James Gunn Eyes Two Spinoff Series from New ‘Superman’ Movie Characters

Warner Bros. has been trying for years to make their DC Comics movies as big as Marvel’s hits, but nothing really took off. Now, they’re hoping a new Superman movie will change everything. This movie, written and directed by James Gunn, is more than just a reboot, it’s the start of a whole new DC movie universe.

James Gunn, who is also running DC Studios along with producer Peter Safran, is leading this fresh attempt. Warner Bros. CEO David Zaslav has made it clear this is a huge deal for the company. He even said DC could be “one of the biggest value creation opportunities for us” and a real “game changer.”

The goal is for the new Superman movie to earn over $500 million worldwide and set the stage for many more movies and shows to come.

What makes this reboot special is that Gunn is not just directing Superman, he’s shaping the entire DC world. The movie stars David Corenswet as Superman and introduces familiar characters like Lois Lane, Lex Luthor, and even Superman’s dog, Krypto. It also includes some lesser-known heroes like Hawkgirl and Mister Terrific, hinting at the bigger universe Gunn plans to build.

According to a source familiar with the plans, Gunn is thinking about making spinoff TV shows for some of these characters, including Mister Terrific (Edi Gathegi) and Jimmy Olsen (Skyler Gisondo), a young reporter often seen close to Superman.

This shows that Gunn wants to explore the world beyond just the main heroes and dive into stories with side characters who have their own fans.

We had no idea about the Jimmy Olsen spinoff show, but this isn’t the first mention of a show revolving around Mr. Terrific. The writer of Mr. Terrific: Year One, a six-issue limited series, Al Letson, recently revealed that his limited series was originally pitched as a TV pilot.

However, due to the writers’ strikes at the time, he was unable to submit the pilot as planned. Instead, he decided to take his idea to DC Comics’ editorial team, who saw the potential and greenlit it as a comic book series.

“This was before James Gunn putting him [Mr. Terrific] in Superman, like I thought, you know, people know him but they don’t KNOW him. And I could take him and do something with it. But, my idea was that, because I write TV, I want to write DC and the Marvel Universes, and I haven’t had luck breaking it. A friend of mine was the showrunner on the new series with Ironheart.”

So I know a lot of people who have worked in those Universes, but I haven’t had the chance yet. So I thought, why not write a pilot for Mr. Terrific as TV as a TV show? I was under no illusion that anybody would ever turn this into a TV show, I just wanted to make a sample to show them that I could write superheroes in a grounded way. So I wrote this whole pilot. I loved it, I thought it was great, my team loved it, they thought it was great, and right when I finished it, the writer strike was going on so I couldn’t send it in to DC film and TV because I’m a member of the union I wouldn’t do that.

Letson explained that this time turned into a year, and then James Gunn tweeted a picture of Mr. Terrific from the movie, and then he heard from Andrea again and gave her an official Year One origin story pitch that the two of them later shaped. DC loved the idea but he had to change it a bit.

It’s unclear what this alleged show entails and who is going to work on it, considering that it’s all just rumors for now.

The plan for DCU is now more organized. Gunn and Safran have the full authority to run DC movies, TV, games, and licensing together, something that Warner Bros. never really managed before. Gunn himself said, “The history of DC is pretty messed up. No one was minding the mint.”

They have paused many ongoing projects to start fresh, aiming for a unified story across all media. Gunn’s idea is to mix different styles too, with plans for horror films and animated shows alongside action-packed superhero movies.

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