Over the previous few years, James Gunn has turn into an integral element to the DC Comics media machine. It began out with him directing The Suicide Squad after which delivering the Peacemaker spinoff collection, and now he’s co-running DC Studios with Peter Safran and is gearing as much as direct Superman: Legacy, one of many many upcoming DC motion pictures which might be formally slated. Humorous sufficient although, a fan has identified a enjoyable Easter egg in The Flash that factors to Gunn present within the DC Prolonged Universe too, and the filmmaker responded to this.
The @HeroesUnbound Twitter account shared a behind-the-scenes picture from The Flash of director Andy Muschietti with actor Ian Loh, who performs Barry Allen as an adolescent, on the set of Barry’s bed room from his adolescence. As they identified, the youthful Barry has a Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed poster hanging up, and like its 2002 predecessor, James Gunn wrote the sequel. So after he noticed this Easter egg making the social media rounds, Gunn responded with these two phrases in his personal tweet:
I’m canon?
Sure, sir, you might be certainly canon to the DCEU. I’m even prepared to go a step additional and classify the whole lot of your filmography, minus the DC tasks and Guardians of the Galaxy entries for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, as canon within the DCEU. As such, it’s solely potential that when Barry Allen bought older, he checked out the Gunn-written remake of Daybreak of the Useless, or perhaps he noticed Gunn make his directorial debut with Slither. However then one may fall down the rabbit gap of envisioning the place Gunn’s profession would have taken him in a actuality the place he didn’t helm any superhero motion pictures, however hey, that’s not a nasty thought train.
The inclusion of that Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed poster additionally works properly with the timeline established in The Flash of when Nora Allen died. Per safety footage of Henry’s father, Henry Allen, at a grocery retailer whereas his spouse and son had been nonetheless at residence, we all know that an intruder broke into their family and fatally stabbed Nora on June 14, 2004. The second of the live-action Scooby-Doo motion pictures was extensively launched on March 26 of that very same yr, in order that leaves greater than sufficient for the adolescent Barry to have seen the sequel and grasp up its poster in his room. Now I’m questioning if Scooby-Doo 2 might need been extra positively within the DCEU than in actual life, leading to Scooby-Doo 3 being made not lengthy after.
Alas, this James Gunn Easter egg in The Flash comes because the DCEU continuity is winding down, with Gunn and Safran now placing collectively the brand new DC Universe franchise. With Blue Beetle now confirmed to be a part of the DCU, Aquaman and the Misplaced Kingdom would be the last DCEU entry. In 2024, the animated Creature Commandos collection would be the first full-fledged DCU venture to come back out, however the DC Studios heads think about Superman: Legacy’s 2025 arrival to be the “true starting” of this new shared universe. Different motion pictures on the franchise’s Chapter One slate embrace The Authority, The Courageous and the Daring (directed by The Flash’s personal Andy Muschietti), Supergirl: Lady of Tomorrow and Swamp Factor, and the TV lineup consists of Waller, Lanterns, Paradise Misplaced and Booster Gold. Maybe anybody of those tasks may throw in their very own Gunn-centric Easter egg to substantiate he exists on this actuality too.
As talked about earlier, James Gunn is each writing and helming Superman: Legacy, which opens on July 11, 2025. Casting for the film’s Clark Kent and Lois Lane is narrowing down, and there have additionally been some contenders reported for the Lex Luthor position. Whereas we await extra information on that venture’s improvement, escape your Max subscription to view all types of previous DC film and TV choices.