Game developers, voice actors and more shocked after James Gunn announced that all DC media will be connected

James Gunn recently announced some of the plans and ideas for the DC Universe under his watchful eye. He has announced a number of shows and movies that I can appreciate because of the presence of many lesser known groups and characters and the fans seem to be a little confused on the news. However, a big part of the announcement was that Gunn said that one of his jobs is to make sure all future movies, TV shows, and video games are connected to each other. An exception is anything outside the DC Universe he and Peter Safran are creating and Gunn’s lists Todd Phillips’ Joker AND Teen Titans Go!. These will be labeled as Elseworld content and we will come back to this part in a bit.

In addition to the projects, Gunn said the characters will be moving between live action and animated projects as well as video games with the idea being that the same actor will play the character in each iteration. The idea is to maintain a feeling of continuity which is admirable. Personally, I think this is a well-intentioned idea that sounds good on paper, but when you think about it, it turns into a bit of a nightmare and very concerning. I’m not the only one either.

On social media, some people have expressed concern about this move. For example, of the Walker who worked on the development team for the Batman Arkham games says it won’t work with DC if they go through with it. Unfortunately, I can’t see Walker’s tweets due to their privacy settings, but CBR has shared the following posts:

James Gunn just said that DC wants characters in film, games and animation to be consistent and played by the same actors. I will never work on a DC title again if it is confirmed. Have you lost your mind if you think Hollywood can top @tarastrong’s Harley or any VA actor. — Del @NaughtyDog (@TheCartelDel) January 31, 2023

These writers and voice actors do 100 versions of everything. I’m in the booth doing 600 lines of dialogue only to end up with 20 of the best in the game. Do you think you can get Robert Pattinson to work better than a VA actor? And for a sensible budget? Good luck. — Del @NaughtyDog (@TheCartelDel) January 31, 2023

Games and cartoons are not 2-hour Pixar movies. These means have thousands of lines. Hours of dialogue. The only 2 movie actors I’ve seen keeping up are Mark Hamill’s Joker and Haley Joel Osment’s Sora. And they became VA actors in their own right. They’ve canceled their program for years. — Del @NaughtyDog (@TheCartelDel) January 31, 2023

As noted, this approach will quickly drive up costs unless they minimize speaker roles in these projects. With the account growing so much, it is likely that there will most likely be fewer resources for the other teams on the project, including model makers, artists, programmers, writers, etc. Knights of Gotham had a rough launch, just wait for even fewer resources to go into a game because they have to pay for Hollywood stars. Not to mention, this has a direct impact on the voice-over industry. Gamesradar+ added that “Replies to Walker’s tweet are full of devs and voice actors sharing his feelings.” Again I don’t have access to see the tweets directly, but I was able to see some of the replies, including this one from the voice actor Erika Ishi.

Thank you so much for your support. I am heartbroken at this development

— Erika Ishii (@erikaishii) January 31, 2023

Now, some defenders point to the aforementioned Elseworld content mentioned by Gunn. However, one thing is not very clear as to whether any future projects will fall under the Elseworld umbrella. Everything mentioned by Gunn that will be considered Elseworld is content that already exists. We know that there are some projects that have been announced that will not be part of the Gunn universe and will most likely get the Elseworld label. Given how Gunn has talked about everything and shared tons of projects in the works, I really wonder if there will be any new projects for the foreseeable future that fall under Elseworld.

Here’s my two cents. I think this is a mistake. I’ve already talked about how I think linking everything is ruining Marvel and Star Wars and I don’t think DC will be an exception. One nice thing about Disney properties is that they haven’t connected video games (at least most of the time). Also, the acting and voice acting are different. Both require a lot of training and skill, but a good actor doesn’t always make a good voice actor and vice versa. DC’s live-action films are a very mixed bag. However, their animated shows and movies typically earn a lot of praise. They hired real voice actors instead of A-list celebrities and received amazing results at least most of the time. Those same projects weren’t even connected to a larger universe and allowed it to breathe on its own and the fans loved it.

The way it was presented, Gunn made it seem like every DC project that comes out under his control will be connected and that’s very troubling to me. I don’t think it’s a great strategy because more casual viewers, TV viewers, and gamers won’t want to put the time and money into a project if they know they have to consume all other media first. What do you think of these plans that Gunn has announced? Should there be more Elseworld projects?