Written By Kieran Bugg and Mikey Sutton • Editor-in-Chief • Owner
Warner Bros Discovery attempted to grab Marvel Studios chief Kevin Feige to run DC Studios. According to a new report, WBD CEO David Zaslav didn’t just want a Feige clone to control the DCU. Instead, he apparently made an offer to Feige himself for DC Studios.
Feige turned him down.
To some DCU fans, this would’ve been a nightmare scenario. The MCU’s blend of humor and action turned Feige into the most successful producer of all time; in fact, there’s no comparison. Marvel Studios’ theatrical releases earned more than $27 billion for parent company Disney. Of course, that doesn’t count the fairly consistent critical accolades. Or their acclaimed TV series.
Warner Bros Discovery Tried To Hire Kevin Feige For DC Studios
Image: Gage Skidmore
In other words, love or loathe him, Kevin Feige would’ve catapulted DC Studios from their current status. Nonetheless, Zaslsav hired MCU veteran, director James Gunn. Gunn worked closely with Kevin Feige. As a matter of fact, Gunn was going to help the world building of the MCU’s cosmic side. But Disney fired him in 2018 after some of his controversial old tweets surfaced.
Without a doubt, Gunn can’t do any worse than his predecessors. After all, Gunn the director isn’t the same as Gunn the executive. He won’t put his comedic stamp on other filmmakers’ works. Furthermore, Gunn inherited a mess.
For example, previous Warner Bros. head Toby Emmerich benched Henry Cavill’s Superman. Make no mistake, if it wasn’t for Superman, superheroes and pop culture in general wouldn’t be what they are today. Sadly, Emmerich and ex-DC Films president Walter Hamada didn’t see this.
In addition to trying to erase the character from the DCEU, the pair also reportedly held a grudge against Cavill. Following the release of the 2017’s disastrous version of Justice League, Cavill hoped to renegotiate his contract with the studio.
In the end, The Post-Geek Singularity noted that his and the Rock’s manager had a hand in the negotiations. They argued that a potential cameo in Shazam! would’ve counted as one of Cavill’s contractually obligated appearances. Therefore, Cavill asked for fair compensation.
Warner Bros Discovery Tried To Hire Kevin Feige For DC Studios
Image: Disney
After the poor treatment that the cast went through under Joss Whedon’s direction, it’s understandable why he wanted better pay. This ultimately didn’t sit well with Emmerich. Emmerich decided to move on and put Superman on ice. As an alternative, they gave us the now infamous headless Superman cameo at the end.
In addition, he apparently made this statement at the time of this incident:
Henry Cavill is now persona non grata, he’s not gonna play ball with the studio? He will never be Superman again.
Real professional.
As a result, the Cavill’s future as the Man Of Steel was tragically left in limbo.
There was no certainty if he’d ever play the character again. This left the world in mourning and without hope. To make matters worse, Hamada then opted to once again reboot Superman.
Zaslav removed them both. Cavill is back as Superman. As for Gunn, don’t forget who he’s replacing.