California Congressman Threatens To Bring James Gunn Into A Congressional Hearing If He Doesn’t Present His DCU Plan By The End Of January
California Congressman Robert Garcia threatened — in what appears to be a tongue-in-cheek manner — to haul DC Studios CEO James Gunn into a congressional hearing if he doesn’t present his DCU plan by the end of January 2023.
Garcia took to Twitter where he wrote, “If James Gunn doesn’t present the new DCU plan by February 1st, I’m calling him in for a congressional hearing where I will ask the tough questions everyone wants to know.”
Garcia would also respond to a user claiming “The American DC Fans needs this,” writing, “it’s the least I can do to serve the people.”
Gunn responded to Garcia with a “flushed face emoji.”
Garcia would respond writing, “sir, the American people deserve answers.”
Gunn replied, “And answers they will receive.”
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It’s unclear whether those answers will come via a congressional hearing. Gunn did promise he would provide an update for his and co-CEO Peter Safran’s vision at the beginning of 2023.
Back in the middle of December Gunn tweeted, “Peter & I have a DC slate ready to go, which we couldn’t be more over-the-moon about; we’ll be able to share some exciting information about our first projects at the beginning of the new year.”
He then indicated that Superman was on that slate, but the character would not be portrayed by Henry Cavill.
“Among those on the slate is Superman. In the initial stages, our story will be focusing on an earlier part of Superman’s life, so the character will not be played by Henry Cavill,” Gunn tweeted.
Gunn went on to confirm that he’s writing the Superman film, but they did not at the time know who would be directing the film.
The Guardians of the Galaxy director also claimed that the Superman film would not be an origin story.
As far as everything else Gunn has planned, it’s not really clear. He did indicate that his vision would include film, TV, animation, and gaming. And that all of these mediums would tell a cohesive story.
He made this revelation on December 8th, “Peter & I chose to helm DC Studios knowing we were coming into a fractious environment, both in the stories being told & in the audience itself & there would be an unavoidable transitional period as we moved into telling a cohesive story across film, TV, animation, and gaming.”
On top of Gunn’s public comments, the head of Warner Bros. Discovery David Zaslav indicated there would not be four Batmans going forward. He told The Hollywood Reporter in November, “I think over the next few years, you’re going to see a lot of growth and opportunity around DC; there’s not going to be four Batmans.”
“And so part of our strategy is, drive the hell out of DC, which James and Peter are going to do. I think they’ve thrilled the fans. I think they’re going to thrill you over a period of time,” he added.
Zaslav previously indicated DC would undergo a reset under James Gunn during the company’s Q2 2022 Earnings Call. He noted, “As we look at the opportunities that we have, broadly, DC is one of the top of the list for us. We — when you look at Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, these are brands that are known everywhere in the world, the ability to drive those all over the world with great story is a big opportunity for us.”
He then revealed, “We have done a reset. We’ve restructured the business where we’re going to focus — where there will be a team with a 10-year plan focusing just on DC. It’s very similar to the structure that Alan Horn and Bob Iger put together very effectively with Kevin Feige at Disney.”
“We think that we could build a long-term, much stronger sustainable growth business out of DC. And as part of that, we’re going to focus on quality,” he asserted. “We’re not going to release any film before it’s ready. We’re not going to release a film to make a quarter. We’re not going to release a film under — the focus is going to be how do we make each of these films in general as good as possible. But DC is something that we think we can make better, and we’re focused on it now.”
What do you make of Garcia’s comments? When do you think Gunn will keep his promise to provide new details about his and Peter Safran’s DCU vision?
NEXT: James Gunn Claims The Reason Henry Cavill Is Out As Superman Is Very Simple: “He’s A Different Age”