Let’s be real for a second. Everyone spent the last year obsessed with whether David Corenswet’s suit had enough red in it or if the trunk debate would ever die. Now that the dust has settled on the 2025 Superman launch, the conversation around James Gunn DC plans has shifted into a much weirder, more high-stakes gear. We aren't just talking about one movie anymore. We’re looking at an entire ecosystem that lives or dies on whether a talking weasel and a body-horror clay monster can actually pull in a crowd.
Honestly, the "Gods and Monsters" era is officially in the "find out" phase.
James Gunn and Peter Safran took the keys to the kingdom back in late 2022, and for a while, it was all just Whiteboard Energy. Tweets. Threads posts. Debunking casting rumors. But 2026 is when the rubber actually hits the road for the DCU. We’ve moved past the "reboot" labels and into the actual construction. If you've been following the trades lately, you know it hasn't exactly been a quiet transition. Between the massive box office pressure and the internal shifts at Warner Bros. Discovery, the honeymoon phase is over.
The 2026 Slate: Beyond the Big Blue Boy Scout
If 2025 was about proving DC can make a "normal" hopeful movie again, 2026 is about James Gunn getting weird. It’s a risky play. Most studios would have rushed out Batman immediately. Instead, we’re getting a body-horror flick about a B-list villain.
Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow (June 26, 2026)
This isn't your CW Supergirl. Not even close. Based on the Tom King and Bilquis Evely run, this is basically a space western. Milly Alcock is playing a Kara Zor-El who saw everyone she loved die while she was stuck on a drifting chunk of Krypton. She’s jaded. She’s tough. She’s probably going to swear.
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The word on the street—and by street, I mean the latest production leaks—is that this movie recently went through some "connective tissue" reshoots. Gunn is reportedly making sure that Supergirl’s journey feels less like a standalone and more like a pivotal pillar for what’s coming next. We already saw her briefly in Superman, but this is her trial by fire. Craig Gillespie is directing, which is an interesting choice if you’ve seen I, Tonya. He knows how to handle "difficult" women in the best way possible.
Clayface (September 11, 2026)
This is the one that has most people scratching their heads. A standalone Clayface movie? In the main DCU? Directed by James Watkins?
It’s being billed as a lower-budget horror film. Mike Flanagan (the Haunting of Hill House guy) did the script work, so expect it to be unsettling. Tom Rhys Harries is the lead, and the focus is less on "superhero fights" and more on the tragedy of a man losing his physical identity. It’s a massive tonal pivot from the bright colors of Superman. If it works, it proves Gunn’s DC can be a "genre" studio. If it flops, people are going to start asking why we don’t have a Justice League trailer yet.
Lanterns: The HBO Mystery
The Lanterns series is the wild card. For a while, it looked like it would drop early in the year, but things have shifted. Kyle Chandler is our veteran Hal Jordan, and Aaron Pierre is the rookie John Stewart. It’s being described as True Detective with power rings. They’re investigating a "dark, earth-based mystery" in the American heartland. No flying through space to fight giant yellow bugs—at least not yet. This is about the grit.
What Most People Get Wrong About the Gunn Strategy
There’s this persistent myth that James Gunn is just trying to turn DC into "Marvel 2.0."
That’s basically wrong.
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Marvel succeeded by building a very specific, unified "house style." You knew what a Marvel movie felt like. Gunn is doing the opposite. He’s hiring directors like James Mangold for Swamp Thing and letting them bring their own DNA. He’s leaning into the "Elseworlds" branding for stuff like Matt Reeves’ The Batman Part II (now slated for late 2027) so he doesn't have to force everything into one box.
The real challenge is the "Gunn-centricity" of it all.
Up until now, Gunn has written almost everything himself. Creature Commandos? Gunn. Peacemaker Season 2? Gunn. Superman? Gunn. He recently admitted in a Variety interview that he doesn’t know if this model is sustainable. He’s "pretty tired," which is a terrifying thing to hear from the guy holding the map. We’re starting to see him hand off the baton—like with Creature Commandos Season 2, which now has a dedicated writers' room—but the DCU is still very much a "James Gunn" production.
The Business Reality: The "Sale" Rumors
We have to talk about the elephant in the room: Warner Bros. Discovery.
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There is a lot of noise about a potential sale or merger in 2026. David Zaslav has been aggressive with cost-cutting, and while Gunn and Safran have a four-year deal, the corporate landscape is shifting sand. The reason Superman’s $617 million box office was such a talking point wasn't just about the fans; it was about proving the IP has "transferable value" to whoever might buy the studio next.
If the DCU doesn't show consistent growth with Supergirl and Clayface, the pressure from the suits is going to get ugly. Gunn is trying to build a 10-year plan in an industry that currently has a 10-minute attention span.
Making Sense of the Timeline
If you’re trying to keep the watch order straight, it’s getting complicated. Gunn recently clarified on Threads that the timeline is basically "as things come out," but with exceptions. Here is the current 2026 outlook:
- Early 2026: Lanterns (HBO) – Investigating the "Salvation" mystery.
- June 2026: Supergirl – Kara’s 21st birthday trip goes sideways.
- September 2026: Clayface – The body-horror experiment.
- Late 2026: Potential window for Creature Commandos Season 2 or Waller.
The "Salvation" plot point is the big one to watch. Gunn has teased that a "bigger story" is being told that involves Rick Flag Sr. (Frank Grillo), Lex Luthor, and the fallout of the Peacemaker Season 2 finale. Everything is moving toward a collision, but Gunn is being careful not to call it "Infinity War" yet.
Actionable Insights for Fans and Investors
If you're trying to keep up with the James Gunn DC era without losing your mind, here is how to read the room:
- Watch the Budgets: Clayface and Lanterns are the "efficiency" tests. If DC can make hits on mid-range budgets, the universe is safe. If every movie needs $200 million to look decent, the model will break.
- Follow the Animation: Gunn is using animation (Creature Commandos) to introduce characters he doesn't want to spend $150 million on live-action for yet. If a character pops there, expect them to show up in a movie within two years.
- Ignore the "Reboot" Noise: It’s not a hard reboot. John Cena is still Peacemaker. Viola Davis is still Amanda Waller. Just accept that some things carried over because they worked, and some things (like the old Justice League) are gone because they didn't.
- Look for the "Salvation" keyword: This is the thread connecting the TV shows to the movies. It’s the "MacGuffin" or the "multiverse" equivalent for Chapter One.
The next few months will be telling. We’re waiting on the first Supergirl teaser, which should give us a vibe check on whether the general public is ready for a grittier Kara. Gunn is betting the farm on the idea that people don't just want "superhero movies"—they want good movies that happen to have superheroes in them.
It’s a subtle distinction, but it’s the only one that matters in 2026. Keep an eye on the trades for the Lanterns release date confirmation; that’s the final piece of the 2026 puzzle. Strategies are shifting, but the "Gods and Monsters" vision is finally taking a physical, messy, and very weird shape.