DC Studios Co-CEO Peter Safran Says They Are Trying "Minimize Audience Confusion"
Marvel Studios once had set a high standard for how superhero movies should be made. The Standard was so high that they even have a hard time reaching that standard themselves now. But, they made dozens of films and TV shows that all closely align with one another, they’ve created a shared universe that I lot of fans have enjoyed watching.
DC Studios co-CEOs James Gunn and Peter Safran are going to be taking a different approach when building up their DC Cinematic Universe. According to Safran, the DCU they are building won’t be as dependent on crossovers and interconnected storytelling. He tells Vanity Fair that they are trying to minimize confusion for audiences. He said:
"The good news is, if you've seen nothing that we've done before, you can watch Superman Legacy, you can watch Creature Commandos, you can watch Peacemaker season two, and you can watch Blue Beetle. All of that. We are trying to minimize audience confusion and maximize their enjoyment."
You know, not everyone needs to emulate with Marvel has been doing. It’s fine to make a single comic book-inspired film that doesn’t have to connect to anything else. It’s fine to make a comic book movie and not have a sequel! Sometimes you can just tell one great story and that’s all a certain character needs.
I do like that Gunn and Safran are looking to simplify things a bit in regard to the DC stories that they tell. But, while they are looking to minimize crossovers and interconnected storytelling, that is something that they are still going to explore and play with.
Gunn went on to compare the DC Universe to the Marvel Universe and how the DCU will make for more inventive storytelling, saying:
"If you look at the MCU, there are very few traditional superheroes. here was never a guy with a secret identity until Spider-Man in the MCU. Their Cap was turned into a soldier even though he wears a mask. Iron Man outed himself at the end of the first Iron Man because they don't want to deal with the whole secret identity stuff. But there is a bit more of a fantasy element to DCU, because there are these larger-than-life superheroes and for me, there's Superman and Clark Kent. They're two different characters, and you have to find a way to deal with them that's as grounded as possible within this world of DC.
"One of the things that I love about DC, that excites me about DC, is that in a way it's another alternate history. It is Gotham City and Metropolis and Star City and Bludhaven, and all these different places in this other reality, and it makes it a little bit like Westeros in some ways. I love it in that way. I love that we get to create true worldbuilding in DC, it isn't just 'we're throwing some superheroes on Earth.' I think right now, that's one of the key differences."
One thing is for sure, Gunn and Safran have their work cut out for them. They have to gain the trust of fans after a long run of Warner Bros. making bad decisions that hurt the franchise.
The DC Universe officially kicks off with Creature Commandos, which has yet to set a release date, and the first DC movie under Gunn’s reign will be Superman: Legacy, which enters theaters July 11, 2025.