James Gunn Praises Zack Snyder but Declares Darkseid Isn’t the DCU’s Thanos

If you watched the Peacemaker season 2 finale and clocked that nod to DC's Salvation Run, you probably started connecting the dots to Darkseid. Fair warning from James Gunn himself: pump the brakes.

What Gunn actually said

"Don't expect that to be exactly what it is."

"Using Darkseid as the big bad is not necessarily the thing."

"Because Zack [Snyder] did it so cool in his way and because of Thanos and Marvel."

Gunn was asked about the Peacemaker tease and the Salvation Run angle, and he made it clear he isn't just lifting that storyline wholesale, especially not the Darkseid part. He also pointed to the Thanos factor in an exchange cited by New Rockstars: Darkseid and Thanos overlap a lot, right down to the visuals and the role they play as the looming mega-villain. In other words, he doesn't want DCU Chapter One to feel like a rerun of Marvel's Infinity Saga with a different coat of paint.

So what was Salvation Run again?

Quick refresher: Salvation Run is a DC comics arc where Darkseid sits at the center of the chaos. Peacemaker season 2 nodded at pieces of that, but Gunn says the show (and the larger DCU) won't follow that map beat-for-beat.

Why Darkseid isn't the plan right now

• The Thanos shadow: Gunn doesn't want the DCU's first major villain to mirror Marvel's big purple problem-solver. The similarities are just too loud.
• Snyder already gave Darkseid a moment: Gunn specifically praised what Zack Snyder pulled off with the character in Zack Snyder's Justice League, even if it was brief.
• The superhero climate has shifted: Audiences aren't showing up for formula anymore. Recycling the 2010s slow-burn-to-a-cosmic-warlord playbook is not the move right now.

How we got here

Darkseid was supposed to be the DCEU's main event — teased in Justice League and set up for bigger things after that. Then the theatrical cut of Justice League got chopped to pieces, the plan fell apart, and by the time Snyder's cut landed, the DCEU was already on life support. Even so, Darkseid's limited screentime in the Snyder Cut hit hard, and Gunn agrees. His take: Snyder did Darkseid well, which is another reason not to roll out the same villain as the new DCU's first ultimate boss.

For the record, Zack Snyder's Justice League (2021) runs a hefty 242 minutes, sits at 7.9 on IMDb, and holds a 71% Tomatometer with a 92% audience score.

The bigger picture

The genre's not the juggernaut it was a decade ago, and audiences are pickier. Gunn's approach — skip the obvious endgame villain, try something fresh — makes sense for Chapter One. He's known for zigging when you expect a zag, so expect a different flavor of Big Bad to anchor the early DCU instead of jumping straight to Darkseid.

Zack Snyder's Justice League is streaming on HBO Max (US).