James Gunn Just Nailed The DCEU’s Biggest Superman Issue

James Gunn Updates: The Suicide Squad director James Gunn has explained why he didn’t include Superman in the movie, revealing the DCEU’s biggest problem with the character. During the early stages of development, Superman was envisioned as a potential villain for The Suicide Squad, but that idea was eventually scrapped.
Instead, the film used classic DC Comics villain Starro the Conqueror as the main antagonist, setting up some exciting fights for the film’s ensemble cast of characters.
Superman kicked off the DCEU in 2013’s Man of Steel, and he continued to be the de facto protagonist of the franchise through Batman Superman: The Dawn of Justice and the death of the Justice League.
On a recent episode of the Script Apart podcast, Gunn explained that it was that identity crisis surrounding Superman’s role in the DCEU that made him choose to keep the character out of The Suicide Squad.

What James Gunn Shared About Superman Issue?

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“At that time,” Gunn said, “A lot of questions were asked, such as ‘Who is the Superman in DCEU? Is this a DCEU movie?’And he just doesn’t want to deal with that much.
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The character who pioneered the film series and was destined to be the center of the story in multiple films beyond Justice League was suddenly swept off the big screen with no clear plan for the future. Gunn’s own confusion perfectly exemplifies where Warner Bros. went wrong with Superman in the DCEU.
While many fans and critics continue to debate whether or not it was the right call to cancel The five-part Superman arc proposed by Snyder, without a doubt, all of this has become very chaotic. Superman’s nature demands a central role, but his most recent film outings failed to give him that in any consistent way.
Even in the comics, Superman is a notoriously hard character to write. His near omnipotence and (generally) unceasing goodness don’t leave much room for compelling development and relatability.
At the very least, Superman needs a steady point of view and a consistent role within a story to be written well – two things he never quite received in the DCEU. Perhaps Superman can still find a home in the franchise, but it may be years before he appears on the big screen again.

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