For many folks, when they found out that James Gunn and Peter Safran were taking over as co-CEOs of DC Studios, the assumption was that Gunn would lead the way with creative and craft the DC Universe in his image. Well, clearly, that’s panning out a bit like that, as Gunn recently confirmed that he is writing (and possibly directing) “Superman: Legacy” and has already written “Creature Commandos” and is obviously heavily involved in the other new projects. But Gunn has also pulled back the curtain to showcase that he has quite a number of helpful creators working behind the scenes to make the DCU top-shelf entertainment.
Speaking at the recent unveiling of the first 10 projects at the revamped DC Studios (via io9), James Gunn was asked who is assisting him with the creative side of the DCU. And while we already know about Christal Henry working on the “Waller” series, as she was announced during the unveiling, he mentioned a few other names that are surely going to pique the interest of fans.
“Tom King has been my partner throughout all of this. He was giving me answers to shit before I took the job,” said Gunn. “So me, him, Christal Henry who worked on ‘Watchmen’ and is doing ‘Waller,’ Christina Hodson who wrote ‘The Flash.’ Drew Goddard, who you guys probably know. Jeremy Slater, who just did ‘Moon Knight.’ That group of people we’ve been meeting with and, you know, putting all of this together.”
First, you have Tom King, who is clearly one of the bigger collaborators with the DCU right now. That much is obvious, not just from Gunn saying it, but also because Tom King was mentioned during Gunn’s video announcement, and King’s “Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow” comic series is getting adapted into its own feature film. King is a comic book writer, and one of the very best working today. He has yet to fully transition to film/TV work, but it’s clear that he could be heading in that direction under Gunn.
Hodson is a no-brainer, as she is one of the hottest writers Warner Bros. Discovery has been working with in recent years, particularly with DC films. She wrote “Birds of Prey,” as well as the canceled “Batgirl.” And yes, as Gunn mentioned, she did write “The Flash,” which everyone at WBD is raving about. So, it’ll be interesting to see what she has cooking with the new DC Studios.
Goddard and Slater are veteran filmmakers, who are no strangers to superheroes. Slater, as Gunn pointed out, recently served as the lead writer for “Moon Knight,” which is one of the most recent Disney+/Marvel Studios series. Drew Goddard is an accomplished writer of films such as “Cloverfield,” “World War Z,” and “The Martian,” but he also is the creator and producer of the Netflix/Marvel series, “Daredevil.”
All this to say that Gunn has pulled together a truly great group of collaborators for the DCU. And not only that, it’s nice to know that Gunn isn’t the only one steering the storytelling ship. Some fans were concerned that he would attempt to take on too big of a role, creatively, and there would be a same-same feeling to the new DCU films. However, that appears to be far from the case.