from a failed introduction like the last time DC tried to start a cinematic universe. Thankfully, "Superman" is not just a fun movie, but it does for DC what "The Avengers" did for Marvel in bringing together different characters, different tones, and introducing a vast world that could support all kinds of stories. Seeing David Corenswet's Superman deal with Lex Luthor is already entertaining, but doing all that while Edi Gathegi's Mister Terrific, Nathan Fillion's Guy Gardner and Isabela Merced's Hawkgirl help save the day makes the movie stand out as part of a much bigger world.

In what is possibly the best Easter egg in the movie, we get a glimpse at the history of the DC Universe in a mural that's inside the Hall of Justice, the headquarters of the Justice Gang. James Gunn has already teased the existence of a popular classic hero in the DC Universe through his appearance in the mural, and now he's teasing the importance of two other heroes for the future of the franchise.

After sharing the whole mural in full HD on social media for fans to obsess over, Gunn talked to IGN about the meaning of the mural for the future. "I will just say that in one of our scripts we're working on, two of those characters are kind of important," Gunn teased, without specifying which two.

There are too many heroes in the mural to guess which two Gunn may be referring to without spending thousands of words, but the fact that it's more than one is quite interesting. A relatively easier ask is to try and guess what script he's referring to. Though there are more scripts and concepts being developed than are confirmed and announced, we do know of at least a few projects being currently written — including the Wonder Woman movie, a Sgt. Rock film, Batman feature "The Brave and the Bold," and a Booster Gold TV pilot. 

Out of all these, Sgt. Rock and Booster Gold are the most promising. The former can be a period piece involving wartime heroes like Phantom Lady (member of the Freedom Fighters). Booster Gold is more interesting — and likely, given that the character literally comes from the future and has vast knowledge of superheroes from the past. A show based on the character could go the "Legends of Tomorrow" route and have the titular character go on time-traveling adventures, meeting with different heroes from across the history of the DC Universe.

Alternatively, James Gunn could lean on what's one of DC's biggest strengths and deliver a movie or TV show exploring heroes from the past. I argued in favor of showing us the Justice Society of America, but what could truly make this cinematic universe unlike any other is to treat it as a fleshed-out universe with a long history. Given the focus on comic books as influence and inspiration, why not make an actual adaptation of Mark Waid's "New History of the DC Universe" limited series and treat it as an in-universe documentary of the history of metahumans? In an era where Marvel is promising to slow down on interconnectivity, giving audiences the choice of catching up on everything a cinematic universe has to offer or not is becoming important. Something like this, which is great for worldbuilding but not necessarily essential to understand the next chapter in the DC Universe, could be a great way of making DC stand out.

What's interesting about the heroes portrayed in the mural is the kind of powers on display. First, we have confirmation of magic being real in the DC Universe via Zatara the magician (father of Zatanna and mentor to Bruce Wayne) and Madame Xanadu appearing. Granted, we did get Circe the Amazonian sorceress in season 1 of "Creature Commandos," but it's nice to see DC doubling down on not just the sci-fi but also the supernatural. Could this be the start of the road to a "Justice League Dark" project in the future? I, for one, would love to see it.

Also very curious is the appearance of what seems to be Max Mercury the speedster, who is actually represented twice: once as Windrunner and then also as Max Mercury. This seems to be in line with the idea from the comics that he keeps jumping through time and acting as different heroes. Whether James Gunn simply wants to avoid bringing The Flash back, or whether the plan is to have several speedsters in play, a time-traveling one is definitely a cool idea to introduce to a superhero cinematic universe.

At the very least, this is a sign that the future is bright and full of possibilities for the DC Universe.