James Gunn Confirms That Xolo Mariduena, Viola Davis, John Cena Will Reprise Roles In DCU

All three are set to reprise their roles in the animated series ‘Creature Commandos’ which will be the first DCU project.

Taking to his personal Threads account, the ‘Guardians Of The Galaxy’ director confirmed that Xolo will be coming back as Blue Beetle, Viola Davis as Amanda Waller and John Cena as the Peacemaker.

This seven-episode series will be the first outing of the ‘first chapter’ from Gunn and Peter Safran titled ‘Chapter 1: Gods & Monsters’.

This arc will later also introduce characters such as Batman, Superman, Green Lantern, Wonder Woman and more, though much later.

Viola Davis herself was confirmed to return as Amanda Waller when the news came out that she was getting her own TV show, though James Gunn went on record earlier this summer calling Xolo Mariduena's Blue Beetle "the first DCU character".

In another post on Threads, James Gunn was asked whether the audiences need to watch anything else prior to ‘Creature Commandos’ to understand what's going on in the DCEU, to which the filmmaker and DC Studios co-CEO offered a succinct response: “No, they will not.”

“Nothing is canon until ‘Creature Commandos’ next year - a sort of aperitif to the DCU - and then a deeper dive into the universe with Superman: Legacy after that,” Gunn replied.

“It’s a very human drive to want to understand everything all the time, but I think it's okay to be confused on what’s happening in the DCU since no one has seen anything from the DCU yet.”

He continued: “And, yes, some actors will be playing characters they’ve played in other stories and some plot points might be consistent with plot points from the dozens of films, shows and animated projects that have come from DC in the past. But nothing is canon until CC and Legacy.”

As per The Hollywood Reporter, apart from that, Davis will star in her own series called ‘Waller’ while ‘The Suicide Squad’ director had also stated that he’s currently working on making the second season of the John Cena-starrer-series ‘Peacemaker’.

After this, he plans to work on his Superman project titled ‘Superman Legacy’ following which he will release the projects ‘Lanterns’, ‘Paradise Lost’ and ‘The Brave and the Bold’, which will respectively introduce Superman, Green Lantern, Wonder Woman and Batman.

The ‘GOTG’ filmmaker has also announced plans to focus on the lesser known characters of DC and create projects centered on characters such as Booster Gold, The Question, Green Arrow, Azrael, Hawkgirl, Doctor Fate, Mister Miracle, and Plastic Man.