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DC Studios co-CEO and Superman director James Gunn has stepped in to defend Lanterns and clarified why the DCU won’t be “of one tone” going forward.<\/p>\n
Warning! Light spoilers for Lanterns Season 1 Episode 1 follow.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Fans were surprised to hear Hal Jordan (Kyle Chandler) and John Stewart (Aaron Pierre) dropping F-bombs when DC and HBO premiered their new Green Lantern show last night. The True Detective-inspired buddy-cop drama is much darker and grittier than the projects it follows, and naturally, that’s resulted in some pushback online.<\/p>\n We should note that, generally speaking, audiences and critics seem to have walked away from the first Lanterns episode with glowing reviews (IGN gave it an 8\/10). However, while Marvel built its movie empire on a cinematic universe that largely blends between movies, there is a conversation brewing about how the DCU will be able to balance generally family-friendly films like Superman and Supergirl with some of the more cutthroat moments we’ve seen in Lanterns.<\/p>\n “As an ‘Elseworlds’ story, this first episode of Lanterns is way better than the conceit of ‘True Detective meets DCU,'” one fan said on Threads. “That said \u2014 and along with Supergirl, Creature Commandos, and the upcoming Clayface movie \u2014 I can\u2019t comprehend this slate toward building a shared narrative universe.”<\/p>\n Where Superman is a bright adventure about a man who saves the world, Clayface trailers have painted a picture of a brutal body-horror flick set on the streets of Gotham. Those movies, along with Lanterns, take place in the DCU, and as Gunn has said before, that means its superpowered shows and movies will sometimes feel pretty different from one another. As Hal shows John the ropes of being a Green Lantern, Gunn took the above post as an opportunity to explain his perspective on the DCU and its relationship to the comics it will be based on.<\/p>\n “In the same way DC comics have,” he said, explaining how the shared universe will have a natural connection. “Certainly the DC works of Alan Moore, Darwyn Cooke, Grant Morrison, Jack Kirby, Paul Dini & Tom King can’t be considered ‘of one tone.’<\/p>\n