Why Darkseid Won't Be The Main Villain Of James Gunn's DC Universe, Explained

"Superman" kicked off the "Gods and Monsters" era of the DC Universe in typical James Gunn style, introducing a charmingly goofy Man of Steel and taking him on a wild, universe-hopping adventure. But the DCU still lacks a central villain on the scale of, say, a Thanos, and it seems that Gunn will avoid using a very similar villain to the infamous Marvel big bad. That is to say, we won't be seeing Darkseid in the DCU for some time, with Gunn revealing that he considers him too similar to Thanos and doesn't want to repeat what Zack Snyder did with 2021's "Zack Snyder's Justice League."

Darkseid could have easily been a Marvel Comics character. Former Marvel artist and writer Jack Kirby left the company in 1970 for DC, where he debuted his Fourth World, which came with an array of New Gods, including the ruler of the extra-dimensional planet Apokolips. The embodiment of tyrannical evil, Darkseid made his debut in 1970's "Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen" #134 and has since become one of the most feared and infamous antagonists in the DC canon, cropping up in all manner of on-screen media. But it seems he won't be a major part of Gunn's DC Universe.

In an interview hosted by New Rockstars, the DC Studio co-head was asked what he thought about Darkseid and took the opportunity to talk about how the DC Universe might, or might not, use him. "There are aspects of Darkseid in Thanos," he said. "[The two] are obviously very similar; they look very similar. And because of that, I think that [...] using Darkseid as the big bad right now is not necessarily the thing, for a lot of reasons. Because Zack did it so cool in his way and because of Thanos in Marvel."

After Jack Kirby created Darkseid, Marvel writer Jim Starlin essentially took him back, basing his character Thanos on New God Metron before being told by his editor to make him more imposing. He borrowed elements of Darkseid to do so and introduced Thanos in 1973's "Iron Man" #55. Since then, Thanos has served a similar function to Darkseid in the Marvel universe, representing a powerful villain who became somewhat of an arch nemesis for the Avengers just as Darkseid did for the Justice League. Once the character was used as the big bad in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, he gained widespread cultural recognition, eclipsing his DC counterpart in that regard. This is partly why James Gunn is reluctant to use Darkseid in the DC Universe. He would represent a very similar threat to Thanos, and as such would make Gunn's "Gods and Monsters" feel too similar to Marvel's Infinity Saga.

Meanwhile, while he hasn't amassed the pop culture recognition of Thanos, Darkseid has been widely used throughout DC comics and other media. In the 90s, the character was introduced to solve an ongoing problem with "Superman: The Animated Series," kicking off his DC Animated Universe tenure, during which time he was voiced by Michael Ironside. A live-action version showed up in the tenth and final season of "Smallville" in 2010 before the villain was mentioned in 2017's "Justice League," a box office disaster that doomed the DCEU. Another live-action Darkseid was then introduced in the fascinating (if not entirely successful) experiment "Zack Snyder's Justice League." As such, while he might not be Thanos-level popular, it's not as if DC has been keeping Darkseid under wraps, and this is the other reason Gunn won't be using him as the main DC Universe antagonist.

James Gunn seems pretty sure that whoever the big bad of the DC Universe becomes, it won't be Darkseid. Rather, it seems the closest we'll get to the character will be when one of the best DC comics ever becomes a show in the form of "Mr. Miracle." The adult animated series is based on writer Tom King and artist Mitch Gerads' 2018 mini-series, and according to Gunn, it's here we'll get a look at the DC Studios version of Jack Kirby's Fourth World.

"There's Kirby's whole world, which he created, which is totally fascinating," the director told New Rockstars. "So, that's a huge part of it. It's the New Gods in general that [are] to me, so interesting, which we're dealing with, with Mr. Miracle.'" With that in mind, it seems Gunn's goal is to explore Kirby's creation in full rather than plucking the ruler of Apokolips out of the Fourth World and introducing him as the central villain of the DC Universe.

That's not to say such a thing couldn't happen down the line. Gunn has been open about adapting his plan for the DC Universe, and we've already seen that flexibility in action with the apparent shelving of his "The Authority" film — which initially looked to be somewhat of a passion project for Gunn. Announced alongside "Superman" and "The Brave and the Bold" as one of the big DC Universe projects back in 2023, "The Authority" movie has since been placed on the back burner, according to Gunn. All of which is to say that plans change, and that very much applies to Darkseid, too.