When James Gunn took over as the head of DC, many fans questioned his decision to completely revamp the franchise with some rather controversial moves. This included Henry Cavill’s exit as Superman with other prominent stars like Ben Affleck and Gal Gadot also ending their association with the franchise. Along with these significant changes, Gunn also introduced an array of projects including Superman: Legacy.
Parallelly though, the MCU has been having a pretty torrid time of late with a spate of films and series that have failed at the box office. The Actors Strike also added to Marvel’s woes by delaying projects like Blade. After a bunch of production-related issues that postponed its release, Blade was finally expected to release in November 2025. But has Gunn’s Superman project allegedly scared Marvel into postponing both The Fantastic Four and Blade to avoid clashes with the DCU?
Is James Gunn’s Superman Legacy A Threat To The MCU?
Marvel and DC have always competed with each other for supremacy in the cinematic space. While the former had the upper hand for a while, the past few MCU films have left a lot to be desired. Meanwhile, James Gunn is well on his way to resurrect the DC franchise through a complete rehaul of projects with Superman: Legacy being one of the most anticipated films from the DCU camp.
While Marvel has two big projects The Fantastic Four and Blade lined up in 2025, DC’s marquee film of that year will be Superman: Legacy directed by Gunn himself. But the DC head reportedly seems to be intimidating Kevin Feige and Marvel. With The Fantastic Four scheduled to also hit theaters in the same month as Superman: Legacy, insider Jeff Sneider reported in The InSneider that the MCU may want to avoid this clash by pushing the release date of its film forward.
This then means that Mahershala Ali’s Blade will become collateral damage once again. Having already been a victim of numerous production delays, the film was finally set to release in November 2025 after two unsuccessful premier dates. But with the rumor that The Fantastic Four could be pushed to later in the year, Blade could be further delayed to a possible 2026 release only.
While all this is still speculation at the moment, the MCU trend of postponing its films could point to the fact that James Gunn and the DCU are slowly but surely gaining momentum and popularity even before the first film is set to hit the screens.
James Gunn’s Trepidation On Taking Up Superman: Legacy
There’s no denying that James Gunn is a risk taker and his plans for DC have proved this fact amply. Amidst a lot of criticisms for his decisions to revamp the franchise, the director has always kept his vision intact and has worked single-mindedly towards his goal to take DC to greater heights.
One of the biggest movies that will come out of the DC camp will be Superman: Legacy, a completely fresh take on the Man of Steel which will be directed by Gunn himself. An ambitious project with a lot of expectation attached to it, the filmmaker confessed to The Hollywood Reporter that he was not always enthusiastic to take on the celebrated superhero and his legacy.
“It’s easier to take a character nobody knows, like the Guardians, or Peacemaker, and then do whatever you want with them. People in every single country in the world know the story of Superman. How can I make it different from the Superman movies that have been made so far, but also have it respect all the Superman movies that have been made so far?. So it just took me some time to try to figure it out”.
Gunn further added that true to the film’s title, his wish was to make a sincere superhero movie that will respect the legacy of Superman as portrayed in the earlier films by Zack Snyder. With all the major characters having been cast, it remains to be seen how Gunn’s choices work with the audiences.
