With the arrival of Creature Commandos this December and Superman next year, James Gunn’s new DCU will officially begin. And although we know which projects are coming, we didn’t know the overarching story for Chapter 1 – Gods and Monsters. Well, thanks to a post from Gunn, we now know which classic DC series might shape the overall saga of the DCU. It’s one of the greatest comics DC Comics has ever put out, Darwyn Cooke’s The New Frontier. In a post, Gunn said “I love New Frontier, and its magical alternate history is a big influence on DC Studios.”
2004’s New Frontier, written and illustrated by the late Darwyn Cooke, tells a story spanning almost two decades, from the end of WWII until the space race era of the early ’60s. The DC Universe in this story had a Nazi-fighting Justice Society, who all retired by the early ’50s. Only Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman stuck around. As the ’50’s becomes the ’60s, new heroes like the Flash, Green Lantern, and Martian Manhunter emerge. They investigate a mystery about an ancient primordial evil within the Earth, one that ultimately unites them as the Justice League.
While we don’t think a direct adaptation of New Frontier is happening, elements from it could shape the DCU. (An animated adaptation did happen in 2008 as a DTV film). We will likely see a DCU with some history, possibly going back to World War II. The synopsis for Lanterns talks about members of the Green Lantern Corps investigating an ancient mystery here on Earth. While this DCU won’t be set in the ’60s, we think it will be a world with an alternate history to ours. This is very similar to Watchmen. (Although, probably not nearly as bleak as Watchmen). We’ll know for sure when Superman hits theaters in July, 2025.
