It's been more than a year since James Gunn and Peter Safran were appointed co-CEOs of DC Studios, the newly formed production arm of DC. The famous director and the respected executive have already begun forging a new path into the future for the comic book franchise, moving forward with titles such as Superman: Legacy and The Brave and the Bold. However, the debate still rages over whether they're the right team for the task, especially with movies such as Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom drowning on arrival at the box office.
While they certainly have an uphill battle in front of them, their power over DCU’s upcoming films will help construct a cross-title narrative, separate DC canon from noncanonical titles, and attempt to create a theatrical comic book universe to rival Disney’s MCU. It’s a big job, and many fans wonder exactly how they’re going to accomplish it in light of flops such as The Flash scarring their efforts.
Saving the DC universe sounds like a job for a superhero, and that’s just what James Gunn and Peter Safran will have to be in order to get DC back on the A-list. The DCU (as the studio now prefers it to be called) has notoriously fallen behind the MCU in popularity and critical success. But it has two people at its helm who love comic book culture and have unique experiences working for both Marvel and DC.
Gunn and Safran, as co-CEOs of DC Studios, represent the necessary complement of skills needed to accomplish a job like this: the love of nerd culture and executive management experience. The two are poised to do great things with DC, but how will they get it done?
Update December 31, 2023: The year began with James Gunn revealing the DCU roadmap, so with the end of the year dying down this article has been updated with the state of the DCU following the release of box office flops like Shazam! Fury of the Gods, The Flash, and Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom and what the future looks like for James Gunn and Peter Safran.
James Gunn and Peter Safran's Experience and Passion
James Gunn and Peter Safran effectively took the place of Walter Hamada. Though he was the president of DC Films and Gunn and Safran now head DC Studios, they are essentially doing the job that Hamada was meant to do. Hamada steered the DC Universe for four years, explicitly motivated by cultural relevance and profit margins, which aren’t bad motives for an executive to have. But a billion-dollar comic book movie franchise needs something more than just effective business management. It requires a real passion for superheroes. Disney’s Marvel has done so well because they understand that they must truly love their characters while making effective business decisions. The two philosophies aren’t mutually exclusive.
James Gunn represents that passionate side of filmmaking. Having worked on both Marvel and DC projects before, Gunn is in a unique position to aid DC in its new direction. He first had his breakthrough role in these kinds of movies when Gunn directed Guardians of the Galaxy for the MCU. He’s also famous for directing The Suicide Squad and its spinoff Peacemaker for DC. He loves all things nerdy and is truly excited about creating these kinds of movies. But he has often worked behind a camera and not behind a desk. That’s where Safran comes in.
Peter Safran has made several Hollywood blockbusters with Gunn. He helped produce both of Gunn’s DC projects and has experience working on popular films like The Conjuring. Safran also had a hand in producing Aquaman, Shazam!, Shazam! Fury of the Gods, and Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, so he has certainly plenty of experience in the DC Universe. Where James Gunn will make creative decisions, Safran will help translate those into measurable financial results. Gunn is a creative, and Safran is a businessman. This also allows Gunn to focus on the creative side of projects like Superman: Legacy and Creature Commandos, as Safran can be focused on other DC projects while Gunn is busy as the two will share the workload. Safran has experience working with upper management and represents the perfect bridge between Gunn and the white collars that hold the keys to the vault.
Implementing the MCU Model
Gunn and Safran's biggest job over the past year has been organization. In the past, DC suffered from conflicting visions intersecting with each other, making it more difficult for films to coalesce. Warner Bros. originally went all in on Zack Snyder's take on the DC Universe with Man of Steel. But following the poor box office reaction to Batman v. Superman, they pivoted and drastically reworked both Suicide Squad and Justice League. Then they focused on downplaying interconnectivity and focused on more stand-alone projects that would make vague references to a shared universe like Aquaman, Shazam!, and Birds of Prey.
The creative forces behind the scenes changed so many times, from Zack Snyder to Geoff Johns to then Walter Hamada. Hamada Walter Hamada had a vision for the DCU that would have taken it down a different road than what controlling Warner Bros. Discovery executives like David Zaslav were looking for, as the original plan was to feature straight-to-Max streaming titles like Blue Beetle and Batgirl. While Blue Beetle was bumped up to a theatrical release, Batgirl was scrapped despite filming having finished. Combine that with Dwayne Johnson's attempts to take control of the franchise while making Black Adam, and it is clear for over a decade Warner Bros. has not had anyone really running DC Films and instead throwing a bunch of material at the wall to see what sticks.
Gunn and Safran plan to follow a 10-year model, which would put DC films into a paradigm similar to what Marvel currently does. Gunn is already looking to expand the DCU in a big way, introducing a bunch of heroes to populate the universe from the get-go. This will likely make for a lived-in shared universe that has an established history and lore. So far, confirmed heroes include Superman, Batman, Swamp Thing, Booster Gold, Supergirl, three different Green Lanterns, Hawkgirl, Mr. Terrific, Metamorpho, The Creature Commandos, and the Authority. That is a big universe that likely will have many characters crossing over.
But mimicking Marvel isn’t the only plan. DC has one advantage over the comic book behemoth; separate continuities. The most direct example of this is Todd Phillips’ award-winning film, Joker. The director is finalizing production on a sequel to his film that will fall outside this universe-encompassing narrative. Joker: Folie à Deux will star Lady Gaga as Harley Quinn, who will be separate from the Margot Robbie version fans have enjoyed in recent years. Though a version of the Joker will still be inside the new DCU, it will be different from Phillips’ vision for the character.
This will also happen with Matt Reeves’ The Batman sequel. Reeves will be able to tell an independent story from the one Gunn and Safran plan to tell, thus giving DCU multiple angles from which to approach these characters. Whether this will include or separate fans within the franchise remains to be seen, but it will be interesting to watch as the super-team of James Gunn and Peter Safran attempt to weave a new fate for the DCU.
They Are Not Afraid Of Initial Backlash
Since taking the reins of the DCU, James Gunn and Peter Safran have faced a decent amount of backlash from fans angered by some of the decisions they've made so far. For example, a large part of the fandom was disappointed when Gunn revealed Henry Cavill would not be returning as the Man of Steel, and Gunn instead cast a slightly younger actor — David Corenswet — as a new version of Clark Kent/Kal El for Superman: Legacy. The duo also canceled a planned Wonder Woman 3 starring Gal Gadot. Gunn took to Twitter in early 2023 to respond to his critics, making it clear he and Safran were willing to stand up to the fans to reboot the universe.
We were aware there would be a period of turbulence when we took this gig, & we knew we would sometimes have to make difficult & not-so-obvious choices, especially in the wake of the fractious nature of what came before us. But this means little to us in comparison to our jobs as artists & custodians in helping to create a wide & wonderful future for DC." – James Gunn
As of December 2023, nothing Gunn or Safran has created as part of their vision of the new DCU has seen the light of day. It has been more about closing out the original DCEU as the final batch of projects hit theaters, and sadly, all bombed at the box office. While the road looks rough ahead for Gunn and Safran, they are playing the long game. They are hoping for a similar pattern to what happened when Michael Keaton was first cast as Batman for Tim Burton's Batman. Fans originally hated the idea so much that they sent angry letters to Warner Bros. Press was initially bad for the movie, but after the first trailer, fans got on board, and soon the movie became a smash hit, and Michael Keaton is to this day considered one of the best Batman actors ever.
Superman: Legacy will be their first entry, but it won't arrive until the summer of 2025. Until then, criticism against the two is certain to linger, so it's good Gunn seems to have thick skin. However, as more news about the DCU comes out, possibly more cast members for the Authority or even Batman himself, the initial skepticism will make way for curiosity and then excitement.