James Gunn Confirms More Elseworld Animated Projects Will Happen Throughout the DCU

James Gunn has confirmed that more DC Elseworlds animated projects like Merry Little Batman will continue to happen once the new DCU gets up and running.

Replying to a now-deleted comment on Threads, Gunn addressed how there will continue to be various DC projects released across multiple platforms in the coming years that aren’t directly correlated to the DCU.

“DC projects being spread across different platforms, so that more people have access to the stories, is not the same as not having any cohesion in the DCU timeline, which we very much do (starts with Creature Commandos),” Gunn wrote. “Merry Little Batman on Amazon is a fun animated kids’ movie that was already being made when we came aboard, but Elseword animated projects like this will keep happening. I’m not sure how that’s confusing.”

James Gunn and Peter Safran’s new DCU, explained

In 2022, Warner Bros. Discovery hired Gunn and Peter Safran as co-chairmen and co-CEOs of DC Studios. Gunn and Safran are now creating a new DC Universe (DCU) that acts as a soft reboot of the previously existing DC Extended Universe (DCEU). The DCU begins in 2024 with an animated Creature Commandos series before Superman: Legacy, which is written and directed by Gunn, flies into theaters in July 2025.

Gunn previously confirmed that some storylines and characters from the DCEU will return for the DCU, including Xolo Maridue?a’s Jaime Reyes/Blue Beetle, Viola Davis’ Amanda Waller, and John Cena’s Peacemaker.

Merry Little Batman, meanwhile, is an animated superhero movie set within its own continuity directed by Mike Roth. The film released on Prime Video on December 8, 2023, while a Bat-Family television series spin-off is currently in the works.

Several other upcoming DC projects also exist outside the DCU. Matt Reeves is working on a sequel to 2022’s The Batman, The Batman – Part II, while a Penguin spin-off series set in the same world is also releasing on Max in 2024. Additionally, Todd Phillips is creating a sequel to 2019’s Joker, Joker: Folie à Deux, which is scheduled to release on October 4, 2024.