It’s a debate that has ignited passionate arguments among comic book fans across the globe: who would win in a showdown—heroes from the Marvel Universe or those from DC? Batman or Captain America? Superman or Thor? Aquaman or Namor? Deadpool or Deathstroke? Flash or Quicksilver? Wonder Woman or… well, you get the picture.
Like many devoted fans, DC Studios co-CEO James Gunn admits he’s had this very debate more than a few times himself. So the question remains: could a Marvel vs. DC movie crossover ever actually happen?
“We’ve talked about it a billion times. That could easily happen, but simultaneous to that, I think it would be interesting. But I also think people are a little over it. I think people wanna see good stories with their superheroes and that’s what matters,” Gunn told Rolling Stone. “And they wanna see different types of stories with their superheroes. And people love superheroes. That’s obvious, but they need more variety, and they need just more quality storytelling. And just having Spider-Man and Superman team up isn’t gonna do it if it’s shit. So it’s gotta come from a real place, and it’s really hard to make that work.”
Back in 2021, Gunn expressed a similar sentiment on the Jake’s Takes YouTube show, stating, “I would really be happy to do a Harley Quinn and Groot movie. That would be exciting for me. Not only have I thought about that, but I’ve actually talked about that to the heads of both Marvel and DC. They know everybody’s open to everything, but whether anything would ever happen, who knows?”
The idea of being able to bring Marvel and DC together in a movie, that would be really fun for me. And, I know it’s exciting for even the heads of Marvel and DC to think about, Kevin Feige over at Marvel and Tobey Emmerich over at Warner Bros… It’s something we all like to dream about, whether we can ever get through the barrage, the Berlin Wall of lawyers we would need to get through to ever make something like that happen, I don’t know. But, it would be a blast.”
Gunn made it clear that if a Marvel vs. DC movie crossover were to happen, doing it explicitly as a cash grab just because people “wanna see Superman and Spider-Man” team-up would be out of the question.
“I did Superman because I loved the character,” Gunn continued. “And I was excited about writing that movie. If I were to write a Superman-versus-Spider-Man movie, is it a concept I’m gonna be like, ‘Oh, yeah, this could be a great film’? Or am I doing it because ‘Oh, yeah, people want to see Superman and Spider-Man team up’? For me, it would have to be — if we ever did that, it would have to be under someone who thought it was gonna be awesome and wasn’t just a cash grab, because I’m just not into that.”
James Gunn’s new DC Universe will face its first major test with the release of Superman on July 11. Beyond that, the slate includes Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow—set for release in June 2026—and The Brave and the Bold, which will introduce a new, older version of Batman, distinct from the one played by Robert Pattinson in Matt Reeves’ The Batman. Gunn has also emphasized that one of his top priorities is fully integrating both Batman and Wonder Woman into the reimagined DC film universe.
“Batman’s my biggest issue in all of DC right now, personally. And it’s not — I’m not writing Batman, but I am working with the writer of Batman and trying to get it right, because he’s incredibly important to DC, as is Wonder Woman,” Gunn continued. “So outside of the stuff that I’m doing in the projects that are actively going, our two priorities are finishing our Wonder Woman and our Batman scripts.”
When asked if Pattinson’s Batman would appear in the DCU, Gunn replied, “It would be a consideration. We’d have to think about it. We’d have to think about it. It is not like we’ve never discussed it.”
Despite the chances for Pattinson’s Batman appearing in Gunn’s DCU not being certain, Gunn also made it clear that Matt Reeves’ The Batman Part II was still under production.
“I’ll also say Batman Part II is not canceled. That’s the other thing I hear all the time — that Batman Part II is canceled. It’s not canceled. We don’t have a script. Matt’s slow. Let him take his time. Let him do what he’s doing. God, people are mean. Let him do his thing, man.”
Could a Marvel vs. DC movie crossover happen? Which characters from each respective comic book movie universe would you like to see square off in the event that it did? Let us know in the comments.
