Credit: Marvel StudiosCould audiences soon see a Russo Brothers DC movie?
Regardless of the sentiments of James Gunn or Kevin Feige, a rivalry exists between DC Studios and Marvel Studios and has since both started making movies. While yes, it’s true that attendance to movies from one studio helps attendance for movies from the other, at the end of the day, only one studio is getting the money for that attendance, and for years, Marvel has been taking the lion’s share, but could that soon change?
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There are many factors that could change the balance of power from Marvel Studios to DC Studios, though, of course, nothing is set in stone. The first among many would have to be box office numbers. While DC hasn’t exactly been killing it at the box office lately, neither has Marvel. Recent offerings like Thor: Love and Thunder (2022) and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023) have fallen severely short of expectations, and even the outlook for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023) isn’t good.
With an almost entire restructure, could DC be poised to dethrone the Marvel Cinematic Universe? Many fans still don’t think so. Shazam! Fury of the Gods (2023) was underwhelming both for fans and the studio, and the next big offering from DC, The Flash (2023), is already replete with controversy, persuading many to think that it too won’t perform as well as the studio, and Warner Bros Discovery hopes. So, what’s the biggest hope for DC? Marvel.
Not just Marvel’s underperforming but the utilization of Marvel talent. Fans already know about the installation of James Gunn as co-CEO of DC Studios alongside Peter Safran, but there’s more. Recently the cast for DC’s new Creature Commandos series was announced, which included more than a few Marvel Studios alumni like David Harbour and Sean Gunn. This may not be the end of DC poaching Marvel talent, however.
Comicbook recently interviewed the directing team behind the two most successful Marvel Studios movies to date: Avengers: Infinity War (2018) and Avengers: Endgame (2019), which currently holds the number two slot in the top-earning movies of all time. The directing team in question, the Russo Brothers, were asked if directing a movie for DC held any interest, to which they responded enthusiastically:
“Obviously James over there running it, it would be a no-brainer…We love him to death. We love the direction he’s going to take that world in. You know he’s gonna be inventive with it. And favorite DC characters? I mean, man. There are so many good ones. I always answer based on the comics I collected as a kid, and the two comics I collected the most were Spider-Man — actually, the three — were Spider-Man. X-Men and Batman. But there have been a lot of iterations of Batman, so I feel like that’s an obvious answer.”
From the very outset, it would be safe to say that if James Gunn asked, the Russo Brothers would be there in a flash. This development is also interesting given the distance that the duo has set for themselves from Marvel Studios, freeing up their time significantly. Could audiences see a Russo-directed Batman: The Brave and the Bold? There’s plenty of potential for them in the new DC Universe and even DC Elseworlds, so who knows?
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With Marvel talents like Gunn and the Russos, the pieces are certainly in motion for a DC surge, if not a coup, within the superhero genre. Whoever comes out on top, the winners will hopefully be the audience: having a real competition at DC may cause Marvel to push more and try harder to win back audiences, while a surge in competition at Marvel would only mean a DC Studio working that much harder to compete.
What do you think about the Russo Brothers’ remarks? Let Inside the Magic know in the comments below!