Disney Left in Dust as WB Sets New Industry Standard

After the Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) merger, the Warner Media conglomerate underwent extensive restructuring, leading to the exit of key executives, including Walter Hamada, the former head of WB’s DC film division.

Related: Batman Actor Unlikely to Ever Reprise Role After DC Movie Canceled

It wasn’t just the streaming service HBO Max that got rebranded to simply “Max”, or the Discovery Channel getting added to WBD’s brand lineup. Several in-progress and already complete WBD films and television shows were also shelved indefinitely for tax reasons, as the company’s focus shifted toward maximizing profits.

This strategy sparked numerous fan boycotts, accusations of insider trading against CEO David Zaslav, and public outrage over the destruction of cherished film history. One of the most notable public scandals was the abrupt cancellation of Leslie Grace’s Batgirl film, which was part of the (former) DC Extended Universe (DCEU) and featured the return of legendary Batman actor Michael Keaton.

James Gunn, best known for directing the Guardians of the Galaxy series in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) and 2021’s The Suicide Squad (not to be confused with the 2016 Suicide Squad starring Jared Leto as the Joker), has now taken over Hamada’s role, along with co-CEO Peter Safran.

In this new phase of the DC Universe (DCU), titled “Chapter One – Gods and Monsters,” Gunn and the newly established DC Studios are set to reboot the former DCEU for a fresh start.

Related: Everything We Know About DCU’s New ‘Batman’ Reboot, ‘The Brave and the Bold’

The previous iteration of the DC film universe, known as the DC Extended Universe (DCEU), prominently featured Zack Snyder’s Justice League, which introduced audiences in the 2010s to Henry Cavill as Superman/Clark Kent, Ben Affleck as Batman/Bruce Wayne, Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman/Diana Prince, Ezra Miller as The Flash/Barry Allen, Jason Momoa as Aquaman/Arthur Curry, and Ray Fisher as Cyborg/Victor Stone.

The centerpiece of this sweeping DC Universe reboot will be the upcoming film Superman (formerly titled Superman: Legacy), with David Corenswet stepping into the role of Clark Kent/Superman, replacing Henry Cavill in a completely new storyline.

Drawing inspiration from the DC Comics series of the same name, this film aims to reset the continuity established by Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel and Justice League, often referred to as the “Snyderverse.”

WB Throws Serious Shade at Marvel Studios

Despite all of these shakeups within Warner Bros., the new iteration of DC Studios is clearly set to move in a different, hopefully better direction.

In relation to the following question from Threads user @syermark about “overworked and underpaid VFX artists,” as Marvel Studios and Disney have historically got the brunt of criticism regarding their treatment of VFX workers.

@jamesgunn The last few years, overworked and underpaid VFX artists have been forced to work with very tight deadlines, which has led to understandably bad CGI in lot of big budget movies. Do you plan on taking a different approach with your DC films?

DC Studios Co-CEO James Gunn took to Threads to lay these worries to rest — and throw some not-so-subtle shade towards The Walt Disney Company’s Marvel Studios:

If you do some research you’ll see my films have always taken a different approach and I’ve always given my VFX artist-collaborators time to do their jobs properly, and the respect they deserve. And the quality of the VFX in those films is uniformly great because of it (and because my friends at Weta and Framestore and ILM and more are amazingly talented).

Continuing, Gunn added that this was the very reason that Superman, starring David Corenswet as Superman/Clark Kent, was wrapped a “year before release” and the reason DC Studios had “been hard at work on many shots for months before that.” In fact, everything Gunn does is to seemingly make that editing, VFX, and general post-production — and Gunn makes it very clear that he cannot “praise the VFX artists that help us create magic enough”:

This is why we start heartily editing during the shoot. It’s why I prepare so vigorously and why we only shoot finished screenplays. And Supergirl, which I’m not directing, is being handled the same way. I can’t praise the VFX artists that help us create magic enough.

Do you think Marvel Studios will lose out to DC Studios with the quality of VFX and the treatment of workers? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!