James Gunn defends standalone stories in DC Universe

James Gunn has defended the existence of standalone stories in his DC Universe.

The director and DC Studios co-head has pushed back against the notion that every project in the DCU should connect to a wider story.

In response to a fan asking what Gunn and Peter Safran were "building towards" with their recent slate of projects, the filmmaker insisted the standalone films and TV shows are just as meaningful as the ones that connect with each other.

"DCU is just an alternate universe; we can enter at any location or time and tell THAT story. I dislike the idea that individual stories aren't meaningful unless they lead to something else," he wrote on Threads. "People not understanding this is strange to me, because Star Wars has essentially been doing this for 50 years across movies, shows, games and books, admittedly without the tonal variety. Now, this doesn't mean there isn't connectivity."

Gunn explained that the Superman Saga - featuring Superman, Supergirl and the upcoming Man of Tomorrow - contains many characters they've introduced in other films and TV shows, but there will also be standalone projects that don't feed into the saga.

Referring to the DCU's latest movie Clayface, he continued, "But that doesn't mean those other stories only exist to set up what's happening there (in the Superman Saga). I would love people to be seeing Clayface because it's a great, fun horror movie unto itself, not because of where else Clayface will show up three movies from now."

Clayface is a standalone body horror film starring Tom Rhys Harries as Matt Hagen / Clayface, a man with a clay-like body and shapeshifting abilities in Gotham City. Clayface is depicted as an adversary of Batman in the comics, but not in this particular film.

The movie topped the U.S. box office during its opening weekend with $24 million (£18 million), and has taken $46.5 million (£35 million) worldwide so far.

After Man of Tomorrow, the DCU's next film releases are The Brave and the Bold - starring Batman - Swamp Thing and a Wonder Woman movie. The Batman: Part II, starring Robert Pattinson, falls under the DC Elseworlds banner, meaning it's not part of the DCU.