James Gunn, co-chair, and co-CEO of DC Studios disclosed that projects based in alternate universes are in the pipeline.
Gunn said, “That is currently happening,” when a fan on Twitter questioned him about creating any Elseworlds DC projects unrelated to the DC Universe. Gunn did not go into any additional detail, allowing fans to only guess which characters and plots would be given the Elseworlds treatment. Gunn’s reaction is consistent with his earlier statement that not all DC projects would be related to the DCU, much like Elseworlds tales are not a part of the central DC Comics universe but instead take place in their own independent realm.
DC Comics’ 1989 debut of the imprint Elseworlds saw stories set outside the DC Universe’s canon published under that name. Every book published under the Elseworlds imprint was set in a different reality and usually broke continuity. The 1989 miniseries Gotham by Gaslight by Brian Augustyn and Mike Mignola is regarded as the first Elseworlds story. This distinction was retrospectively conferred to the limited series after DC registered the Elseworlds moniker for trademark purposes later that year. A Victorian-era depiction of Gotham City served as the setting for Gotham by Gaslight, which contained significant revisions to the Batman mythos and depicted the Caped Crusader pursuing Jack the Ripper.
Could Joker: Folie à Deux Be the First Movie Set in Elseworlds?
There are still a few previously announced projects that will not be a part of this new shared world, despite Gunn and Peter Safran working diligently to create a unified vision for the DCU that will span cinema, television, animation, and gaming. One of them is the much-awaited Joker: Folie à Deux, the follow-up to Todd Phillips’ 2019 Oscar-winning feature Joker. Many fans urged Warner Bros. and DC to utilize Joker as the starting point for a series of Elseworlds movies after the first movie, which received almost unanimous praise, was released.
The majority of Elseworlds adaptations to date have been made into DC Universe Animated Original Movies, with Gotham by Gaslight and Superman: Red Son being just two well-known examples. Batman: The Doom That Came to Gotham, an Elseworlds story from the 2000s, will be adapted by DCUAOM and will be released in 2023. The animated movie, like the comic, will be set in the 1920s and follow Bruce Wayne as he unintentionally releases something evil from the past. As Bruce Wayne/Batman, David Giuntoli will be joined by John DiMaggio, Tati Gabrielle, Christopher Gorham, Patrick Fabian, Brian George, and Jason Marsden in the movie’s voice cast.
