With the multiverse antics seen in DC’s The Flash, it raises the question: just who are the actors that will be carried over into James Gunn and Peter Safran’s DC Universe, anyway? When news first broke about Gunn taking on the creative duties as the Co-CEO of DC Studios — alongside Safran — reports and assumptions immediately surfaced that his universe of movies would be a complete reboot of the so-called DC Extended Universe, the film franchise that originally kicked off with Zack Snyder’s 2013 effort Man of Steel. However, that has turned out not to be quite the case since some of the legacy actors from the DCEU will, in fact, carry over to the DCU, while others will not. In that sense, Gunn’s machinations can more closely be described as a partial reboot. But just which actors will have the bragging rights of saying they’ve been part of both the DCEU and the DCU?
Viola Davis’ Amanda Waller
One of the earliest confirmed actors to be returning to the DCU after starring in the DCEU is the Oscar-winning Viola Davis continuing her role as Task Force X boss Amanda Waller. Davis first appeared in the role in 2016’s Suicide Squad and has made regular appearances in the DCEU ever since, including 2021’s The Suicide Squad and the HBO Max original series Peacemaker. Back in January of this year, it was confirmed that Davis would be starring in her own spin-off series on HBO Max called Waller. In fact, Gunn has specifically said that Waller will be a continuation of Peacemaker and that it will be using the same actors from that show, according to Deadline.
Xolo Maridueña’s Blue Beetle
Xolo Maridueña’s Jaime Reyes — aka Blue Beetle — is an interesting case because the upcoming Blue Beetle film was produced under the previous Warner Bros. regime and so it does have that production-level connection to the DCEU. However, Gunn has since stated in a recent interview that Blue Beetle will actually represent the DCU’s first character. This means it is 100% confirmed that Blue Beetle, as portrayed by Maridueña, will be the DCU version of the character. As Gunn told Michael Rosenbaum’s Inside of You podcast, “I mean the first DCU character for sure is Blue Beetle and the first DCU movie is Superman.”
John Cena’s Peacemaker
If the announcement about Waller was not confirmation enough, Gunn also explicitly said in that same interview that a Peacemaker season 2 is in the works and that it would commence production immediately after the completion of his film, Superman Legacy. Although Gunn did not specifically name-drop wrestler-turned-actor John Cena — who plays Christopher Smith, aka Peacemaker in the titular series — it seems all but certain the actor would return given the show’s monumental success. Doing a recast at this juncture could possibly hamper the star-power of a followup season. Therefore, we think it’s a pretty darn safe bet that Cena will return.
Jennifer Holland’s Emilia Harcourt
We are again throwing caution to the wind a little bit with this entry as actor Jennifer Holland was not specifically announced to be returning to the DCU. However, given the announcement about Waller and the fact that it was stated the actors from Peacemaker would return in that series – we think it’s a pretty safe assumption that Holland’s Emilia Harcourt will return since she was a main character in Peacemaker. What’s more, the character of Emilia has appeared in a lot of DCEU movies lately, including The Suicide Squad, Shazam! Fury of the Gods, and Black Adam. Plus, since she’s James Gunn’s wife in real life, that would seemingly make her a shoo-in to appear in the new DCU.
Steve Agee’s John Economos
We are again inferring what has not been explicitly stated based on the renewal of Peacemaker season 2 and Waller since, like Jennifer Holland’s Emilia Harcourt, Steve Agee’s John Economos has been a throughline with all Task Force X-related movies and shows, beginning with 2021’s The Suicide Squad. Agee even appeared in a post-credit scene on Shazam! Fury of the Gods.
Danielle Brooks’ Leota Adebayo
Another holdover from Peacemaker, what gives us a sense of certainty about the talented Danielle Brooks’ likely return as Leota Adebayo is the simple fact that she is Amanda Waller’s daughter within the world of the show. This would seemingly make the reluctant A.R.G.U.S. agent an obvious choice for returning in not only Peacemaker season 2 but Waller, as well. As with the previous three entries on this list, this pick is technically speculative, since no official announcement was made about Brooks’ return, specifically, so take it with a grain of salt. However, the only real reason we can see for the likes of Brooks, Agee, Holland, or Cena not returning for the DCU would be some kind of scheduling conflict or pay dispute. We hope that doesn’t happen though, since all of the aforementioned actors have been a delight to see in Gunn’s macabre stories.
Continuing Elseworlds projects
As part of Gunn’s initial slate of announcements, he clarified some movies will exist outside the main DCU canon and given the label “Elseworlds,” just like in the comics. This means that Robert Pattinson’s Bruce Wayne from The Batman will return in a followup movie as well as Joaquin Phoenix’s Arthur Fleck in Joker: Folie à Deux. Just don’t expect either of those characters to ever meet each other — let alone rub elbows with the likes of John Cena’s Peacemaker — any time soon. A Black Superman project penned by Ta-Nehisi Coates, which began development under the old WB regime, will also fall under the Elseworlds label, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Firmly in the “maybe” pile
When asked directly by The Hollywood Reporter a few months back whether Zachary Levi’s Shazam, Jason Momoa’s Aquaman, or Ezra Miller’s Flash might continue in the DCU as those characters, Gunn said it was a possibility and that they were still determining whether to fold those characters as portrayed by those actors into the DCU. We haven’t gotten an explicit update on that yet, so it’s entirely possible. However, given the financial flop of Shazam! Fury the Gods and The Flash, not to mention Ezra Miller’s controversial and criminal behavior in recent months, we think it’s probably a safe bet that those two will not be returning. However, we think it’s still entirely possible for Jason Momoa’s Arthur Curry to return since 2018’s Aquaman was the DCEU’s biggest hit at the time, garnering over a billion dollars at the worldwide box office. Since Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom has yet to come out, and therefore yet to flop or succeed, we will have to keep an eye out for this one. For our money, Momoa will likely return to the DCU, but he may be playing a different character, such as the fan-favorite casting of him as the space bounty hunter Lobo. Since we’re on the subject of the “maybe” pile, we think it’s pretty likely that other side characters from Peacemaker season 1 — such as Freddie Stroma’s Vigilante — will return for the followup season. However, since he is more of an ancillary figure to the main narrative, his return is not as cemented in our minds as Jennifer Holland, Steve Agee, Danielle Brooks, or John Cena – even though we would love to see him come back.
Actors who are more than likely not coming back
Henry Cavill’s Superman is one version of the character that James Gunn has 100% confirmed is not coming back due to requiring a recast for his upcoming Superman Legacy. In addition, Gunn has not completely ruled out Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman. However, we think it’s probably likely she will be recast as well, considering the franchise director Patty Jenkins has parted ways with the movie studio and the most recent effort — Wonder Woman 1984 — was a flop. Dwayne Johnson’s Black Adam probably also won’t be coming back. Although Gunn has specified that Black Adam won’t be part of the first phase of the DCU, but stopped short of completely ruling him out as ever returning, we think it’s probably likely that Johnson won’t return as the character, given that the Johnson-produced Black Adam ended up being a box office flop as well – albeit just barely. It’s pretty safe to assume Ben Affleck’s Batman and Jared Leto’s Joker won’t be returning to the DCU, either. For a more thorough deep dive into the actors who won’t be returning to the DCU, check out our article from We Got This Covered’s Sandeep Sandhu.