Murphy's Multiverse

Tag: Man of Tomorrow

  • James Gunn Addresses the Future of ‘Peacemaker’ and Its Cast Following Major Season 2 Cliffhanger

    James Gunn Addresses the Future of ‘Peacemaker’ and Its Cast Following Major Season 2 Cliffhanger

    According to James Gunn, the events of last night’s Peacemaker Season 2 finale will have major repercussions for the DCU’s ongoing narrative…just not for the next season of Peacemaker.

    The finale ended Rick Flag Sr. getting uns revenge for for the death of his son at the hands of Peacemaker. After starting a new organization, Checkmate, with the 11th Street Kids and a couple of new friends, John Cena‘s Chris Smith was stranded by Flag on a planet called “Salvation.” In an interview with Deadline, Gunn explained that while both Checkmate and Salvation are “two important aspects” of the DCU’s future even though they won’t be explored in a third season of Peacemaker.

    “Well, those are the two things that were always a part of this season,” said Gunn of the intriguing new planet and the anti-A.R.G.U.S. startup. “So when we sat down, even before I sat down with the writers room in DC, I had sort of mapped out what I thought the general story was, and two important aspects to that were Checkmate and especially Salvation, so those were things that I had pitched to everybody before we ever came into DC and then after we came into DC and we met with the writers room and worked things out a little bit more. That was always pretty instrumental in the overall, overarching story that I’m telling in the DCU, but also connected to it as well.”

    Despite being introduced in Peacemaker, the next steps for both Checkmate and Salvation won’t be explored in a third season of the streaming series because, according to Gunn, he has no current plans for additional seasons. “This is about the wider DCU and other stories in which this will play out right now,” said Gunn. “That doesn’t mean that there won’t be [a third season of Peacemaker]. I don’t want to never say never, but right now, no, this is about the future of the DCU. It’s an important character.”

    Gunn maintains that Peacemaker will remain an important character in the DCU and indicated that Checkmate will be “a part of what’s going to happen” in the growing shared universe. Given that Gunn previously stated the streaming series serves as a prequel to his next project, the 2027 film Man of Tomorrow, it seems as though fans can count on the characters to return, though for now the DC Studios’ co-chair chose to remain quiet in that front, calling that information a “secret.”

    Source: Deadline

  • How the  Pivotal ‘Peacemaker’ Cameo Shapes the Future of the DCU

    How the  Pivotal ‘Peacemaker’ Cameo Shapes the Future of the DCU

    Despite the growing exasperation surrounding the interconnected nature of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, DC Studios’ co-chair James Gunn has gone balls-deep into a shared narrative in the first year of the all-new, all-different DC Universe.

    Before the DCU began in earnest with Creature Commandos, Gunn confusingly canonized a pair of his own pre-DCU projects, Peacemaker and The Suicide Squad. For good measure, the DC boss then retconned the Justice League out of the first season of Peacemaker, replacing them with the Justice Gang + 2 and establishing a timeline for the young universe that places the events of Superman squarely between the first and second seasons of the HBO Max streaming series. And he’s accomplished all that while telling you that you don’t have to watch any one project in order to understand the shared narrative…

    While it’s becoming clear that last bit probably won’t hold 100% true, so far it hasn’t presented a problem because through three DC Studios projects, Gunn has not missed and the connectivity has been minimal…until the most recent chapter of Season 2 of Peacemaker.

    In what was likely one of the heaviest cameos ever in the superhero genre, “Ignorance is Chris” featured an appearance by Nicholas Hoult‘s Lex Luthor. Fresh off his thrashing at the mouth of Krypto, Luthor, aided by a cane, limped his way to a meeting with Rick Flag Sr. at Belle Reve, where the former finds himself serving a 265-year sentence for all his naughty tricks. In the moment–and especially because Gunn has teased that this season of Peacemaker serves as a prequel to Man of Tomorrow–the cameo felt weighty; however, according to Gunn, it is nothing less than a pivotal moment for the young DCU.

    While discussing the cameo–which was filmed during production in Superman–on Peacemaker: The Official Podcast, Gunn called the meeting between Luthor and Flag “a really important moment for ..the entire DCU.”

    So, we have a really important moment, for not only Peacemaker but the entire DCU. Rick Flag, the Head of A.R.G.U.S., strikes a deal basically with Lex Luthor in exchange for [him] finding where Peacemaker’s portal might be. He is going to move him from a prison with metahumans to a prison with no metahumans. From Belle Reve, where they are now, to Van Kull, both prisons from the comics.

    -James Gunn on Lex Luthor’s appearance in Peacemaker Season 2

    And so, in the words of one of the only people in the world with an idea of where the DCU is headed, a cameo made in a streaming series is a fulcrum for what’s to come. Of course, pragmatically speaking, general audiences won’t know the difference between Belle Reve and Van Kull nor will they really remember Flag even appeared in Superman. In that sense, Gunn isn’t really playing with fire and is staying true to his promise not to include cameos for the hell of it. Still, it’s a bold move to include world-altering events in a TV-MA streaming series that’s not supposed to be necessary viewing.

    With two episodes left in the current season of Peacemaker, ample time remains for a little more context to be added to just exactly what Flag’s deal with Luthor will mean but it’s hard to imagine Luthor being outmaneuvered by Flag, especially since the latter continued to devolve into a blunt instrument in each episode. Moving Luthor to Van Kull–which is located in Metropolis in DC Comics continuity–brings the evil genius right back to his home turf in time for whatever plans Gunn has for him next.

    Source: Peacemaker: The Official Podcast with James Gunn

  • James Gunn Teases the Futures of Two DCU Villains

    James Gunn Teases the Futures of Two DCU Villains

    While Superman focused mainly on fleshing out the all-new, all-different DCU’s Metropolis and its cast of characters, the film’s opening text established a world in which metahumans have been a known quantity for 300 years. That allowed for plenty of room to introduce heroes and villains in the film without necessarily having to spend too much time on their origins, something director James Gunn took full advantage of in having the Engineer and Ultraman join Lex Luthor in taking on Superman.

    Even though Maria Gabrielle de Faria’s Engineer didn’t land with audiences as much as Gunn had hoped, she was a key part of Luthor’s team, so with Superman’s arch enemy set to return in Man of Tomorrow, it shouldn’t be too surprising to learn that Gunn has plans for the Engineer as well.

    As confirmed by Gunn from comments made in the Superman Director’s Commentary, de Faria will return in Man of Tomorrow where fans will learn what happened to the villain after she went toe-to-toe with Kal-El and lost.

    “She’s out of the movie,” said Gunn of the character in reference to her not returning to the story after being knocked unconscious by Superman. “Where does she go? Well, you’re going to find that out in the next movie.”

    That sounds a bit like PlanetWatch may end up getting involved in…watching the planet…when Brainiac attacks, which is a reasonable way of having Lex and Superman team up in Man of Tomorrow. However, the Engineer wasn’t the only other villain in Superman.

    During production, word leaked that Superman would feature some sort of evil doppelgänger of the Man of Steel, also played by David Corenswet. That, of course, turned out to be the DCU’s Ultraman, who has a markedly different origin story from his DC Comics counterpart…but as Gunn teased, his story may not be over either and the next chapter may take him to his comic book home.

    “We discover that Ultraman is a clone of Superman. [In the comics], Ultraman is from Earth-3, where he’s a part of The Crime Syndicate and an evil version of Superman. There are some similarities here,” said Gunn. “Also, you might ask yourself, ‘Where does Ultraman go at the end of the movie?’ He sends him up into the black hole. Is this the end of Ultraman? I don’t know.”

    While obviously more opaque than the plans for the Engineer, it does sound as though while Ultraman’s fate might be unknown to the audience, it’s a little more defined in Gunn’s mind.

    Could Gunn be hinting at a Crisis on Two Earths-type film as part of his Superman Saga? It’s certainly not one on many fans’ bingo cards and would be incredibly ambitious; however, if executed properly, it would also likely stand as a giant among comic-booky comic book films.

  • James Gunn Confirms Another ‘Superman’ Star Will Return in ‘Man of Tomorrow’

    James Gunn Confirms Another ‘Superman’ Star Will Return in ‘Man of Tomorrow’

    James Gunn has made it clear that Superman‘s strong performance took a significant amount of heat off of him and the DCU, allowing both to breathe and Gunn to look ahead. And it didn’t take Gunn long to reveal his next project: Man of Tomorrow, the next installment in his Superman Saga, which will hit theaters on July 9, 2027.

    Announced via social media on September 3, Man of Tomorrow will see Superman stars David Corenswet and Nicholas Hoult reprise their respective roles and, it seems, team up against an as-yet-unrevealed threat. Though additional cast has not been officially revealed, Gunn teased that the film would feature characters from “within the group of characters we’ve already met,” leading to speculation that the Justice Gang might appear. Indeed, Isabel Merced teased that possibility shortly after Gunn‘s announcement, but Gunn has been tight-lipped about what other characters will appear in the film…until now.

    In response to a question on Threads, Gunn confirmed that Rachel Brosnahan will return as Lois Lane for Man of Tomorrow in an “important role.”

    Given the importance of her role in Superman and in the character’s long history in DC Comics, it’s unsurprising that Brosnahan will return for Man of Tomorrow; in fact, it’s likely she’ll be a key player in the entire Superman Saga and, perhaps, play a role in the larger, overall narrative of the DCU.

  • ‘Superman’ Co-Star Teases ‘Man of Tomorrow’ Role

    ‘Superman’ Co-Star Teases ‘Man of Tomorrow’ Role

    James Gunn announced that the next film in his Superman Saga, Man of Tomorrow, is slated for a July 9, 2027 theatrical debut, showing off artwork teasing the potential team up of David Corenswet‘s Superman and Nicholas Hoult‘s Lex Luthor. Gunn previously teased that Superman would share the screen with characters from “within the group of characters we’ve already met,” in the DCU. Now it seems as though we know who at least one more of those will be.

    Superman star Isabela Merced, who debuted as the DCU’s Hawkgirl shared Gunn’s social media post in an Instagram story she captioned “See You Soon.”

    I’m totally done with the treatment. My treatments are incredibly intense. They’re not regular treatments. They’re 60-page treatments with dialogue and everything,” Gunn devulged. “And so, now I’m just turning that into a script. We’re planning out when we’re going to shoot that. It’s going to be much sooner rather than later.

    -James Gunn

    Should Merced, who also briefly reprised her role in Season 2 of Peacemaker, indeed be returning for the film, it is very likely she’ll be accompanied by Edi Gathegi‘s Mister Terrific, Nathan Fillion‘s Guy Gardner and Anthony Carrigan‘s Metamorpho, all members of the Maxwell Lord-sponsored Justice Gang.

    Updating…