With Superman now playing in theaters and the second season of Peacemaker set to debut on HBO Max in just a few days, we’ve started to get a real look at the world of the new DCU. While speaking with Rainn Wilson for Interview Magazine, DC Studios co-CEO James Gunn was asked what sets the DCU apart from other world-building franchises like the MCU.
“There is not a New York City in our DCU. There is not a Los Angeles in our DCU,” Gunn said. “There is Metropolis, Evergreen, and Coast City. It’s a different map. It’s a world in which some form of superheroes, which we call Metahumans, have existed for at least 300 years and they’ve been a part of our life. But I think that we’re reaching a point in the DCU where there’s three factions. There’s the Metahumans, the governments, and then the corporations. And the corporations are equally important. There’s LuthorCorp, there’s Lord Tech and Stagg Industries and Wayne Enterprises, which are the four big companies that are vying for another type of domination.“
Gunn added that the corporations aren’t evil, just “f***ing amoral.” He even says that even LuthorCorp isn’t evil, despite being led by one of the DCU’s most prominent villains.
“The corporations in themselves aren’t evil,” he said. “Corporations are amoral. I guess governments are amoral too. But it’s really more dependent on the morality of the figurehead. In this case, Lex Luthor’s a pretty bad guy, although his corporation has done some great things. Luthor has created a battery, which has made the running of the world a much more efficient process. He has cars that run more efficiently, that are better for clean air. He’s done some really great things for the world, which is the reason for his obsession with Superman.“
Gunn continued, “He was considered the greatest guy in the world a few years ago, even though there were Metahumans, and then this guy with dimples and a glint in his eye in a silly costume came in and made him feel like shit, so he’s been sort of obsessed with him ever since and has gone evil. I don’t think Lord Tech is the same. It’s run by Maxwell Lord, who we meet in the first episode of Peacemaker. He’s not the greatest guy in the world, but as far as billionaires go, he’s probably more on the right side of things than Lex Luthor.“
Speaking of Peacemaker, the second season will premiere on August 21, and you can check out a glowing review from our own Alex Maidy right here.
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