James Gunn and Peter Safran have been appointed co-CEOs of DC Studios, a recently formed production arm of DC. Now the famous director and the respected executive will forge a new path into the future for the comic book franchise. Effectively, this will make Gunn and Safran to DC what Kevin Feige is to the MCU. 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. But it’s a big job they have ahead of them, and many fans wonder exactly how they’re going to accomplish it.

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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 now 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?

James Gunn and Peter Safran’s Experience and Passion

     HBO

James Gunn and Peter Safran will effectively be taking 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 content 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. Where James Gunn will make creative decisions, Safran will help translate those into measurable financial results. Gunn has been known to make inflammatory statements and might not be the best choice to liaise with executive types alone. But 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

     Warner Bros. Pictures

Gunn and Safran officially begin their duties on November 1st, and the biggest job for both of them will be organization. The DCU, in the past, has suffered from conflicting visions intersecting with each other, making it more difficult for films to coalesce. Storylines have the same impact as they would otherwise.

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. Gunn and Safran plan to follow a 10-year model, which would put DC films into a paradigm similar to what Marvel currently does.

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 planning to make a sequel to his film that will fall outside this universe-encompassing narrative. 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.