The following contains minor spoilers for Superman.
As somebody who grew up with the original Christopher Reeve Superman movies and who thinks the Guardians of the Galaxy are the best part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, to say I had been looking forward to seeing James Gunn’s Superman was certainly an understatement. I was excited not only for a new Superman movie but for the big-screen launch of the new DC Universe.
If I had any major concerns, it was how the new film would balance its Superman story with whatever world-building it would need to do to properly set up the franchise and all the upcoming DC movies we’re expecting. Little did I know that James Gunn would completely sell me on the entire new DCU with a single sentence, which was in fact the first sentence of the movie.
Superman opens, like so many movies do, with a bit of on-screen text that helps set up our backstory. Sometimes it would simply be too complicated or take too long to build all the backstory you need into your plot and dialogue. And so, in the first piece of on-screen text, the movie tells us that metahumans (superpowered people) have been part of Earth’s civilization since the first ones were discovered…300 years ago.
Cut. Print. No Notes. 300 YEARS? I have so many questions now that I’m going to need the new DC universe to answer. I don’t need all the questions answered immediately, but I am going to need a lot of these questions answered over the next decade or so of upcoming DCU TV series and movies.
Did metahumans fight in the Revolutionary War? The Civil War? Did they march for civil rights? Did they not march for civil rights? The Marvel Cinematic Universe has always been presented as being, more or less, our world, but with superheroes in it. Everything in history happened pretty much like we remember it, except for this Captain America guy during World War II, but then he disappeared, so he didn’t impact history. It all moves in one direction, forward.
The DCU is stating from literally the beginning that that’s not how things happened here. Metahumans aren’t just a thing that happened, but they’re a thing that’s been happening for so long that they’re not even novel anymore. But certainly, those metahumans’ existence would have caused large portions of history to happen differently. Sounds like a great movie.
I’m Way More Excited For The New DC Now
I would have been interested in a new DC Universe under any circumstances. With the likes of Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman, DC actually has a larger pool of globally recognizable heroes than Marvel did when the MCU got started. That said, since we already have one big superhero movie universe that, despite recent stumbles, I still think is perfectly entertaining, I was really curious how DC would try to differentiate itself.
I think this is the answer. Even if we don’t see every detail of the changed timeline on screen, we could still see the ramifications of those changes manifest in the stories we do get. It won’t simply be a case of seeing our own world, but with superheroes over the top of it. It’s an entirely different world.
This means that future DCU movies and series don’t need to only move the story forward. They can also take things back in time. A period story about a metahuman from 100, 200, or 300 years ago is perfectly acceptable. This opens up possibilities for different sorts of stories in a way that the MCU has largely had to rely on the multiverse to tell.
For the new DCU, it could be much more organic. If the MCU wanted to introduce a new character in an upcoming series or movie that existed 100 years before the events of Iron Man, it would require a significant script writing tap dance and likely, more than a little in the retcon department, but DC has already established that such a thing is not only possible, it already happened.
And there are almost certainly expectations to do something with this 300 years of history. If the purpose of the opening lines was simply to set up a world where Superman and other metahumans ‘ existence wasn’t novel, the movie could have told us that metahumans had already existed for 10, 20, or 30 years. By making the number 300, options for future films and series are being kept wide open.
It May Be A While Before 300 Years Of DCU History Begins To Be Explored
While the 300 years of metahuman history have me excited, there is one thing that’s tempering that excitement. While there may absolutely be plans to tell stories within this extensive time period, it doesn’t seem like there are plans to do so anytime soon.
Almost everything that James Gunn has laid out in his Gods & Monsters chapter of the DCU seems to be set in the same period in and around Superman. The projects that are already done or in production include the second season of Peacemaker and Supergirl. Since we know that Nathan Fillion’s Guy Gardner will appear in Lanterns and the planned Authority movie will include the Engineer, who debuted in Superman, then these projects will clearly be set in the same time period.
The one potential exception might be Paradise Lost. The planned HBO Max series is supposed to be set on Wonder Woman’s home island of Themyscira, but in a time predating Wonder Woman. Since we expect Wonder Woman’s eventual appearance will put her alongside Superman, then Paradise Lost will be set earlier, and it could be set 300 years earlier.
I’m certainly hopeful that even if it takes some time, we get some DCU set in the previous 300 years and not simply the years to come. It’s an incredible opportunity for some unique stories that will set DC apart. I can’t wait to see what happens.
