Photo Credit: HBO Max
Nobody is safe when it comes to surviving the DCU.
James Gunn and Peter Safran’s DCU officially kicked off in December 2024 with the animated Creature Commandos series, which is getting a second season. That was followed by Gunn’s Superman movie, which was released in July 2025 and stars David Corenswet as the titular superhero.
The next DCU project after Superman is Peacemaker Season 2. The first three episodes of the John Cena-starring show’s second season are now available to watch on HBO Max, while new episodes will continue to drop on Thursdays until the finale arrives on October 9, 2025.
What did James Gunn say about DCU characters being killed off?
On Threads, Gunn was asked if future DCU projects could kill off central characters such as Harcourt, Economos, Eagle, Lois Lane, or Guy Gardner/Green Lantern without bringing them back via the multiverse.
“Sure,” Gunn answered. “These are stories. People die in stories.”
As noted in the original comment, Gunn hasn’t shied away from killing off big characters in his movies before. Groot technically died in the first Guardians of the Galaxy movie (though he was brought back as Baby Groot), while Michael Rooker’s Yondu met his demise in Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2.
Joel Kinnaman was killed by Cena’s Christopher Smith, himself, in 2021’s The Suicide Squad; however, because of the multiverse, Kinnaman is now reprising his role in Peacemaker Season 2.
Following Peacemaker’s second season, the next DCU project that’s been announced will be Craig Gillespie’s Supergirl, starring Milly Alcock, which arrives on June 26, 2026. James Watkins’ Clayface movie then arrives on September 11, 2026, while the Lanterns television show — which does star Nathan Fillion’s Guy Gardner — is also expected to arrive in 2026. The only other DCU movie with a release date at this time is Man of Tomorrow, which will see Corenswet and Nicholas Hoult reprise their roles as Superman and Lex Luthor.
