James Gunn Confirms the Absence of a Major DC Villain

James Gunn may be working for DC instead of Marvel now, but he’s still operating in a major superhero shared canon, which comes with some expectations. We want to see heroes interacting with each other. We want a multiverse, which Peacemaker provided. And we want a big bad who represents everything scary in the universe.

Obviously, the DC big bad must be Darkseid, the New God who seeks the Anti-Life Equation while ruling his minions on the planet Apokolips, right? Not so fast, says Gunn.

In an interview with New Rockstars, Gunn stated that he has something else in mind for his universe. “Using Darkseid as the big bad right now isn’t necessarily the thing,” Gunn revealed. That’s a surprising admission, because Darkseid often operates as the ultimate opposing force in the DC Universe. Created by Jack Kirby as part of his Fourth World comics in 1970, Darkseid soon made his way into the mainline DC Universe as the embodiment of everything that the heroes struggle against. He seeks not just control or the obliteration of his enemies, but the loss of all hope and independent thought, replacing everything good in the world with a chilling, two-word phrase: “Darkseid is.”

Gunn’s decision to avoid Darkseid for now runs against what most would expect, given some recent reveals about his universe. We know that there are plans for an animated adaptation of the Tom King and Mitch Gerads miniseries Mister Miracle, in which Darkseid’s use of the Anti-Life Equation saps away the title hero’s confidence.

And Peacemaker season 2 ended with the reveal of Salvation, a planet in another dimension where Rick Flag plans to send his enemies. Salvation comes from the miniseries Salvation Run, in which Darkseid and the New Gods play a major role. In fact, Salvation Run was published as part of the run-up to the company-wide crossover Final Crisis by Grant Morrison, which is about Darkseid and other New Gods manifesting on Earth in new and more upsetting forms.

But the most surprising thing of all are the reasons that Gunn cites for avoiding Darkseid. First, he notes that Darkseid has a lot in common with Thanos (a true statement, as writer and artist Jim Starlin made the Mad Titan as an homage to the New God), and he’s been a prominent part of Marvel’s stories. Second, Gunn says he wants to stay away from Darkseid because “Zack did him so well,” referring to the character’s appearance in Zack Snyder’s Justice League.

So, yes, Gunn is avoiding Darkseid in part because he’s a fan of Zack Snyder, which forces DC movie partisans to realize that their respective figureheads don’t hate one another as much as the fanboys wish they would. Peace between nerd factions? That might be the real Anti-Life Equation.