7 Characters We Hope James Gunn Salvages In The New DCU
DC has so many incredible characters that deserve more mainstream attention. And now that James Gunn and Peter Safran have officially started at DC Studios this week, CinemaBlend’s Sean O’Connell and Hannah Saulic are here to talk about the top seven characters they hope James Gunn and Peter Safran give more attention to when they build their DCU.
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00:00 DC has so many incredible characters that deserve more attention.
00:02 We're going to run through the top 7 we hope James Gunn and Peter Saffron spotlight
00:06 in their new DCU right now.
00:08 [music]
00:15 Hey everybody, it's Hannah Solleck, the head of video here at CinemaBlend with Sean
00:19 O'Connell, our managing editor, and we are back with our weekly DC video.
00:23 Sean, how's it going?
00:25 It's going well.
00:26 Thank you everybody for tuning in to the last one that we did, which got into some of the
00:29 biggest news in DC this year.
00:31 James Gunn and Henry Cavill, and so we're going to keep building on that momentum.
00:35 I picked the wrong week to be gone from work.
00:38 You're absolutely right.
00:40 Absolutely.
00:41 We're back, and so today we want to talk about, I guess I'll throw it over to you to kind
00:45 of explain this, but just some characters that have maybe been neglected by DC in the
00:50 mainstream I guess, because there are TV shows and a lot of the animated stuff that touch
00:55 on a lot of the characters that we're going to bring up.
00:57 But I don't know that my mom would know who these characters are, if that makes sense.
01:02 Right, right.
01:03 And we, Hannah and I sort of debated behind the scenes about how do we position this,
01:06 and salvage was kind of the word that we came up with.
01:10 Because we do feel that DC has a pretty good roster of characters that should be able to
01:16 work, especially when, and I promise we're not going to keep making the comparison to
01:19 Marvel, but when Marvel has the Eternals and Shang-Chi and Ms. Marvel on a TV show, they're
01:26 so far down their bench, and DC hasn't really utilized to the fullest extent some of these
01:32 other amazing characters that they should be able to tap into.
01:35 So we just picked out seven that we want to shine a brighter light on and hope that maybe
01:40 in his new position, James Gunn can figure out what to do properly with these guys.
01:45 Knowing that they have a Blue Beetle project coming, which is exciting, but at the same
01:49 time we're still facing a reality where they scrapped a Batgirl movie.
01:53 So I don't know if we'll ever know.
01:55 Just to bring it back to the Marvel point real quick, because I think there's a really
01:59 good point of like, we think about characters like Iron Man now as being like the pinnacle,
02:04 you know, like most everybody knows who Iron Man is, but like when Iron Man came out, no
02:08 one knew who Iron Man was.
02:10 That wasn't like the Fantastic Four, the most popular Marvel characters.
02:13 And so I think DC, while yes, obviously like there are those five characters you talked
02:18 about last week, like Wonder Woman, Superman, like, yes, focus on them for sure.
02:21 But also there are so many great DC characters, like let's get some other ones up to that
02:26 kind of same level.
02:27 So.
02:28 I would agree.
02:29 Good boy.
02:30 All right.
02:31 Let's start with Deathstroke, who was number one on your list.
02:33 He was number one on my list, mainly because there was a tease for him at the end of both
02:38 Justice Leagues, the awful one and the true one.
02:42 It's personal.
02:43 And Joe Manganiello wants to play him.
02:45 Like he would be the perfect person to continue that streak.
02:49 And they also, not only did they have this tease of how they could use Deathstroke in
02:53 a really exciting way in maybe like a Justice League continuation, but then they had, he
02:59 was supposed to be the main antagonist in Ben Affleck's Batman movie or one of the iterations
03:05 of Batman's movie.
03:06 So it feels like Deathstroke, of all the people that we're going to talk about, except for
03:09 maybe the next one, got the closest to crossing the finish line, right?
03:13 To finally being able to show up in some type of DC project.
03:16 Well, James Gunn had him on his short list too for his Suicide Squad movie, but then
03:21 it just ended up not working.
03:23 I don't know if he would have died or not in that big opening.
03:27 Spoiler alert if you haven't seen it.
03:28 And it also seems like in the two Suicide Squad movies, like Deadshot, Will Smith's
03:32 character, and then Bloodsport?
03:35 Is that what Ed Intercellabus' character's name is?
03:37 Yes.
03:38 Good job.
03:39 Are you having a laugh?
03:40 Those three together seem similar-ish, but Deathstroke is different.
03:45 Also I would not want to go up against Deathstroke, Deadshot, or Deadshot and Bloodsport.
03:50 That's really hard to say all three of their names in a row.
03:55 When you said it, you made it sound easy.
03:56 I was like, "Yeah, good job.
03:57 That's it."
03:58 They're not interchangeable.
03:59 Bloodsport, Deathstroke, and Deadshot.
04:00 Okay, we got it.
04:03 I would not want to go up against the three of them.
04:06 The three of them together.
04:08 No, but fans were pointing out that if you're going to put Batman up against anyone, that
04:13 Deathstroke would have been a character that could have gone toe-to-toe with him.
04:16 That would have been a formidable DC character to put in there.
04:20 Similar to ... Okay, so let's lean into the anti-hero bit of it all that Black Adam is
04:24 trying to carve out.
04:26 He's another character that you could build a complete movie around, introducing him,
04:30 using him as a bit of a mercenary, maybe sending him against the Teen Titans or something like
04:35 that.
04:36 Oh, yeah.
04:37 Just as a way to get him into the universe.
04:39 Get him in universe and make him a canon figure, and then we figure out what to do with him
04:43 in the end.
04:44 Yes, and there's somebody on Reddit, this is courtesy of Reddit, pointed out that James
04:49 Gunn liked a tweet from a fan.
04:52 This was, I think, during Peacemaker's runs.
04:54 This was months ago, so I don't know what this means.
04:56 He liked a tweet where a fan was basically requesting that Joe Manganiello's Deathstroke
05:01 be in whatever the next DC show James Gunn was ... Because you know how at that time it
05:06 was like, "He's doing a mystery DC project."
05:09 Yeah, yeah, yeah.
05:10 A fan was basically asking to include Deathstroke in that, and James Gunn liked it.
05:14 Oh, that done deal.
05:15 James Gunn is very ... Exactly, yeah.
05:16 That's like a contract in Hollywood.
05:17 Might as well be green.
05:18 Behold the voice of God.
05:25 Let's move on.
05:26 Next is Green Lantern, which, oh my gosh, the fact that we have not had Green Lantern
05:32 in mainstream DC stuff is wild, but ... What are we doing?
05:37 I don't know.
05:39 There's so much potential with the Green Lantern core.
05:43 You could do heavy sci-fi if you wanted to do, and do non-human Green Lanterns for an
05:50 eternity.
05:51 You can obviously focus on Al Jordan or Jon Stewart.
05:55 God, there's so many different places you could go with it.
05:58 Again, this feels like you heard about the HBO Max series that they were potentially
06:02 floating out, and it was going to become a movie.
06:05 I know the Ryan Reynolds one is bad.
06:07 Oh, green.
06:08 Green Reynolds has overcome bad movies.
06:10 We're way past the Ryan Reynolds one.
06:12 There's DC fans now that love Green Lantern that probably don't even know the Ryan Reynolds
06:16 one at this point.
06:17 Ryan Reynolds is Deadpool.
06:18 He's Deadpool.
06:19 When did- No one associates him with that.
06:20 I'm going to look up when did Green Lantern come out?
06:21 Was that 2007?
06:22 2009, I want to say.
06:26 Anyway, the point is, it's such a rich mythology to be told in Green Lantern, and the way
06:31 that effects work now, there's no excuse to not have Green Lantern involved in some sort
06:39 of pivotal DC project.
06:41 Come on, I want to see this stuff.
06:43 You know what?
06:44 When was Ryan Reynolds' movie?
06:45 Did you just find out?
06:46 2011.
06:47 Yes, 2011.
06:48 2011.
06:49 Wow, okay.
06:50 Yeah, so we're ... Wow, okay.
06:51 A long time.
06:52 A long time.
06:53 Again, it feels like there are half-baked projects that they were developing, and it
06:57 feels like that's a character and a franchise and a series that they should put their weight
07:00 behind.
07:01 Yes.
07:02 Do you want Ryan Reynolds to come back, or do you care?
07:05 No!
07:06 Oh, God, no.
07:07 Oh, I don't think that's a good idea.
07:08 Ryan Reynolds got the perfect last laugh by Deadpool shooting him through the head in
07:15 the mid-credits sequence.
07:17 That's the final button on anything Ryan Reynolds' Green Lantern.
07:20 I'll give it four out of five avocados.
07:22 Now he's getting Hugh Jackman to play Wolverine again.
07:24 Yeah, I don't think he's going to.
07:26 I'm just saying if he wanted to, I think they would be like, "All right, fine."
07:30 Yeah, but I agree with most people who say, "Do Jon Stewart instead," because we haven't
07:34 necessarily seen that fall.
07:36 Although Aldous Hodge is doing a great job as a character in animated form.
07:38 I saw some fan casting where people were like, "Why wasn't he a live action Jon Stewart?"
07:43 And I was like, "Yeah."
07:44 No, I think he'd be terrific.
07:45 Can he play Hawkman and Jon Stewart?
07:48 No.
07:49 Curses!
07:50 All right, next we got to talk about Poison Ivy, because again, the fifth character that
07:54 James Gunn mentioned in that statement was Harley Quinn, and you cannot continue to focus
07:58 on Harley Quinn without bringing in Poison Ivy.
08:01 Their relationship is so essential in the comics, and especially with the success of
08:04 the Harley Quinn show on HBO Max, which I'm going to reference a lot probably moving forward.
08:09 It's so popular and it's so well done, and James Gunn is a fan of that show to the point
08:13 where he was even in it for the third season.
08:17 I think this is almost a done deal.
08:20 I don't think we're going to get another Harley Quinn project where Poison Ivy isn't involved.
08:24 I would be shocked if that happened.
08:26 Do it!
08:27 And also, Lake Bell should play Poison Ivy, because she does a great job.
08:30 That would be really cool if that happened.
08:33 She's the voice of Poison Ivy on Harley Quinn on HBO Max, and she's perfect.
08:38 But then at that point, you're arguing that Kaylee Cuoco should play Harley in a live
08:43 action at that point.
08:44 What the f***?
08:45 Don't put me in that box.
08:46 I don't know if that's necessarily what people want.
08:49 No, I really like Margot Robbie in the role.
08:52 But she's also said, did I say this already, that she has been trying to get Poison Ivy
08:57 in the mix for a while.
08:59 Yes, we've talked about that.
09:01 Sorry, the voices.
09:03 Also just a side note before we move on to the next character.
09:05 I really want to see Poison Ivy in Matt Reeves' Batverse 2, and it needs to be played by Kristen
09:11 Stewart.
09:12 See?
09:13 Oh, God, that would be...
09:14 Wouldn't that be great?
09:15 Awesome.
09:16 I know.
09:17 That would be really great.
09:19 So Matt Reeves, get on that.
09:21 That would be real classy.
09:22 Poison Ivy is a character that, A, needs to be redeemed after the Schumacher movies.
09:27 And no offense to anyone who loves those movies, but those were extremely over the top.
09:32 I'm sorry.
09:33 That's what Harley Quinn does so well, is like, I don't know if you've seen it or if
09:36 anybody hasn't watched it.
09:37 She's just like this very dry, sarcastic, like logical person that's really, really
09:42 funny against Harley's just like chaos and mania.
09:45 And so I would love to see a Poison Ivy that is not...
09:48 I mean, I thought Uma Thurman did a great job, but it's just so over the top campy that
09:52 it's just like a different thing that I would like to see a different version of.
09:57 If they put her into the Reeves universe, that's a good way to sort of ground her.
10:01 And I'd be interested to see how they would do that because it's very easy with her powers
10:07 to lean into the sort of over the top stuff.
10:11 But anyway, okay, we're spending too much time.
10:12 All right.
10:13 Great take.
10:14 Moving on.
10:15 Green Arrow.
10:16 I think people are going to scream at me because the TV side has used him very, very well.
10:21 I was going to say, I would almost consider him mainstream-ish because of the CW.
10:25 Yeah, for sure.
10:26 Because Arrow has been around for as long as it has.
10:29 But I also think that DC fans keep a very distinct line between the CW universe and
10:38 what's happening in the films, which is why I think that you can accept everything that's
10:42 happened on Arrow and still want to see a different take on Green Arrow in a feature
10:50 film.
10:51 You always saw the best in me.
10:52 And maybe it's not Oliver.
10:54 Maybe it's a different Green Arrow that they bring in somehow.
10:57 And maybe it's paired with another character.
10:59 Maybe it's some kind of team-up movie where he's introduced as part of another film.
11:03 But he's an interesting enough character that I would love to see him incorporated into
11:06 the DC universe because you don't hear a whisper at all about ways to bring him in.
11:10 And he's an important DC character.
11:11 Get your ass out here.
11:12 So I have Zatanna on my list because I think this was last year, maybe it was two years
11:19 ago, but Emerald Fennell, who did Promising Young Woman, was tapped to write a script
11:24 for it.
11:25 And something that interests me about this is that she gave an interview, I want to say
11:29 it was to Variety, where she was kind of talking about what interests her about working within
11:33 DC and with this character specifically is how much the comics and sort of her story
11:38 lean into the more adult themes of DC.
11:42 And something that James Gunn does so well, obviously, is kind of leaning into that and
11:47 not being afraid to go a little bit darker and a little bit more adult humor with some
11:51 of the stuff.
11:52 And so I'm just personally really intrigued by that duo doing something with Zatanna because
11:58 she's a great character.
12:00 And I would just really like to see that.
12:01 Because also she, I mean, aside from the animated stuff, we've never had a live-action Zatanna,
12:06 right?
12:07 No, not in the canon format.
12:08 Nothing older that I'm missing?
12:09 Okay, yeah.
12:10 And that's a shame.
12:11 No.
12:12 And you know what's funny too is that the one thing that James Gunn does that people
12:15 can't necessarily argue against is character development.
12:18 Like he takes offbeat characters like Polka Dot Man and Peacemaker.
12:24 And like the way he visualizes their powers too.
12:26 Like with Polka Dot Man, you'd be like, "How are you gonna?"
12:29 And then it's like, "Oh, well, he did it."
12:30 I mean, I left the Suicide Squad and Ratcatcher 2 was like my favorite character.
12:35 Yeah.
12:36 I would trust him and Emerald on how to like, because like the whole thing where she's a
12:40 magician and like, that's just kind of like hokey and like whatever.
12:42 Like I would trust the two of them to find a way to make that seem not, you know, like
12:48 absurd.
12:49 Yeah.
12:50 But yeah.
12:51 So I think they need to bring Zatanna in.
12:53 Putting that as a need.
12:54 I don't care how many men, women, and children I need to kill to get it.
12:58 What?
12:59 Moving on.
13:00 Teen Titans.
13:01 Okay.
13:02 I included Titans for a couple of different reasons.
13:03 One, we have tried so hard to make the Justice League work in the DC universe.
13:09 And I still would like to see the Justice League work in some way, shape, or form.
13:14 But this might give them a chance, similar to the way the Black Adam at least introduced
13:18 to the concept of the JSA.
13:20 But I don't want to see the Teen Titans sandwiched into somebody else's movie.
13:23 Like just do a Teen Titans movie and don't do like all of their origins.
13:27 Just they're there.
13:28 They're the team.
13:29 They exist.
13:31 And that would give you an opportunity to introduce a character who, again, in the DC
13:37 universe, this is a little bit due to Zack, you know, killing them all right off the bat.
13:40 Robin is an endlessly fascinating character.
13:43 It's unlimited potential.
13:44 And I think if you put him as the head of the Teen Titans movie and then take it from
13:47 there.
13:48 Now, okay.
13:49 We've seen the Teen Titans animation.
13:50 Also, Raven is so cool.
13:51 I was going to say, I grew up with the Teen Titans animated show and like Raven was like
13:54 the coolest.
13:55 The coolest.
13:56 And so again, yes, there's a Titans television show.
14:00 That's currently, I think, improving.
14:03 I watched it for the first two seasons.
14:04 I kind of lost interest in it.
14:06 But people who have stuck with it have said that it's gotten better and better.
14:09 Yeah.
14:10 So maybe DC is saying, well, that version exists.
14:12 And so there's no need for them to come to the movie.
14:14 We'll see.
14:15 All right.
14:16 The Bat Family, which I guess we should say like these last two categories aren't characters
14:20 because there's multiple of them, but they're teens.
14:22 We're getting.
14:23 Yeah, they get a pass.
14:24 All right.
14:25 Bat Family.
14:26 You have a strong feeling about this, you said.
14:27 I have a strong feeling about it, but I had like we need Batgirl.
14:32 Like what?
14:33 Yeah.
14:34 Justice for Leslie Grace.
14:35 Like what?
14:36 I don't I don't understand how we'd like Oracle, like all these cool characters.
14:37 I don't really necessarily feel that strongly about like Robin or Nightwing.
14:41 Like they're fine.
14:42 But like we need Batgirl.
14:44 I don't understand.
14:45 We came really close.
14:46 We came really close.
14:48 Apparently we came really close.
14:51 I feel like we're going to get more iterations of those characters in the Matt Reeves universe.
14:56 I can honestly see the.
15:01 I'm going to drop.
15:06 OK, I can honestly see you just forget Robert Pattinson's name.
15:10 I forgot Robert Pattinson's name.
15:11 Yeah, I was I was a 12 year old Twilight fan and me is screaming.
15:16 Robert Pattinson to the point where I could so clearly see him having a Robin that I legitimately
15:24 asked Matt Reeves if the mayor's son that who kept popping up throughout the Batman
15:30 was being groomed to be the next Robin.
15:33 And Reeves in our junket video, he's like he wasn't.
15:37 But that's a great idea.
15:38 And I'm going to steal that now.
15:41 So you know, we have Alfred and Oracle like Barbara Gordon would be terrific in that universe.
15:47 Oh, yeah.
15:48 Yeah.
15:49 I want to see more of the Bat family.
15:51 I feel like they're underutilized.
15:52 I feel like every time we are relaunching another Batman like Affleck, we met much older.
15:58 So it made sense that like is Robin had passed away.
16:01 Nolan never wanted to get into any of that stuff, although there were all those rumors
16:04 about Joseph Gordon-Levitt playing some version of Robin.
16:07 I thought that was like in plot.
16:09 OK, I'm not going to get into that.
16:10 I'm not sure if that's implied or if he was going to take up the mantle of Batman.
16:13 All right.
16:14 Whatever.
16:15 Stupid.
16:16 That's as stupid as Alfred going to see Batman at the cafe.
16:19 And he's like, here's to leave.
16:21 I'm like, OK, out of it.
16:26 So yes, I would love to see the Bat family better utilized.
16:28 I think it's a really good opportunity for James Gunn to reset that a little bit.
16:33 There's so many.
16:34 It's like I don't know what they're going to do with Batman because I mentioned in the
16:36 video last week because Batman obviously was one of the five James Gunn mentioned.
16:40 But you currently were working in a situation where we have Robert Pattinson doing his thing
16:44 over the Matt Reeves universe.
16:46 Ben Affleck is, you know, as far as we know, in Aquaman's movie and also in The Flash,
16:51 they are still bringing Michael Keaton back.
16:53 Like I know he's in The Flash.
16:54 Yeah, I was thinking we should almost maybe do like a separate video about this because
16:58 it's like at a certain point, right?
17:00 It's like how many Batman is too many.
17:03 I often wonder.
17:04 All right.
17:05 Well, those are the seven characters slash teams that we are really hoping that James
17:11 Gunn focuses on as he takes over DC.
17:14 We posted a story on CinemaBlend earlier this week about him starting his first official
17:18 day at DC.
17:19 We do have something to celebrate.
17:21 So we will keep tracking all of the DC movement here on CinemaBlend.
17:25 So come on back every single time we post a new video.
17:27 (upbeat music)