Kevin Feige vs James Gunn
The rulers behind the Marvel and DC films
Kevin Feige (left) and James Gunn worked closely together for Marvel, now they are competitors.
© getty/[EXTRACTED]Credit: Daniel Knighton/Getty Images
Kevin Feige has always stood for the MCU, competitor DC will rely on James Gunn in the future. The latter has a mammoth task ahead of him.
What used to find its way into the cinema as a simple and mostly stand-alone comic adaptation has long since become a single piece of the jigsaw puzzle of a gigantic film and series cosmos. The decision to create a cohesive Marvel Cinematic Universe, which began in 2008 with Iron Man and will herald its fifth phase next week in the form of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (theatrical release: February 15). , was a stroke of genius.
As much as renowned filmmakers like Francis Ford Coppola (83) or Martin Scorsese (80) turn up their noses at it: Contrary to initial assumptions, the MCU is still very popular with its audience 15 years after its creation. The man who, like no other, is responsible for the screen success of Captain America, Thor and Co. is film producer Kevin Feige (49). As president – some would say sole ruler – of Marvel Studios, he has guided the fortunes of the billionaire cash cow from the very beginning and with maximum success.
The competitor with teething problems
Well-known competition would actually exist. Because DC Comics also positioned itself quite a while ago: in 2013, five years after the Big Bang in the MCU, the DC universe also started with the Superman strip “Man of Steel”. They wanted to be significantly more serious, darker and supposedly more mature than the competition, of course with at least as much success.
Here, too, a man seemed to be found from the start, whose shoulders were burdened with this enormous responsibility: director, screenwriter and film producer Zack Snyder (56) directed “Man of Steel”, produced “Wonder Woman” and also sat on “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” and originally directed “Justice League” – DC’s answer to the “Avengers” flicks, in which the superheroes work together.
But unlike Marvel, where producer Feige can look at the franchise from just the right distance, heroic journeys in the DC Universe have descended into chaos. Snyder dropped out due to family tragedy. “Justice League” was provisionally completed by Joss Whedon (58). And all in all, the suspicion hardened that the decision-makers at the Warner Bros. Discovery film studio had somehow imagined their “world-building” to be easier.
It is true that a future plan comprising ten films had already been drafted here in 2014, but only seven of them became reality. As remarkable as the successes of individual films were: While Marvel is battling for the top of the most commercially successful films of all time with “Avatar”, the DCU’s most successful film is in 26th place – “Aquaman” with a surprising 1.15 billion gross dollars.
The brutal new beginning
A new beginning in the DC universe that was as radical as it was rabid was needed – he goes by the name of James Gunn (56). The filmmaker is well versed in the comic cosmos and contributed to the “Guardians of the Galaxy” films for Marvel. He has also worked for DC: “The Suicide Squad” and the series “Peacemaker” have since been credited to him. However, Gunn is not the sole ruler, he works closely with film producer Peter Safran (57) on the DCU realignment, together they are co-CEOs of DC Studios.
They have together recently a comprehensive timetable for the coming years set up, which is strongly based on the Marvel model and combines cinema films with TV series. After the already twisted and soon to be released “Shazam! 2: Fury of the Gods” (theatrical release: March 16, 2023) and with “The Flash” (theatrical release: June 15, 2023), the “Universe New Beginning” is coming up. In August this The brand new hero “Blue Beetle” celebrates its screen premiere before Jason Momoa (43) makes his second solo appearance as “Aquaman” in December.
Instead of phases, DC will focus on chapters in the future: The first of these is entitled “Gods and Monsters” and starts with the animated series “Creature Commandos”. The Superman film “Superman: Legacy” (without Henry Cavill, 39) and a film about the Dark Knight called “Batman: The Brave and the Bold” also fall into this prelude. Batman has no date yet, Superman is scheduled to hit the cinemas in 2025.
But despite the timetable, things remain complicated at DC: apart from the main line, there are still the so-called “DC Elseworlds”. These include “Joker” with Joaquin Phoenix (48) and “The Batman” with Robert Pattinson (36) and their respective sequels, which are announced for 2024 and 2025.
As is well known, where there is such rigorous planing, shavings fall. The most sonorous loss of friction was the basically completed film “Batgirl”, which was completely canceled for the supposed good of the new beginning. However, this decision was still made by David Zaslav (63), CEO of Warner Bro. Discovery, been hit. By eliminating Henry Cavill as Superman, who had just celebrated his comeback in “Black Adam”, Gunn and Safran also attracted the displeasure of numerous fans – boycott calls included.
It is not yet certain that these hasty maneuvers will bear fruit. It has nothing to do with Marvel’s organic growth – whether you like their commercialized phase system or not. Even as a double team, it will be a mammoth task for Gunn and Safran to catch up with Kevin “Mr. Marvel” Feige.