James Gunn Flat Out Refusing to Revive Old-Gen DC Animated Shows Is Why Bruce Timm Can Never Revive the One Show That Perfectly Fits Future DCU

SUMMARY

• James Gunn enjoyed X-Men '97, but will not be following suit with any revivals of DC's own.
• This would mean that Bruce Timm will not be able to revive Batman Beyond, despite fans wanting more from the character.
• However, Batman Beyond could find himself in the DCU as a completely different version of himself.

James Gunn has delivered a brilliant animated beginning to the DCU with Creature Commandos. The show, as is the case with some of Gunn’s other projects, took some very obscure characters from the DC canon and thrust them into the limelight with a brilliant story and an engaging soundtrack.

X-Men ’97 || Credits: Marvel Animation

James Gunn revealed that the success of X-Men ’97, according to him, was because it did not chase after trends, and instead delivered something unique, which is also something that the DCU would like to do. However, this was the director’s justification for not reviving any of the old, non-DCU, non-DCEU animated shows, such as Justice League Unlimited or Batman Beyond.

Batman Beyond would fit right into the DCU, should James Gunn be open to it

Batman Beyond || Credit: WB

James Gunn made it clear that while he is interested in the animated side of the DCU, it might not be anytime soon that fans would get any of their old shows like Justice League Unlimited or Batman Beyond back. Part of it is because James Gunn would rather produce some unique content that gives fans some fresh stories, rather than pick a trend and milk it while it lasts.

Unfortunately, this means that Batman Beyond, a show and character that would fit right into the DCU, might not be a part of it anytime soon. While there is a possibility that the character makes an appearance as a different version of the origin, Bruce Timm has his hands tied when it comes to the DCAU version of the character, which fans can assume is never going to get any more new episodes.

James Gunn might allow the DCAU to influence the DCU

Batman Beyond || Credits: Warner Bros || DC

The DCU is going to begin its journey in a universe that is going to have a very stories history of superheroes. As seen in Creature Commandos, there will be characters in the show that have their histories and origins tied with more familiar times in our own history.

This could be extrapolated to think that there could also be a slew of heroes in the future that the DCU might bring back by means of time travel. This could give characters like The Legion of Superheroes and Batman Beyond a place in the DCU, which could be explored non linearly, given that the franchise is going to be more akin to Star Wars rather than the MCU.

Creature Commandos is streaming on Max.

Written by Anuraag Chatterjee

Articles Published: 1224

Anuraag Chatterjee, Web Content Writer
With a passion for writing fiction and non fiction content, Anuraag is a Media Science graduate with 2 year's experience with Marketing and Content, with 3 published poetry anthologies. Anuraag holds a Bacherlor's degree in Arts with a focus on Communication and Media Studies.