Warner Bros. Reportedly Offered Marvel Studios Boss Kevin Feige The Chance To Take Charge Of DC Studios

Warner Bros. Reportedly Offered Marvel Studios Boss Kevin Feige The Chance To Take Charge Of DC Studios

Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn is set to head up DC Studios, but a new report claims that Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav attempted to get Marvel Studios' Kevin Feige to jump ship!

By JoshWilding - Oct 29, 2022 06:10 AM EST
Filed Under: DC Studios
Source: Above The Line

Ever since Warner Bros. became Warner Bros. Discovery, CEO David Zaslav has been making some sweeping changes to the studio. Overhauling the DC brand has been among his many priorities, leading to the cancellation of Batgirl and several noteworthy projects being shelved. 

Now, the DCEU is becoming the DCU, with The Suicide Squad director James Gunn and prolific producer Peter Safran taking charge of the franchise. 

We know Zaslav has spent months searching for someone to oversee what many feel is a poison apple in Hollywood, but if anyone can make it work, we have to believe it's those two. However, the CEO clearly didn't shy away from shooting his shot because a report from Above The Line claims he offered the role of DC Studios boss to Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige!

The site notes, "David Zaslav wanted someone like Kevin Feige (and apparently even asked him, though he politely declined, naturally) to run the DCU and try to make it even remotely competitive with the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU)."

Feige leaving Disney to go work for the Distinguished Competition would have certainly been something, eh? On the one hand, we'd love to see what he might have done with characters like Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman, but it's clear he's Marvel through and through. 

As for Gunn, he recently took to social media to explain that there's no bad blood between him and Kevin (or Marvel and DC for that matter). In fact, his old boss was the first person he told, with Peacemaker star John Cena the second. 
 

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ScaryTerry
ScaryTerry - 10/29/2022, 6:37 AM
I think we knew this, but I do like seeing that the head of two major cbm studios have a good relationship.
Mugens
Mugens - 10/29/2022, 6:38 AM
Not surprised the offer was made, and not surprised the offer was turned down.
Doomsday8888
Doomsday8888 - 10/29/2022, 6:42 AM
Only what can happen does happen.

And i firmly believe that Kev will one day work on a DC project and especially Superman in one shape or form.

And the circle will be complete.

I mean, he already has his hands on Star Wars, so...
ObserverIO
ObserverIO - 10/29/2022, 7:05 AM
@Doomsday8888 - That sounds like an event with astronomical odds of occurring.

Like turning oxygen into gold.

A miracle.
Doomsday8888
Doomsday8888 - 10/29/2022, 7:18 AM
@ObserverIO
TheWalkingCuban
TheWalkingCuban - 10/29/2022, 8:29 AM
@ObserverIO - don’t joke about oxygold
MyCoolYoung
MyCoolYoung - 10/29/2022, 9:38 AM
@TheWalkingCuban - I usually turn my oxygen into cotton. Oxycotton
TheWalkingCuban
TheWalkingCuban - 10/29/2022, 9:49 AM
@MyCoolYoung - the touch… the FEEEELLLL, of oxyCOTTONNNN… the fabric of our jail mattressessssss
Battabing
Battabing - 10/29/2022, 11:37 AM
@Doomsday8888 - Where is that Star Wars project, by the way?
DCfan84
DCfan84 - 10/29/2022, 4:40 PM
@MyCoolYoung -
MyCoolYoung
MyCoolYoung - 10/29/2022, 10:30 PM
@DCfan84 - I’ll definitely perform cpr on her
DCfan84
DCfan84 - 10/30/2022, 1:32 PM
@MyCoolYoung - Just CPR? I'd go full Felony on her

Chewtoy
Chewtoy - 10/29/2022, 6:47 AM
I suppose it’s nice to hear that somebody looking for a “specific person type” to fill a role actually asked said specific person for a change.

ObserverIO
ObserverIO - 10/29/2022, 7:29 AM
@Chewtoy - Joel Kinneman still waiting by the phone.
Origame
Origame - 10/29/2022, 11:13 AM
@Chewtoy - as opposed to the hunt for an Allison brie type?
VictorAlonzo
VictorAlonzo - 10/29/2022, 6:58 AM
If only thousand"aire" rappers would be this cordial about competitive franchises. Really, take notes.
BillyBatson1000
BillyBatson1000 - 10/29/2022, 7:18 AM
Money: Business is business.

Rest of the World: It's the Montagues and Capulets!

ObserverIO
ObserverIO - 10/29/2022, 7:23 AM
Hiring a phenomenally talented and creative filmmaker like James Gunn and pairing him with a successful and experienced producer like Peter Safran to head up DC Studios is genius.

Hiring people with a vested interest in the continued future of the current DCEU's status quo and expecting them to deliver a new and cohesive universe that will replace said status quo is dumb.

Wanting them to deliver a focused brand with one universe and then tying their hands behind their back when it comes to brand control is also stupid.

Discovery bought Warner Bros. to save DC. But it looks like everything will remain exactly the same.
Snyderverse 2.0 (or is that 3.0?) at the same time as competing reboots of the same franchise with The Batman and Joker 2 and a Constantine leacy sequel and god knows what other shit WB wants to throw at the wall without the need of Gunn's approval.

Oh there'll be some good films, now Gunn is in charge, but there were some good films now and then when Hamada was in charge, too.

Sorry to be a prophet of doom. I hope I'm wrong.

Prove me wrong DC. I double dare ya!
Spock0Clock
Spock0Clock - 10/29/2022, 9:46 PM
@ObserverIO - I'm afraid of the same thing. Gunn's Suicide Squad was fine, but it felt like it was getting dragged down a bit by being mostly a sequel to a lesser movie. If Gunn and Safran have to pull that same kind of dance with the entirety of the DCEU from Man of Steel to Flash, it may be a struggle.

Maybe Gunn's input means we get a truly great Wonder Woman movie to cap off Gadot's trilogy. Maybe Cavill gets a second wind as Superman. This is, in effect, the best case scenario that qualifies as "Restoring the Snyderverse". And I'm always hopeful for good movies under any circumstances.

But that also means there will probably be no true DC reboot, which I believe remains the most viable method of producing a long term shared universe to rival Marvel. Marvel is already showing how much of a strain it is when you try to pivot from your biggest names toward legacy characters and second-stringers. That strain is happening in spite of all of that good will they built up with 25 solid films (and luckily for Marvel, they have a secret weapon in the X-Men to juice the MCU hype when they need to).

Let's say Gunn's tenure entirely rehabilitates the DCEU's reputation. The Snyder gloom is lifted and 90% of audiences are satisfied with the tone and quality of these movies. Finally you have the DC shared universe on a firm footing... and in 5 years, you're going to have an aging Superman, Wonder Woman, and Aquaman who are going to require bigger paychecks to keep coming back. We don't even know what the Batman situation looks like. It's virtually impossible to imagine Fisher and Miller back as Flash and Cyborg (if you even consider him a traditional "big name"). Shazam and Black Adam seem to be serviceable standalone characters, but not really the kinds of foundations for a shared-universe. Having not seen the movie, I gather the Justice Society aren't exactly met with rave reception either.

DC has two major cards left to play that I can see to keep this shared universe moving: legacy characters and New Gods stuff. I've already mentioned Marvel's struggle with legacies, but DC is somewhat better suited to it (Young Justice works as an animated series because a lived-in DC Universe full of sidekicks works. But that may not translate to live-action because of the inherent aging problem: namely, it's hard to fill an ensemble cast with sub-20-year-old actors and it's kind of weird to have 30-year-olds called "Supergirl" and "Aqualad").

(Tangent: personally, I've always loved the concept of superhero world's aging like Marvel's comics did in real time for a bit, or DC's "Generation Five" or whatever it was called. I'm totally down to see Robins become Batmen and so on. But that does still mean we've missed out on good "traditional" versions of these characters while they languished in Snydertown. And it's unclear the audience is as enthusiastic as I am of seeing superheroes age.)

It's just... it's tough, I guess. It's a tough remit that I'm worried is just going to be another temporary phase in WB/Discovery's lurching back and forth every few years.
Spock0Clock
Spock0Clock - 10/29/2022, 10:04 PM
Oh, and the New Gods thing. I wanted to say it's got problems because Snyder already teased it so hard that it's basically a necessity for any kind of Justice League sequel, plus Darkseid is also probably legitimately DC's biggest threat anyway, it's only logical. Which means that you may have to really embrace one of the Justice League movies as required viewing for your shared universe. And the other problem with the New Gods stuff is... it's kind of dumb and broad and abstract.

I say this as someone who firmly accepts that there is dumb DNA in all superhero media and that it can still be great, but I've just never seen Kirby's New Gods stuff resonate with normies, especially as you get into the details. It's so easy to imagine it falling flat like Eternals did, and for exactly the same Kirbyish reasons.

Marvel's cosmic stuff is similarly niche, even among Marvel fans, but the MCU basically trimmed all of the fat off and made it about Space Andy Dwyer's Girlfriend's Bad Dad. Streamlined and narrow without any meaningful philosophy to it (regardless of what the ThanosWasRight subreddit thinks). Maybe Gunn can do the same thing with Darkseid (Orion played by Tom Cruise to get people really invested in Apokolips games of thrones or something, I don't know), but that's the kind of heavy lift I'm afraid DC can't make right now.

And thinking about it now, so much of getting MCU Cosmic to work was on Pratt's shoulders back when Pratt felt fresh and charming. And at that time, Gunn didn't want Pratt, Sarah Finn did.

DC may not just need a Feige. They need a Finn.
ObserverIO
ObserverIO - 10/30/2022, 5:30 AM
@Spock0Clock - These are all valid concerns. Even in the best case scenario, it's still not what Zaslav wanted when he bought in. And it could've all been achieved with or without Gunn.

I also personally grieve the lack of true Kirby or even Starlin in the MCU even though it is to Gunn's credit (and Feige's and Finn's) that it has been made more commercially accessible.

Eternals seemed to get the same reception from cinematic audiences as it did from comics fans when it first debuted; Excitement and hype then a poor critical and commercial reception, with a small but passionate cult following.

I wouldn't be at all surprised if Snyder came back to finish his trilogy using Darkseid as a Thanos-level big bad (but in that reductive DCEU manner) and everything leading towards Crisis on Infinite Earths (which was Hamada's plan).
Essentially the worst of two worlds (Snyder's and Hamada's).

If this happens they'll probably be rebooting in 5-10 years time and this is best case scenario, box office-wise.
Worst case scenario is they don't get that far. Maybe they manage to put out a Justice League 2 that underperforms because nobody cares or saw the first one and then in comes another big corporation that wants to save DC like Discovery and AT&T before them.
And like Discovery, they might even sound like they know how to do that.
And then Justice League 3 will be announced, lol.

I think that being a DC fan all these years has turned me into a pessimist.
TheHumanSpider2
TheHumanSpider2 - 10/29/2022, 7:42 AM
Considering the Whedon and Gunn situations, its pretty obvious...I wonder how much money Disney gave Feige to keep him.
marvel72
marvel72 - 10/29/2022, 8:11 AM
Phase 1-3 Feige Yes
Phase 4 No thank you
TheWalkingCuban
TheWalkingCuban - 10/29/2022, 8:27 AM
@marvel72 - my guess is phase 4 was kind of like killing time and so five and six are going to be better on the big screen anyway, I have lost all hope for the small screen
“Shoulda waited for the 14 pro”
What do I need? Three cameras for?
marvel72
marvel72 - 10/30/2022, 11:24 AM
@TheWalkingCuban - I hope so to, I have had enough of Marvel after phase 4.
Frshcoupe
Frshcoupe - 10/29/2022, 8:26 AM
I’ll be honest. I’m surprised the offer was made but I’m not surprised it was turned down.
Drace24
Drace24 - 10/29/2022, 8:43 AM
Okay, WB. I'm gonna make the mistake of getting my hopes up. Don't [frick] this up AGAIN!
TheWalkingCuban
TheWalkingCuban - 10/29/2022, 9:05 AM
I think Gunn has seen how it all works. He hails back to the 2 great 2014 films, and was like “we ain’t making this all about Goldar, he can cameo and say a cool line but ultimately Bluedini Genie has his own agenda” (I’ll do it myself 🤦🏽‍♂️) and then he made gotg 2, which unlike even if y’all don’t, and didn’t connect it with the other movies at all! But then came IW and EG collaboration and consultation. He knows the characters. TSS showed that too. Now his partner as DCEU boss, I don’t know that guy at all. The Gunn half has me very confident tho
Forthas
Forthas - 10/29/2022, 10:01 AM
What will be DC studios downfall is their incessant desire to copy Marvel. The only thing it does is solidify their status as discount Marvel. There are OTHER film models and producers that could deliver. better quality films that achieve the same success. The Dark Knight Trilogy, Logan, Joker, and The Batman are all examples of grounded character driven films, that have performed financially as well as Marvel films and would make DC distinct from Marvel. Yet DC keeps attempting to follow Marvel’s more campy and light approach to films that even Marvel’s own fans are getting tired of given the response to Thor, Love and Thunder. Continuing down this road is only going to lead them to continued under achievement.
DianaGohan
DianaGohan - 10/29/2022, 10:37 AM
So.... the itsomerandomguy joke from 5 years ago was 100% true then?

?t=89

Though yeah Feige isn't going to leave Marvel. Regardless of how some people dislike phase 4 (and that is a key word it's not as major a problem as some fans are making it out there was always going to be a drop off from Endgame in needing to re build up characters for another big event spectacle) it's still Feige being given the freedom at Marvel to do what he wants and him obviously taking advantage of the new opportunties to tell new stories so yeah he wouldn't give that up for DC.
RuffianForever
RuffianForever - 10/29/2022, 11:30 AM
feige may have accepted if the offer was made after endgame.. but i feel like disney would never allow it. if feige was serious disney would probably give him more money to stay. feige is very important not just for the universe and making sure it runs smoothly... but also relationships. i doubt spiderman could stay in MCU without feige. GOTG3 would be completely different because feige told disney to keep gunn on

it goes on right. feige is very important.

its just a shame there isnt a DC equivelant. i am still desperate to see a good green lantern movie from the johns run of the comics.

BARBER23
BARBER23 - 10/29/2022, 12:21 PM
Kevin and James being this close is awesome!! I think that will help us get a Marvel vs DC project sooner than later!!
CaptainFlapjaks
CaptainFlapjaks - 10/29/2022, 1:54 PM
@BARBER23 - that has to be the endgame of it all. I bet if dceu was successful originally we probably would have gotten it already but i can see it happening within ten years. Maybe the next saga is the almagamation saga? That would probably explode comic con.
BARBER23
BARBER23 - 11/1/2022, 5:15 AM
@CaptainFlapjaks - agreed!!
EarlChai
EarlChai - 10/29/2022, 12:21 PM
I’ve been saying for year that I’d love to see Feige work on Superman.
slickrickdesigns
slickrickdesigns - 10/29/2022, 2:53 PM
Well Kevin definitely fits the Feige type position DC was looking to fill.
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