With the release of the Max Original Creature Commandos coming up in just a few days, James Gunn’s DC Universe is about to officially kick off. Because of this, Gunn has addressed fan concerns on how he would handle recasting actors if the situation ever called for it. User rands12345_ on Threads asked, “@jamesgunn for your DCU when an actor dies or no longer wants to return to the franchise will you be recasting them or will you retire their character?”. Gunn responded by saying, “It depends on the situation. We could do either, depending.”
Gunn appears to not have a strong stance on the issue either way, choosing to address it on a case-by-case basis. In the DCU’s predecessor, the DCEU, there was not much recasting, mostly because it ended after 15 films (16 if you could Zach Snyder’s Justice League). While that is no small number, that universe did not have as much crossover as something like the MCU, with most actors not being in more than 2 or 3 projects. For example, Henry Cavill as Superman was the key actor in that universe, but he only appeared in a non-cameo role for 3 films, Man of Steel, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Justice League.
If you compare this to the MCU, Robert Downey Jr. played Iron Man in 9 films, not counting cameo appearances. That being said, the MCU did do its fair share of recasting with characters such as The Hulk, War Machine and Stature (Cassie Lang). But with other characters they were more wary of recasting. Instead of finding new actors to play characters such as Iron Man, Black Widow and Captain America, they gave each of those characters a definitive ending and retired them. Likewise, after the passing of Chadwick Boseman, Marvel chose to leave the character alone and crafted a sequel to Black Panther without the titular character. It seems that James Gunn will be taking a similar approach to Marvel. Decisions to recast will be situational, and he does not want to commit to one hard stance as of yet.
After the financial failure of DC back in 2023 with box office disappointments Shazam: Fury of the Gods, The Flash, Blue Beetle and Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom as well as the 2024 box office bomb Joker: Folie à Deux, DC badly needs a win. Creature Commandos is the soft launch of the new universe, with Superman fully launching the DCU on July 11, 2025. Gunn wrote and directed the film himself, which stars David Corenswet, Nicholas Hoult and Rachel Brosnahan. While there are many other DC projects lined up, the future of the DCU likely depends on the success of that film.
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