Warner Bros studios have been performing terribly in the past few years. They have somehow successfully managed to ruin every big IP they have. That is the reason why they get pawned off every 5 years or so. But the biggest IP they have ruined is DC, after the mishandling of Justice League, the universe never seemed to be going anywhere despite the occasional hit. So how will the new Discovery chief David Zaslav fix this mess?
Recently a Variety report has come up with some very interesting scoops regarding the future of DC. Per the report, Discovery head honcho Zaslav is very keen on installing someone as the head of all things DC. Walter Hamada’s reign has bought nothing but failures and some occasional hits. Which is not enough for an IP as big as DC.
A Kevin Fiege like DC leader
Since 2018 the DC’s franchises seem to be headed nowhere. The report states that Zaslav is interested in an executive who is capable enough to lead the DC franchise. Similar to what Kevin Fiege has done with the Marvel Cinematic universe. To put in some context in 2019, Disney named Feige, Cheif Creative Officer of Marvel in addition to being the studio head. In turn giving him the responsibility for Marvel’s storytelling across mediums including publishing, film, TV, and animation.
Emma Watts was mentioned as a potential candidate but she had declined the offer. She was the executive in charge of overseeing Fox’s marvel movies such as Hugh Jackman led Wolverine. In addition to that, she oversaw hits like The Martian, Bohemian Rhapsody and Avatar.
Warner Bros Discovery wants a connected and cohesive universe
The DCEU is a mess. We don’t even know where the universe is headed and what the next big event is. Then we have a Batman who is not a part of this universe. At some point to make a successful franchise DC needs to make an interesting connected universe and this is not it.
So what are Zaslav’s options? Well, there are only two. The first is to end the whole thing and start from scratch with a hard reboot. Starting a new universe can allow Discovery to flesh out an epic universe with cohesion similar to Marvel.
For example, whenever you watch a marvel movie you see where the next one is going. Spider-Man No Way Home opened up the multiverse doors for Doctor Strange to run amok in Multiverse of Madness. When was the last time DC did anything like that? DC’s planning has been so bad that a suicide squad sequel is not connected with the first instalment.
The second option albeit a spicy take is to bring back Zack Snyder. He is the only one who seemed to have a grand scale plan for DC. While he makes Justice League 2&3 he can oversee Ben Affleck’s Batman, Wonder Woman 3, a Green Lantern movie and a Cyborg movie to name a few. Which will all culminate into Justice League 3. He knows how to pull off an epic scale Justice League movie and might be a good option as Discovery figure out a reboot.
An emphasis on Superman
Superman has been left on the sidelines for way too long. There is no way Zaslav sees it as logical to not have a Superman project for more than 5 years now. Superman along with Batman and Spider-Man is the definition of what being a Superhero is and it is a shame we haven’t seen more of him.
Discovery has said in the report that it will focus on Superman. whether it is Henry Cavill or someone else it remains to be seen.
