After James Gunn and Peter Safran’s big announcement today, there’s one thing we know for sure: the DCU is coming. After several years of a shared universe that was confusing and all over the place, now the plan is to make it right and have our favorite—and some less-known—DC characters band together in a slate of movies that will re-introduce superhero icons like Superman and Batman. During the press conference, Collider’s own Editor-in-Chief Steve Weintraub asked Gunn and Safran about the decision-making process behind the upcoming DC Universe.

Deciding to reboot the DC universe is certainly a bold move, considering how the massive audiences feel about DC-inspired cinema right now. Over the last few years, stand-alone DC films have been getting a lot more praise than the ones that tried to move the extended universe forward. 2019’s Joker managed to rake in a billion dollars (the first R-rated film to do so) and earned several awards—including an Academy Award win for Joaquin Phoenix. Matt ReevesThe Batman with Robert Pattinson stands tall as one of the highest-grossing 2022 films, as well as getting featured in several best-of-the-year lists. Just to name a couple.

So how does a shared universe seem a good option when standalone titles are faring so well? Gunn explained that the plan is to have their cake and eat it too: the Elseworlds part of the upcoming DCU will keep standalone titles going, but from now on the bar will be set sky-high for a project to exist outside the shared universe:

“I think that it's something that people love. I know from my own experience, but again, we do have Elseworlds tales we're telling. The bar for Elseworlds tales is going to be higher than the bar for something within DCU. Not that we're not always going to have a high bar, but it's got to be something really special for us to tell that story outside of our regular continuity, and to spend the money on it to make it.”

Robert Pattinson in 'The Batman'
Image via Warner Bros.

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This means that the highly anticipated Joker: Folié à Deux and The Batman: Part II will continue to exist on their own since Gunn and Safran perceive them as stories worth telling. The duo also made it clear that even though titles like Batman v. Superman: The Dawn of Justice, Suicide Squad, and even recent titles like Black Adam are part of a past era, they won’t ignore what worked in the now-dead DCEU and will do some callbacks when it feels right.

One of the biggest pieces of evidence of this is that Viola Davis’ Amanda Waller will remain a constant figure that crosses over from the DCEU to the DCU, to the point of getting her own spin-off series that takes place between Peacemaker Seasons 1 and 2. Safran underscored that one of the main goals for the next era of DC in movies and TV is to “minimize audience confusion” while maximizing the connectivity of the titles across all platforms, which includes TV, movies, and video games.

How well this ambitious plan for the future of DC plays out, we’ll have to wait a couple of years to find out. However, the duo of creators has already suggested that we’ll get teased about it in the upcoming slate of DC titles like Shazam! Fury of the Gods and The Flash. Gunn has already done a great job with The Suicide Squad and Peacemaker, not to mention the Marvel trilogy of Guardians of the Galaxy, so he certainly has the public’s trust for what’s about to come in the DC superhero world.

Find out more about everything DC announced today, from a new Superman movie to The Brave and the Bold.