James Gunn has revealed he’s working on one mystery project for the DC Universe, and his current writing trajectory for the franchise suggests its set to be a key release – with several exciting prospects regarding what it could potentially be. The current DCU timeline has already contained some curveballs from day one, both in terms of Creature Commandos being the first release in the franchise, and in terms of projects featuring figures like Booster Gold and Swamp Thing being announced early on.

As a key figure in the DC Universe and its path to building a new on-screen connected world for DC’s characters and stories, James Gunn has understandably been involved in a wide variety of announced projects already in a range of different capacities. While 2025’s Superman movie – which is both directed and written by Gunn – is close on the horizon, it’s a more mysterious project entirely that’s captured my recent attention after the co-CEO’s latest comments about the DCU’s future.

James Gunn Wrote The DC Universe’s First 2 Releases (& Is Set For Yet More)

James Gunn is, naturally, responsible for a lot of the early DC Universe release timeline, as he’s one of the two DC Studios co-CEOs who are overseeing the DCU, with he and Peter Safran being responsible for guiding the franchise from the DCEU to the DCU. However, Gunn is also responsible for much of the writing of the early DCU releases as well.

Gunn is the writer for not only all seven episodes of the DCU’s first show release, Creature Commandos, but also the franchise’s first film with the upcoming July 2025 Superman movie, with both marking crucial benchmarks for the franchise. On a similar note, Peacemaker season 2 has also had Gunn as its writer, and its August 2025 release date appears to mean the first three DCU releases will all be written by the DC Studios co-CEO, although this isn’t one hundred percent ᴀssured at this time.

Given how important the two projects Gunn has penned thus far for the DCU have been for the franchise, the prospect of him working on another is an inherently exciting idea in terms of thinking about the franchise’s future. As such, it’s especially promising that the creator has teased just that, referencing the next release he’s set his mind and pen to.

James Gunn Has Already Teased The DC Universe Project He’s Working On Right Now

While the focus is currently still very much on Superman during the build-up to the project’s release in the coming months, the February 2025 DC event wherein James Gunn and Peter Safran provided updates on specific DCU installments and the overall status of the franchise as a whole revealed plenty of exciting details about other projects. Perhaps the most mysterious of these was that of a mystery project James Gunn alluded to, stating “I’m writing something else now that would be the next directing thing… it’s connected, without saying what it is.“

Gunn confirmed this project was within the DCU, rather than being a part of the franchise’s Elseworlds spinoff series like The Batman. He also repeated that this would be his “next project“, suggesting it’s something set to be on the near horizon for the franchise, even if that places it within the later 2026 or onward installments for the DCU.

All Of James Gunn’s DC Projects So Far Have Been Crucial To The DCU

Thus far, every DC project James Gunn has ever worked on plays a crucial role within the DCU. Most obviously, Creature Commandos and Superman help to get the DC Universe in motion and lay out the world that audiences can expect to become more closely acquainted with over the course of years. However, The Suicide Squad and Peacemaker season 1 also play a crucial part in the world-building of the franchise thus far already as well, despite initially being part of the DCEU.

While it’s been established that only events from The Suicide Squad and Peacemaker season 1 that are explicitly discussed in DCU releases are canon – like Creature Commandos establishing the death of Rick Flag Jr. and Waller’s trouble with the government – this still appears to mean a fair share of events from the releases have been adapted over into the new world. As such, whatever is set to come next in terms of Gunn’s writing work follows up an exciting precedent given everything that’s come before has been key for the franchise.

There Are A Wide Range Of DC Universe Releases That Could Be Gunn’s Next DCU Project

Given how many projects are currently confirmed to be at least in the works for the DC Universe, it’s entirely possible James Gunn is working on something that’s already been talked about with the public, especially since he describes it as “connected” in the franchise. Indeed, this could be seen to align with fan speculation that Gunn could end up lending his talents to the Batman movie The Brave & The Bold after his Creature Commandos script introduced the Dark Knight in episode 6 for a cameo.

With that said, the majority of the currently announced DCU projects in question also appear to be far enough into things that they already have – or have had – writers working on them, meaning it stands to reason Gunn could also be working on something totally new. The DC Studios co-CEO did allude in the February 2025 event to the fact “nobody even knows about” his “favorite” project yet, stating “It’s been my favorite project for a few months.” – which would match the timeline for this release, since he mentioned being in the “pre-writing” stage for his next film in December 2024 on social media.

While this could simply allude to the quality of the project without any personal interference, it’s worth noting that the list of DC comics and characters that Gunn has praised may make some potential projects more likely than others at this stage. Interestingly, Gunn has previously described Tom King, Mitch Gerard and Evan Shaner’s Adam Strange run on Threads as “probably my very favorite newish comic series“, which is especially eye-catching as Supergirl: Woman Of Tomorrow adapts King and Bilquis Evely’s comic story of the same name, and the Guardians Of The Galaxy trilogy demonstrated Gunn’s sci-fi script talents.

However, Gunn has praised several other comic figures who would seem a solid fit for the current DCU, including ᴅᴇᴀᴅman, Wildcat, and Harley Quinn – with the last being particularly notable, since potentially bringing Margot Robbie back as Quinn after her $1.4 billion box office success with Barbie could be sensational. Similarly, Gunn has expressed fondness for The Metal Men, a team he set up when Creature Commandos episode 3 introduced their creator, Will Magnus. Whatever the case may be, I’m certainly excited for the mystery project to continue setting up more exciting new stories for the DC Universe going forward.

Upcoming DC Movie Releases

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  Superman

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  July 11, 2025
  

  
  
  
  

  
  

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  Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow

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  June 26, 2026
  

  
  
  
  

  
  

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  The Batman Part II

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  October 1, 2027
  

  
  
  
  

  
  

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