James Gunn’s DCU has no established Justice League as of the timeframe in which Gunn’s Superman movie takes place, and the primary reason for that boils down to four words: . Gunn’s Superman is set to hit theaters on July 11th, and with the movie’s marketing and press tour kicking into high gear, Gunn has also begun providing some context for the movie’s place in the newly debuting DCU and how it will set important events in motion for the new cinematic universe. Among Gunn’s more revelatory comments has been his confirmation (via EW) that DC’s most iconic team of superheroes, the Justice League, has not been formed and effectively does not yet exist, with Gunn simply stating “There is no Justice League in this world… not yet”.

While Gunn’s “not yet” seems to suggest he intends for the Justice League to form down the road in the DCU’s timeline, doing so is a lot more complicated than it seems with DC’s recent cinematic history. More specifically, the legacy of the very first cinematic Justice League movie, and how it eventually saw the light of day as Zack Snyder’s Justice League, a.k.a. the Snyder Cut, makes tackling the Justice League at all a difficult proposition for the DCU. Put simply, the history of the Snyder Cut and everything attached to it makes Gunn’s decision to start the DCU without an already formed Justice League the most practical approach to DC’s premiere superhero team.