30 DC characters we really want to see in the DCU

It’s been about seven months since new DC Studios heads James Gunn and Peter Safran announced the ambitious first phase of their new DC film and TV slate, officially titled Chapter One: Gods And Monsters. Information is very slowly trickling in regarding which characters will be included and who will play them. The most exciting news was the June announcement that David Corenswet (Pearl) and Rachel Brosnahan (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel) have been cast as Superman and Lois Lane in Gunn’s upcoming, Superman: Legacy.

Otherwise, we still don’t know the full breadth of each of these stories, but with every new Gods And Monsters film or TV series comes the chance to integrate more heroes, villains, and antiheroes into the fold. With that in mind, here are 30 characters who’ve never made a big-screen impact that could fit right in as part of Gunn’s brave new cinematic world of DC.

This article originally published on February 8, 2023

Animal Man

Animal Man has one of the most fascinating and visually interesting superhero power sets in DC Comics. His gifts allow him to basically take on the abilities of any animal he wants for a limited period of time, from the flight of an eagle to the strength of a bear to the speed of a cheetah. Visually, it’s a great hook for a character, it makes stories more fun and improvisational, and thanks to writers like Grant Morrison and Jeff Lemire, we know he can fit perfectly in everything from magical realism to horror.