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Credit: HBO Max<\/p>\n
When James Gunn took the reins of DC Studios, fans immediately began speculating who the Ultimate villain of the slate of upcoming DC movies<\/a> would be. After all, every great superhero saga needs a great big bad, and for many DC fans, that name has always been Darkseid. But according to the mastermind behind the gods and monsters of the DCU<\/a> and beyond, the Universe might not be headed in that direction at all.<\/p>\n In a recent interview with New Rockstars\u2019 YouTube channel<\/a>, the Superman director opened up about the challenges of setting up the long-term arc for the rebooted DC Universe and addressed why one of DC\u2019s most iconic villains might not fit into his plans right now. While the Studio head is known for keeping details close to the chest, his comments suggest a surprising shift in direction for the recently launched DC Universe<\/a> over the next decade. And in classic Gunn fashion, he managed to shout out Zack Snyder in the process. He explained:<\/p>\n Using Darkseid as the big bad now is not necessarily the thing \u2026 because for a lot of reasons. Zack [Snyder] did it so cool in his way and because of Thanos and Marvel.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a revealing, and surprisingly candid, statement from the man now guiding the studio\u2019s creative future. While Gunn has praised Snyder\u2019s influence before, this marks one of the first times he\u2019s acknowledged the specific creative overlap between the two cinematic universes. After all, Snyder\u2019s Justice League cut (streaming with an HBO Max subscription<\/a>) gave fans one of the most memorable portrayals of Darkseid<\/a> to date, and Marvel\u2019s Thanos storyline has dominated pop culture for over a decade.<\/p>\n Credit: Warner Bros.<\/p>\n It’s more than apparent that the Guardians of the Galaxy filmmaker is very cognizant of what\u2019s already been done in the new superhero movie<\/a> space and isn\u2019t necessarily interested in retreading familiar territory, especially as they move forward with an entirely new DC continuity. Instead, his approach seems focused on exploring fresh threats rather than simply escalating the scale of destruction.<\/p>\n That doesn\u2019t mean Darkseid is off the table forever. The DC bench is deep and the universe is vast, not to mention Gunn has already hinted that the story he\u2019s telling will unfold over multiple \u201cchapters,\u201d mirroring Marvel\u2019s phased storytelling but with its own tone and rhythm. By the time the DCU reaches its Infinity War-level event, the ultimate villain could look very different; maybe someone more grounded, or even personally connected to Superman. Given that the upcoming Man of Tomorrow<\/a> has been described as a \u201cSuperman and Lex vs. a bigger threat\u201d story, it\u2019s not hard to imagine that this next major foe could be introduced there. Many fans, myself included, are betting that the mastermind in question will be Brainiac.<\/p>\n The next generation of DC storytelling might not start with Darkseid as its big bad, but it might eventually circle back to him, but I imagine it’ll be in a way we don\u2019t expect. For now, though, James Gunn\u2019s focus seems clear, and that is no copycatting of cosmic villains that Zack Snyder already touched on. Though Gunn did give the Man of Steel filmmaker his flowers, he isn’t looking to retread what\u2019s already been done. And I can get on board with that.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Credit:…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":232868,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[64,63,139976,6137,6684,134,5605,344,64876],"class_list":["post-232867","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-darkseid","tag-dc-studios","tag-dcu","tag-entertainment","tag-james-gunn","tag-movies","tag-zack-snyder"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232867","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=232867"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232867\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/232868"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=232867"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=232867"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=232867"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Darkseid](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/8dbf7e313ebeaf451f95a78b725a70fc.jpeg\"\/)
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