Guardians of the Galaxy and The Suicide Squad writer/director, James Gunn recently commented on DC’s ever-changing continuity. Following the conclusion of Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight trilogy, the monumental success of Iron Man, and subsequent MCU, Warner Bros began to establish their own cinematic universe beginning with 2013’s Man of Steel. Much in the same way that Iron Man conceived the Joss Whedon-directed The Avengers, Man of Steel led into Zack Synder’s Justice League; however, the latter never reached the former’s level of acclaim, some would say due to Snyder’s exit. After seemingly abandoning their goal of a closely interconnected universe, the most recent DC films have inspired a fair amount of confusion.

When Snyder dropped out of Justice League due to personal reasons, Warner Bros did everything they could to try and salvage the team-up (including Joss Whedon-led rewrites and re-shoots). The blockbuster received mixed reviews from critics and ultimately lost the studio money. It was time to rethink Warner Bros’ approach; a paradigm of what Warner Bros had done well in their DCEU efforts can be seen in 2017’s Wonder Woman. The character of Diana Prince was introduced in 2016’s Batman v. Superman (another mediocre entry), but her solo debut was a critical and commercial hit. A big factor in that success seemed to be its distinctiveness from other DCEU entries. Since Justice League, Warner Bros. has had a string of solo hits in the form of Aquaman, Shazam! , and Joker.

The success of DC’s solo films have only reinforced Warner Bros’ ongoing course correction. Any Justice League sequels have been delayed indefinitely, Henry Cavill has pushed pause on Superman, and Ben Affleck has given up his role as Batman. However, the dark knight’s narrative hasn’t been abandoned. It was recently announced that Robert Pattinson would be taking on the role in a Matt Reeves-directed film, The Batman. Part of Bruce Wayne’s iconic origin story was even briefly featured in Joker. With so many disjointed and ominous threads left dangling in the DCEU,  fans have been speculating how films like Reeves’ The Batman will tie into other DC outings (if at all). A fan asked The Suicide Squad director, James Gunn whether his film would have any connection to Reeves’ The Batman on Instagram, and he responded with the following.

Gunn is best known for working on the MCU’s Guardians of the Galaxy films and possesses an astute understanding of comic books. Gunn’s response implies a broad connection; the comics sometimes reference one another, but to varying degrees. David Ayer’s Suicide Squad, which came out during an optimistic time for the DCEU, followed a team of expendable supervillains assembled by the U.S. government for a top-secret mission. The film was a critical failure and Gunn has since been given the creative freedom to helm a soft reboot. In the original, Ben Affleck’s cape crusader makes a brief (albeit unnecessary) appearance. This has many fans wondering if Pattinson’s Batman will appear in Gunn’s version. Gunn’s comment is probably just a diplomatic way of saying no, given the studio’s rediscovered appreciation for standalone pieces.

Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight Trilogy is considered to be some of the best work Warner Bros has done with its DC source material. Those films were concerned less with a master-plan or an extended universe and more with bringing comic books to life in whatever way that felt organic. When the credits rolled on Nolan’s films, Warner Bros. made the mistake of mimicking what Marvel had achieved with the MCU. The resulting lack of originality and overall contrived vibe of the DCEU arguably led to its failure. While there may still be some connectivity in whatever remains of the DCEU, the focus and style of its stories will seemingly be left up to the creative direction of each individual piece’s writers and directors.

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Source: Instagram

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