James Gunn Approves Fan-Made Timeline Showing How Clayface And Blue Beetle Fit In The DC Universe

“Clayface” just expanded the DC Universe, giving fans their first introduction to the franchise’s live-action Gotham City. The street-level story proved this still-fledgling cinematic enterprise can encompass an R-rated body horror just as easily as a charming crowd-pleaser like 2026’s “Superman.” Meanwhile, there are plenty of upcoming DCU movies that aim to similarly expand James Gunn and Peter Safran’s shared universe. While the DC Studios co-heads are aiming to avoid the complexity of the erstwhile Snyderverse, you’d be forgiven for losing track of the new in-universe timeline. Now, we have an unofficial attempt to make sense of that very thing — and it’s just been co-signed by Gunn himself.

User comicbookcollide posted a list of DC Universe projects on Threads in an attempt to arrange the various films and TV series into a coherent in-universe timeline. Turns out, they were pretty much on the money. Gunn responded to the post, writing, “Timelines give me anxiety, but I think this is pretty good.” That’s about as solid an endorsement for a fan-made timeline as you could hope for — though it should be noted that Gunn stopped short of fully endorsing the post as fact.

This particular timeline of events slots “Clayface” in as the second DCU event/project, listing the events therein as having occurred in 2021. Meanwhile, comicbookcollide also included “Blue Beetle,” the 2023 film which belonged to the now-shuttered DC Extended Universe. This particular film, which Gunn has confirmed is canon to the DCU, is listed as having occurred in 2023 just prior to the events of “Creature Commandos” Season 1 — the official first DCU project. That also puts “Blue Beetle” before “Superman” and after the events of “Clayface,” “The Suicide Squad,” and “Peacemaker” Season 1.

James Gunn was never going to confirm a fan-made DC Universe timeline as 100% accurate and official. But there might be more to his reluctance to fully endorse comicbookcollide’s post. While Gunn has said “Blue Beetle” is canon to the DCU, he also made clear there are a few retcons required to make it fit. The same is true of “Peacemaker” Season 1, which originally debuted while the DC Extended Universe was still running. The show received a particularly conspicuous retcon when Gunn and his DC Studios cohorts re-edited the Season 1 finale to include the Justice Gang rather than the former Justice League. Perhaps the fact that “Blue Beetle” isn’t fully canon (but still sort-of is) accounts for why Gunn hasn’t fully endorsed the fan-made timeline.

The Wrap previously reported that Jaime Reyes/Blue Beetle actor Xolo Maridueña is set to appear in Gunn’s “Superman” sequel “Man of Tomorrow,” which would fully solidify his original film as having been retconned into the DCU. But there’s no doubt Gunn’s approach is a little confusing.

Rather than rebooting DC’s cinematic universe entirely, the director has tried to keep aspects of the former DCEU while charting a new course. Thus far, that hasn’t been too much of an issue, but this is exactly the kind of esoteric minutiae that can turn off mass audiences and lead to widespread so-called superhero fatigue. As such, it is at least reassuring to see all the various DCU projects laid out in a timeline that Gunn has mostly co-signed, even if it all seemed a bit unnecessary from the beginning.

While comicbookcollide’s timeline is fairly comprehensive, it does leave out some DCU events. For example, “Lanterns” Episode 1 began by clarifying the DC Universe timeline, revealing that Earth’s first Lantern, Hal Jordan (Kyle Chandler), emerged in 1986 and revealed his identity in 1996. This means he had been operating long before the events of “Superman,” which took place in 2025. These small but significant developments aren’t included in the list posted to Threads, which otherwise does a solid job of making sense of the DCU timeline and combining former DCEU projects (such as the aforementioned “Peacemaker” Season 1, “The Suicide Squad,” and “Blue Beetle”) into the new chronology.

Meanwhile, Gunn’s comment about timelines giving him “anxiety” seems a little baffling. It’s his job to stay on top of this stuff and build a shared cinematic universe that maintains a coherent timeline and structure — otherwise DC would just stick with making the so-called “Elseworlds” projects and not worry about the whole interconnected aspect. He also recently appeared on a special “The Suicide Squad: Is It Canon?” podcast, a show specifically designed to clarify how the 2021 movie slots into the DCU and which parts are officially canon. Clearly, Gunn is thinking about these things and has a good idea of how these earlier films mesh with his new vision, to the extent it seems like he enjoys being the only one who really understands it all. Where the anxiety comes from, I’m not sure.

For now, we at least have a better idea of how “Blue Beetle” and “Clayface” fit into the overall plan, and it will be interesting to see how the DCU continues to expand in the coming years.