Fans Unpack James Gunn’s DCU Film Cancelation, Citing His Callout of Sony and Marvel Production Struggles
They highlight challenges of rushed scripts and high-stakes effects planning.
DC Studios co-head James Gunn has revealed that a greenlit DC Universe film has officially been scrapped after the project failed to improve through several drafts.
Speaking with NPR, Gunn explained that despite having a talented director and screenwriter attached, the script simply wasn’t working.
"We had a screenplay that... just wasn't changing. It wasn't getting better" he said. "We can’t make this film. We can’t. It’s not good."
Gunn stressed that moving forward would have hurt everyone involved: "Director’s going to look bad, screenwriter’s going to look bad, and we’re going to look bad."
Instead, he made the rare decision to pull the plug — a move he admits is unusual in studio culture.
Though he didn’t name the project, speculation points toward Swamp Thing as the likely title affected, given ongoing updates about other DCU films still in active development.
On Reddit, fans discussed Gunn’s comments, with one user referencing his pointed critique of Sony’s Spider-Man villain movies, quoting Gunn’s blunt "not that" remark. Another noted Gunn’s background with low-budget effect-heavy films like those from Troma, suggesting that careful planning is essential:
"They didn't have money to just shoot whatever; those movies are HEAVILY effect based, so if you don't plan shit out you're SoL."
Some users drew parallels to other franchises, pointing out that even major Marvel films like Doomsday and Iron Man started filming with scripts still being written, often requiring last-minute rewrites. As one commenter said,
"Apparently a lot of Marvel movies are like this. Even back as far as Iron Man in ‘08… they needed to huddle in someone’s trailer to retool it a lot."
Gunn’s candidness highlights the rare transparency in studio decision-making, reminding fans that even big-budget projects can falter before reaching the screen.
