James Gunn speaks out on Wonder Woman 3 and Man of Steel 2 cancellations: "We know we aren't going to make every single person happy"

Gal Gadot in Wonder Woman
(Image credit: Warner Bros.)

Newly appointed co-head of DC Studios James Gunn has spoken out about the news that Wonder Woman 3 and Man of Steel 2 have been canceled. 

"As for the story yesterday in the Hollywood Reporter, some of it is true, some of it is half-true, some of it is not true, and some of it we haven’t decided yet whether it’s true or not," Gunn explained via Twitter

The Hollywood Reporter announced that Wonder Woman 3 had been officially canceled at DC Studios, and that a sequel to Henry Cavill's Man of Steel was now up in the air as part of Gunn and fellow co-head Peter Safran's new plans for DC.

"Although this first month at DC has been fruitful, building the next ten years of story takes time & we’re still just beginning," Gunn continued. "Peter and I chose to helm DC Studios knowing we were coming into a fractious environment, both in the stories being told & in the audience itself & there would be an unavoidable transitional period as we moved into telling a cohesive story across film, TV, animation, and gaming.

But, in the end, the drawbacks of that transitional period were dwarfed by the creative possibilities & the opportunity to build upon what has worked in DC so far & to help rectify what has not."

An earlier report from Warner Bros. Discovery claimed that the company wants to revitalize class characters like Superman, and potentially give the hero a new series of standalone films that better re-establish his brand identity – which is contrary to the Man of Steel 2 cancellation news.

"We know we are not going to make every single person happy every step of the way, but we can promise everything we do is done in the service of the STORY and in the service of the DC CHARACTERS we know you cherish and we have cherished our whole lives," Gunn continued on Twitter. 

He added: "As for more answers about the future of the DCU, I will sadly have to ask you to wait. We are giving these characters and the stories the time and attention they deserve and we ourselves still have a lot more questions to ask and answer."

The filmmaker ended his statement with a photo of the Justice League, whom he had also featured in his HBO Max series Peacemaker. Clearly Gunn is a fan of the classic heroes, and we'll just have to wait and see what happens next.

For more, check out our list of all the new superhero movies flying your way in 2023 and beyond.

Lauren Milici
Senior Writer, Tv & Film

Lauren Milici is a Senior Entertainment Writer for 12DOVE currently based in the Midwest. She previously reported on breaking news for The Independent's Indy100 and created TV and film listicles for Ranker. Her work has been published in Fandom, Nerdist, Paste Magazine, Vulture, PopSugar, Fangoria, and more.