Even 10 years ago, we couldn’t have fathomed of the superhero movie treats we’ve received over the past 12 months. The closer to an acclaimed trilogy based on the Guardians of the Galaxy, of all characters? Michael Keaton returning as Batman after 30 years?? A multiversal animated spectacular all about the Spider-Verse… and it’s a sequel?!? And yet, when we look to the future of comic book cinema, it still seems far-fetched that we could one day get the dearest wish of any fan of the genre become a reality: the mythical Marvel/DC crossover movie.
And yet, perhaps it really isn’t that far-fetched at all. Over the years, we’ve seen Marvel Studios partner with Sony Pictures, for example, in order to bring Spider-Man into the MCU, something that once seemed destined never to happen. Meanwhile, on the other side of the divide, DC looks primed to finally sort its own cinematic universe out, as the DCU launches anew with 2025’s Superman: Legacy. So what are the chances of a Marvel vs. DC film getting made and what has been said on the topic so far?
James Gunn and Kevin Feige have spoken about a Marvel vs. DC movie
Let’s make it clear from the off: if anyone is going to make a Marvel vs. DC movie happen, it’s James Gunn. Unless you’ve been sequestered in the Fortress of Solitude for the past year, you can’t have failed to notice that Gunn has hopped from Marvel Studios to DC Studios, becoming the CO-CEO of the latter alongside producing partner Peter Safran. This means Marvel’s Distinguished Competition is being led by someone who’s not just a Marvel fan himself but one who has entrenched ties over in the rival camp.
As such, Gunn has been attempting to downplay any rivalry between the two studios ever since his DC tenure began in November 2022. What’s more, he’s made it known that he thinks a crossover movie with Marvel could happen as far back as 2019, once again when The Suicide Squad released in 2021, and then again in June 2023. This last response can be taken as his definitive comment on the possibility, as Gunn made clear that he and Kevin Feige have 100 percent talked about it, even if it’s not on the immediate horizon. As Gunn told Empire Magazine:
“Who knows? That’s many years away, though. I think we have to establish what we’re doing [at DC] first. I would be lying to say that we haven’t discussed it. But all discussions have been very, very light and fun.”
So, Gunn and Feige would clearly love to make it happen, and the aforementioned Sony deal tells us that sometimes Feige’s will can be enough to make something seemingly impossible happen. Nevertheless, isn’t there just too much legal red tape preventing such a crossover from occurring? Well, things are obviously more complicated when it comes to the movies, but it should be noted history has supplied us with several Marvel/DC crossover comic book events.
There have been various one-on-one character meet-ups, like Superman teaming up with Spider-Man or Batman facing the Punisher, over the years, but the real company-wide crossovers include the Amalgam Comics universe of the 1990s, in which DC and Marvel characters were merged into one, and 2003’s JLA/Avengers epic, which did exactly what it said on the tin and brought the two teams together. It should be noted, though, that as the superhero film craze has heated up over the past 20 years, no further comics crossovers have been forthcoming.
Still, that same superhero film craze has taught us that anything is possible. So… Could a Marvel vs. DC movie actually happen? Not right now, but maybe things will be different in, say, 10 years’ time.
