James Gunn has narrowed down a list of some characters who fans can expect to see in the DCU in the not too distant future.
Fans have been speculating for weeks about who could join the new DCU as part of James Gunn and Peter Safran’s reboot of the franchise. Thanks to a new poll, Gunn has now teased five characters that will be making an appearance, and it is five out of ten possible candidates.
Although many projects are still to be revealed for the DCU, even those announced have still to see any real details being shared about what or who to expect from them. However, Gunn recently responded to a poll showing the ten DC characters that fans want to see make an appearance and seemed to confirm that five of those on the list will be turning up somewhere in the franchise.
The list of ten is made up of Nightwing, Martian Manhunter, Lobo, Brainiac, Deathstroke, Red Hood, Zatanna, The Court of Owls, Mister Freeze, and John Constantine. In his story, Gunn shared an image of the list compiled by IGN with the comment,”Will 5 of 10 do?”
Who Will Be the Five-Fan Favorites Coming to the DCU?
Naturally, some of the names on the list of ten immediately stand out as being the most likely to be part of Gunn’s five. Jason Momoa has made no secret that he is a huge fan of Lobo, and that Gunn has “made him really happy” recently after a meeting. Seemingly this is as close to a confirmation of Lobo being one of the five as we can expect right now. Of the others, a number of these characters are already either set to appear in DC projects or have recently been used. Keanu Reeves is returning as John Constantine. Joe Manganiello appeared as Deathstroke in Zack Snyder’s universe. The same can be said of Martian Manhunter, who was played by Harry Lennix. Mister Freeze infamously was played by Arnold Schwarzenegger in the 90s Batman & Robin and appeared in the Gotham TV series. The Court of Owls has been hinted to have a role to play in Matt Reeves’ The Batman universe.
All in all, this doesn’t mean that those characters won’t be appearing in some form, but following Gunn’s desire to include some more obscure characters in his DCU, then the like of Zatanna and Brainiac could well be part of the plan. Of course, we also know that we can pretty much guarantee to see either Dick Grayson or Jason Todd, or both, turning up somewhere alongside the new Batman.
While there is still a long way to go before Gunn shares any meaningful details about the majority of the recently announced slate, there is plenty in this post for fans to debate, and it is another sign that Gunn is happy to give away some idea of what is coming in the future. While there are more pressing matters of the casting of the new Superman and Batman to be considered ahead of the arrival of secondary characters, the idea of some lesser-known characters getting their chance to shine on screen is certainly more appealing than seeing some over-used characters being rehashed once again.