Warner Bros. is sitting pretty with many DC Comics superhero properties waiting to save us from evil. But the question is not so much who, as when.

Variety talked with Warner Bros. Pictures President and Chief Operating Officer Alan Horn, Production President Jeff Robinov and Gregory Noveck, Senior VP of Creative Affairs for DC Comics about the various challenges of adapting more DC properties for the big screen beyond the steady Batman and Superman franchises.

Here are some excerpts:

Warners and DC (both Time Warner entities) have labored in vain over another Superman, and launches for Wonder Woman, The Flash, Green Arrow and Green Lantern. It's maddening for fans as rival Marvel Comics has successfully begun financing its own slate of pics, first with Iron Man, then a reboot of The Incredible Hulk this summer.

DC doesn't have a separate film division the way rival Marvel does, which is moving forward with an Iron Man sequel and adaptations of Thor, The First Avenger: Captain America and the superhero team-up The Avengers for 2010 and 2011.

That means Warners doesn't have a sole cheerleader for its comicbook projects, or someone to work closely with filmmakers to develop them.

"We're having a lot of internal discussions on it," Horn says. "We haven't committed to any change at DC at this point," adding that both Warners and DC are committed to turning "the properties into viable movie product in an intelligent way so that we introduce them like planes on a runway. They have to be set up the right way and lined up the right way and all take off one at a time and fly safe and fly straight."