No, James Gunn isn’t casting Hawk Tuah girl as “major” DCU character

An absurd new rumor has surfaced about James Gunn trying to cast the Hawk Tuah girl Haliey Welch as a “major character” in the DC Universe. The only problem? It’s not real.

James Gunn is still in the process of building out the DC Universe to properly compete with Marvel’s MCU, and one rumored casting choice has left the community rightfully baffled.

Haliey Welch, better known as the Hawk Tuah girl, made a name for herself after going viral in 2024 when she first said her infamous catchphrase.

The young Tennessee influencer would use her newfound fame to start a podcast, launch a dating site, and was even accused of scamming people with her crypto token.

A rumor about Welch joining the DCU emerged on December 11 when an X account claimed that James Gunn was “reportedly looking to cast Haliey Welch as a ‘major character’ in an upcoming DCU project.”

Hawk Tuah girl DCU rumors debunked

The account credited the report, like many do, as coming from Jeff Sneider.

Sneider has broken many film stories in the past including casting choices, but in this case, he never actually made any such claim and was furious at the parody post.

“This is a lie. Never said this. This account is making this sh*t up. Where are the community notes NOW, Elon?” he asked, referring to X owner Elon Musk’s feature that lets users add context to posts. “Or can anyone just put words in my mouth now?”

The post was since hit with one of the aforementioned community notes debunking the claim.

Unfortunately, for anyone who would want to see the Haliey Welch in the DCU, it’s safe to say that no, there are no plans for the Hawk Tuah girl to be starring in any movie or future project at the moment.

Amusingly, that wasn’t the only fake DCU rumor that Jeff Sneider had to deal with. Later that day, another account claimed that he reported, “Brainiac and his pet monkey Koko will reportedly be ‘major characters’ in the upcoming Superman movie. It is said that Chris Pratt might be in talks for Koko.”

This Superman rumor was just more monkeying around, as Sneider once again shot down that claim.

“More garbage from some troll looking for clout they’ll never have,” he dismissed.

This should serve as a reminder to always be careful with what you read online and take every rumor with a grain of salt and a pinch of pepper.

However, while Haliey Welch may not be joining the DCU, that doesn’t mean she’s completely off the table, especially if enough people get on board.

Back in 2023 James Gunn revealed that when he casts roles for his movies he looks at who fans have suggested online. “Sometimes they have good ideas, sometimes terrible ones,” he said.