Batman’s new bosses look to make DC Comics heroes super again

LOS ANGELES – Warner Bros Discovery aims to release two movies and two television series a year tied to its DC Comics characters as it seeks to reinvigorate its superhero business under new management.

Peter Safran and James Gunn, who

took over as co-chief executive officers of DC Studios in November 2022,

unveiled their plans for the company’s comic book franchises at a media event on Monday.

Their line-up includes the animated show Creature Commandos, a new series for the HBO Max streaming platform, as well as Superman: Legacy, a movie that will be released in theatres in July 2025. 

DC’s planned films between now and then include The Flash, Blue Beetle and sequels to Aquaman (2018) and Shazam! (2019), which are all due to be released in 2023.

They will help set up the Superman movie, Safran and Gunn said. A movie titled The Brave & The Bold will reintroduce Batman and Robin, while Supergirl will bring back that heroine. No dates were given for those projects.

The two are looking to duplicate the phenomenal success of Walt Disney’s Marvel Studios, which turned its stable of characters into the most successful franchise in Hollywood history by weaving together interlocking stories.

DC’s efforts historically have lacked that cohesion, Gunn and Safran said.

“The history of DC was pretty messed up,” Gunn said. “They were just giving away IP (intellectual property) like they were party favours to any creators who smiled at them. We’re going to promise that everything from our first project forward is going to be unified.”

DC exceptions

DC will still allow projects that fall outside of its superhero road map if they are of exceptional quality or “blatantly adult”, Gunn and Safran said. They pointed to The Batman (2022), directed by Matt Reeves, and Joker (2019), from director Todd Phillips, as recent examples. 

The reset comes after a period of tumult for DC.

Ezra Miller, the lead actor in The Flash,

pleaded guilty to unlawful trespassing

in a Vermont burglary case earlier in January, while confusion over the future of the DC movie franchise grew after Hollywood star Dwayne Johnson,

who played antihero Black Adam in an eponymous film released in October 2022,

sought to

bring back British actor Henry Cavill as Superman

so that the two characters could duel in future films. 

Safran and Gunn ultimately chose not to pursue sequels involving that storyline and cast. Gunn said there are no plans to recast Cavill in a superhero role.

“It’s also important to say that Henry Cavill was not fired. Henry was just not hired to be Superman in the Superman movie,” Gunn said. “There was never a deal there for another movie.”

Since the merger of WarnerMedia with Discovery closed last April, Mr David Zaslav, chief executive of the combined company, has made elevating DC properties a priority, alongside cutting a pile of roughly US$50 billion (S$65.7 billion) in debt.

In August 2022, he

cancelled the nearly finished Batgirl film,

which had been made for HBO Max. Safran and Gunn, who produced or directed DC films including Aquaman and The Suicide Squad (2021), report directly to Mr Zaslav. “We all know what kind of revenue successful films and television of this nature drives,” Safran said. “The stakes are massive for us and for Warner Bros Discovery.” Bloomberg