The superhero genre continues to be super popular, thanks to various cinematic universes that are competing at the box office and via streaming services. This includes DC, which is forming a new shared universe thanks to new co-CEOs James Gunn and Peter Safran. The first slate of projects is titled Gods and Monsters, with casting slowly coming out for various upcoming DC movies. And Gunn recently responded to backlash over casting Sean Gunn as his brother and frequent collaborator Maxwell Lord.
After having roles in the Guardians of the Galaxy series and The Suicide Squad, Sean Gunn will play Maxwell Lord in the new DC universe. He takes on the role from Pedro Pascal, who played Lord in Wonder Woman 1984. While Gunn’s plans for the character are still a mystery, he got some backlash on Instagram Threads for casting his brother in both that role and a voice role in the animated project Creature Commandos. When someone accused him of lying about this casting, he responded in a now delete post (via ScreenRant), which reads:
I said, very clearly, actors will generally only be playing one character on screen, and said, in the same response, that for voice actors it's not the same. Sean, Alan Tudyk, Maria Bakalova, Steve Agee, etc, all play multiple roles in Creature Commandos. That doesn't mean they won't play different characters onscreen. So, what's the need you have (and a handful of others) to [so] desperately need to believe I'm lying that you seem to purposefully ignore certain parts of what I said?
There you have it. While he’s not going to give actors multiple live-action roles in the new DCU, the inclusion of animated projects adds another fold to the situation. And Gunn believes he made that clear from the jump, so he’s seemingly not here for backlash surrounding his brother’s various roles in the shared universe. Although I have to wonder why he ultimately decided to delete this response on threads.
This is just the latest example of James Gunn using social media to directly communicate with the public. Gunn often debunks rumors about his projects online, especially thanks to the ongoing mystery about DC’s plans for the future. And this time it was directly related to his ongoing collaboration with his brother Sean Gunn.
While there are some naysayers about Sean Gunn’s roles in the new DCU, it’s not like he hasn’t put in a ton of work within the genre previously. In addition to playing Kraglin in the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise, Gunn also played Rocket on set, before CGI and Bradley Cooper’s voice performance brought the character to life. Then there’s his role as Weasel in The Suicide Squad, and (for course) his iconic tenure in Gilmore Girls. So Sean Gunn is certainly qualified to get in on the DC fun.
The next DC movie hitting theaters is Aquaman 2 on December 20th, which will be the final installment in the DCEU as we know it. In the meantime, check out the 2024 movie release dates to plan your next movie experience.
