DC Studios’ co-heads James Gunn and Peter Safran’s DCU is currently a work in progress. Given that fans only know a fragment of their plans for the franchise, they always speculate and hope for things that can make the DC Universe better than it aspires to be.
IGN recently surveyed fans to find out which characters they desired to see in Gunn and Safran's DCU, and the results were revealed on February 17, 2023. Nightwing, Martian Manhunter, Lobo, Brainiac, Deathstroke, Red Hood, Zatanna, the Court of Owls, Mister Freeze, and John Constantine were among the top ten most-wanted characters in order of popularity. These results were reshared by the Instagram account @jamesgunnnews, prompting Gunn to respond on his Instagram story, writing, “Will 5 of 10 do?”
To amplify the tease, Gunn took to Twitter to again respond to another list with “Would 4 of 8 do?” to a Bleeding Cool article titled “8 Heroes We Hope to See in Live-Action Films.” That list includes Nightwing (Dick Grayson), Terra (Tara Markov), Superman (Jon Kent), Arsenal (Roy Harper), Green Lantern (Kyle Rayner), Vixen (Mari McCabe), Batgirl (Cassandra Cain), and Static (Virgil Hawkins).
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The first slate of projects for Gunn and Safran's revamped DCU was announced last month, but juicy details like the narrative and characters have yet to be communicated. While his responses don't confirm or get specific about anything, fans can be hopeful that Gunn has been nothing but vocal and honest about the queries surrounding this new phase of DC.
Looking at the list, fans already know that Keanu Reeves will return for Constantine 2 despite the cancellation rumors, and there have been hearsay that Jason Momoa will play the bounty hunter Lobo after he said that he is a huge fan of the character and that Gunn has "made him happy" after a meeting, while a new actor will take up the trident and play Aquaman.
It's also been confirmed that other members of the Bat family will appear in Batman: The Brave and the Bold, so this could be a great way for Nightwing and Red Hood to get their first taste of the franchise. Safran previously stated that they wanted to include these unconfirmed Bat family members “because we feel like they've been left out of the Batman stories in the theater for far too long.”
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With the new DCU still, two years away, anything can happen from here. For now, these hints are just giving fans something to chew on as they wait for significant details and the remaining slate of DC’s offerings. Now, they can only hope that more and new characters will be given the chance to shine on screen.
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