Is DCU's Questionable Choice of Writers Gunn's Biggest Mistake Yet?
James Gunn is a self-described "writer at heart" and is bringing that philosophy into his new role as co-CEO of DC Studios.
He's fed up with Hollywood leaving out writers in favor of actors and directors, and plans to rectify that in his new role. Despite this new direction for the studio, Gunn's new writing team is questionable at best.
Gunn and fellow co-CEO Peter Safran announced a new slate of DC movies last month, calling their first batch of movies and series Chapter One: Gods and Monsters. Some of the writers they've announced have a less-than-stellar history, leaving fans wondering how they fit into Gunn's writer-centric view.
The writers' room Gunn announced that would ideally allow DC Studios to compete with the Marvel Cinematic Universe includes Cristal Henry, Christina Hodson, Jeremy Slater, Tom King, and Drew Goddard.
New series Waller starring Oscar-winning Viola Davis was announced as a spinoff to Suicide Squad and Peacemaker, with Cristal Henry hired as a writer. Henry worked as a supervising producer and writer on the 2019 show Watchmen, which was met with mixed reviews. Fans said it managed to be both overly convoluted and boring.
Christina Hodson wrote The Flash, a movie hitting theaters this summer. She was the sole screenplay credit for Batgirl, a movie deemed so bad that DC scrapped it before it even reached theaters.
Jeremy Slater doesn't yet have a specific writing credit for the upcoming slate of films, but he'll be heavily featured in Gunn's writers' room. Slater wrote 2015's Fantastic Four ( better known as "FanFourStic"), which may be the most unwatchable superhero movie ever made, as well as Netflix 's abominable Death Note "adaptation".
Comic book writer Tom King has several works that are pretty renowned, but he's also infamous for changing characterization of fans' favorite heroes – not ideal for the main story of the iconic franchise. King also specializes in bleak, morally ambiguous characters, just like Zack Snyder, who kicked off the disappointing DCEU a decade ago.
That seems like a step backward.
Among the positives on Gunn's writing team is Drew Goddard, who developed the incredibly popular Daredevil Netflix series for Marvel, as well as several other quality shows of the past two decades. But for the most part, this group of writers that Gunn believes will shape the future of DC's franchise does not inspire hope in its fans.
Gunn's proven himself a capable filmmaker and probably deserves the benefit of the doubt, even with such a lackluster group. Part of Gunn's new plan is to refuse to send a film into production until the screenplay is completely finished; this approach may bring out the best in these writers. But ultimately, little they've done thus far point to this team being successful. And after a decade of disappointing DC movies, fans are allowed to feel a little pessimistic.