Superman director James Gunn confirms "dead is dead" in the DCU but with maybe one exception

Death can be a big inconvenience when handling a world full of Kryptonians, light-up space police, and monsters put together by Victor von Frankenstein. Thankfully, Superman director and DC Studios CEO James Gunn has things under control. Always one for interacting with fans on Threads, Gunn responded to a query regarding Creature Commandos, which got the green light for a second season last year. When asked if there was a chance of Princess Ilana Rostovic (Maria Bakalova) making a comeback even after being shot in the head by the Bride (Indira Varma) at the end of the first season, Gunn made things crystal clear. "In the DCU, if you die, you're dead," he explained. "It's the way I've always done it."

It was here that a fan proposed one special get-out-of-jail-free rule in the DC Universe, that could bring characters back from the brink – the Lazarus Pit. Introduced in the Batman comics in 1972, the Lazarus Pit is a supernatural pool that Ra's Al Ghul often uses to bring people back from the dead. Batman, Wonder Woman, and even The Joker are among the few that have used the pits when in pretty bad condition. Factoring this in, Gunn did hint that he'd consider some of his characters taking a dip, but only if it was relative to the story being told.

"Well, I wouldn't mind using the Lazarus Pit (and/or resurrection) in a story," Gunn confessed. "But it would have to be part of the story itself. I won't be killing major characters just to pop them in the old Lazarus Pit to be alive again. What backfires more is people believing there are no stakes, and death doesn't mean anything. Dead is dead."

While it's interesting that Gunn is open to including this bit of comic book lore in his world, it's also one that's only just started spinning. Even mentioning the pits now would be wild given that we don't even have a Batman in place to dive into them yet. For now, we'll have to see who makes it out alive when Superman makes his debut in theaters on July 11. You can also look out for every other story coming to the DCU here.