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James Gunn has made the DCU canon complicated all over again by calling The Suicide Squad an "imperfect memory," and Creature Commandos the only "pure canon" so far

News
By Molly Edwards published 21 January 2025

James Gunn has explained more about the DCU canon

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Harley Quinn in The Suicide Squad
(Image credit: Warner Bros.)
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The DCU has officially kicked off with Creature Commandos, which means everything that came before is now non-canon – sort of.

DC Studios co-CEO James Gunn took to Bluesky to clarify some questions surrounding the canon status of his other DC projects, The Suicide Squad and Peacemaker. By the sounds of it, they're not canon, but also kind of are.

"Short answer: Only Creature Commandos forward is pure canon. For instance, Rick Flag Jr was killed because we heard Rick Flag Sr talking about it in Creature Commandos, not because we saw it in The Suicide Squad," Gunn wrote.

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"Long answer: Only CC forward is pure canon; Peacemaker is almost entirely consistent with that canon other than the Justice League; The Suicide Squad has a lot of consistencies but I think of it as an imperfect memory," he concluded.

While this isn't super clear, we're sure that everything will make more sense as time goes on and more DC Studios projects are released.

This isn't the first time Gunn has clarified some canon questions, either. He recently took to the internet to explain why certain TV shows didn't have the DC Studios fanfare attached.

Next up for DC is Superman, previously titled Superman: Legacy. That movie stars David Corenswet as Supes himself, with Rachel Brosnahan as Lois Lane, and Nicholas Hoult as Lex Luthor. It arrives on July 11.

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You can keep up to date with everything the DCU has in store with our guide to all the upcoming DC movies and TV shows.

Molly Edwards
Molly Edwards
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Senior Entertainment Writer

I'm a Senior Entertainment Writer here at GamesRadar+, covering all things film and TV for the site's Total Film section. I previously worked on the Disney magazines team at Immediate Media, and also wrote on the CBeebies, MEGA!, and Star Wars Galaxy titles after graduating with a BA in English.

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