James Gunn confirms return of three DC actors in the new universe

James Gunn has confirmed that three big stars will be returning to the DC Extended Universe for a number of forthcoming films and series.

The director and current DC supremo – alongside Peter Safran - released the big news after the writers’ strike came to an end, meaning that things can start once again in the movie business.

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So, with that unpleasant business resolved, Gunn announced that three actors will be returning to the DC universe.

Exciting stuff, for fans of the hugely lucrative comic book empire.

OK, it’s not the most lucrative comic book behemoth, but still…

So who are the three lucky actors returning to the big DC screen you ask?

Viola Davis, John Cena, and Xolo Maridueña.

Davis will return as Amanda Waller, Cena will be back as Peacemaker, and Maridueña will play Blue Beetle again.

Gunn broke the big news on Instagram’s Threads, during a Q&A session with fans.

Cena is set to return as Peacemaker for another series of the standalone show, which was released to broadly positive reviews in 2022.

Maridueña has been given a second chance as Blue Beetle, despite the fact that the film had a bit of a disappointing time at the box office, taking just $125 million.

Davis has appeared as Waller in quite a few DC films, and will be back as a voice actor in the animated series Creature Commandos.

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Other stars featuring in that include David Harbour, Frank Grill, Maria Bakalova, Alan Tudyk, Sean Gunn, Indira Varma, Zoe Chao, and Steve Agee.

Gunn confirmed that Creature Commandos will be the next ‘canon’ release, which brings an end to the previous era of DC films with Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, which is the final film that was put into production before Gunn and Safran took over the reins.

That flick – starring Jason Momoa and Amber Heard – is set to be released this December.

Then, we’ll see the controversial Superman Legacy, which has attracted attention because of the casting decisions made.

However, the decisions have now been made and won’t be changing, so we’ll see David Corenswet in his first outing as the Man of Steel, alongside Rachel Brosnahan, who will be taking up the role of Lois Lane.

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Gunn said that he recognised a ‘a very human drive to want to understand everything all the time, but I think it’s okay to be confused on what’s happening in the DCU since no one has seen anything from the DCU yet’.

The controversy over casting started because nobody knew why Henry Cavill wasn’t going to return to then role, or who was going to replace him.

After months of speculation, Corenswet was announed as the new Clark Kent, having risen to fame through projects like Netflix show The Politician and A24 horror flick Pearl.

Meanwhile, Brosnahan is best known for her roles in The Marvelous Mrs Maisel, The Courier, and I’m Your Woman.