‘I found out about it 10 minutes ago’: James Gunn forced to deny he’s even shoehorning his wife into comic books now

Even though the entire shared universe is being rebooted and overhauled, it’s safe to say that Jennifer Holland‘s Emilia Harcourt will play at least some part in husband James Gunn‘s DCU.

There’s nothing inherently wrong with that when she’s racked up appearances in The Suicide Squad, Peacemaker, Black Adam, and Shazam! Fury of the Gods so far – only two of which were helmed by her spouse – but because she’s married to the boss, there’s inevitably a lot of ant-Gunn sentiments regarding her ongoing involvement.

That’s even extended to comic books, too, after it was revealed that Harcourt would be appearing in the pages of Batman: The Brave and the Bold issues four through six. As you can imagine, the cries of nepotism were instant and ruthless, forcing the studio’s co-CEO to hop onto social media and clarify that he had absolutely nothing to do with it.

Co-creator Rob Williams also stepped in to add further background, but a character played onscreen by James Gunn’s wife showing up in a DC-branded comic book was always going to generate exactly the response it did, regardless of whether or not there was even a shred of truth to it. Which there isn’t.

James wasn’t involved in the pitching/writing/editing of this at all. Something I suggested to our editor.

— Rob Williams (@Robwilliams71) August 14, 2023 Anything that happens under Gunn’s watch is going to be intensely scrutinized and more often than not burned to the ground by his detractors, but the fact it’s now beginning to infiltrate the comic book sphere is a most unwelcome development. It’s not going to end anytime soon, though, so maybe he’s best just ignoring it and carrying on with his film and television duties.