James Gunn Officially Changes What The First Canon DC Universe Movie Is

James Gunn is shifting gears on what the DC Universe‘s first film is.

Spearheaded by the Marvel alum and longtime producing partner Peter Safran, the new franchise has acted as a touch above a soft reboot of the previous DC Extended Universe, with Gunn generally starting from scratch as the original Justice League roster has either been recast, or are in the process of doing so, while some have remained onboard in new roles, or retconned roles. He previously indicated certain figures and elements from The Suicide Squad and Peacemaker would return, as made more clear in the latter’s second season, though David Corenswet’s Superman was originally described as the DCU’s film start.

Now, during DC‘s “The Suicide Squad: Is It Canon?”, Gunn has shifted this canonical timeline to confirm that his Suicide Squad film is officially the first canon movie in the DCU. The podcast, hosted by Gunn, star and real-life wife Jennifer Holland, and star Steve Agee, spent an hour answering many of fans’ questions regarding the actual canon nature of the 2021 movie, as well as getting updates on certain actors and characters’ future in the series.

The writer/director acknowledged that both The Suicide Squad and Peacemaker season 1 were originally conceived as “a part of the DCEU,” only for the rebooting of that franchise to lead to him starting over with “the amuse-bouche” of HBO’s Creature Commandos season 1 and Corenswet’s Superman film in 2025. All the while, Gunn has let other filmmakers continue to work and pitch their ideas for DC’s endless library of characters as part of the “Elseworlds tales” lineup, citing Mat Reeves’ “very grounded, gritty crime story” of his Batman universe as one such example.

As the podcast drew to an end, and Agee and Holland threw down the question of whether The Suicide Squad is “canon, canon-light” or “canon with asterisks,” Gunn ultimately confirmed the 2021 movie is indeed canon to the new series, thus officially making it the earliest-released film in the DCU canon. However, even while having spent much of the podcast attempting to fill in any lore gaps, Gunn welcomed the possibility of users on Threads questioning any details they see as continuity-skewing:

Jennifer Holland: My vote, I can’t really understand, unless you’re really nitpicking on some odd things, why the whole movie can’t just be canon.

Steve Agee: I think so. It’s referenced enough in the current DCU projects that I think it makes it canon.

James Gunn: I’d say we have one small asterisk, which is what exactly is the future of Harley Quinn? I want to be given a little leeway with this by the fans, because I’m not sure exactly how that’s going to manifest itself. But other than that, I think that we can pretty much say the entire movie is canon. I don’t think there’s a problem. Now, maybe somebody’s going to come to me on Threads — and I accept the challenges and try to answer them — with something that can’t be Canon within this movie. And that’s OK, because we’re going to make mistakes. We’re going to make mistakes in this movie. We’re going to make mistakes in other movies. But for the most part, I think that it’s that it actually fits much more easily into canon than Peacemaker season 1 does. So, I think that we can actually say that yes, not only is The Suicide Squad canon, but it’s the first canon film in the DCU.

Jennifer Holland: My vote, I can’t really understand, unless you’re really nitpicking on some odd things, why the whole movie can’t just be canon.

Steve Agee: I think so. It’s referenced enough in the current DCU projects that I think it makes it canon.

James Gunn: I’d say we have one small asterisk, which is what exactly is the future of Harley Quinn? I want to be given a little leeway with this by the fans, because I’m not sure exactly how that’s going to manifest itself. But other than that, I think that we can pretty much say the entire movie is canon. I don’t think there’s a problem. Now, maybe somebody’s going to come to me on Threads — and I accept the challenges and try to answer them — with something that can’t be Canon within this movie. And that’s OK, because we’re going to make mistakes. We’re going to make mistakes in this movie. We’re going to make mistakes in other movies. But for the most part, I think that it’s that it actually fits much more easily into canon than Peacemaker season 1 does. So, I think that we can actually say that yes, not only is The Suicide Squad canon, but it’s the first canon film in the DCU.

The debate over canonical connections is certainly not beholden to just the world of DC. Marvel’s previous licensing of characters to other studios before the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s launch has frequently led to questions about ties between Sony’s various Spider-Man franchises and the MCU, with Tom Holland’s ultimately being the first to be fully set in the latter. However, even those produced by Marvel, including Netflix’s Defenders saga and ABC’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., often have found their canonical ties questioned.

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