James Gunn’s Firing Highlights Kevin Feige’s Leadership at Marvel

On Monday, Nov. 9, news broke that Skydance CEO David Ellison had fired James Gunn and Peter Safran as co-CEOs of DC Studios after buying Warner Bros., including DC, for $110 billion. For superhero movie fans, it was a familiar turn. To paraphrase a classic Warner Bros. movie, “This will be the third time we have rebooted the DC cinematic universe, and we have become exceedingly efficient at it.”

The upheaval has raised questions about Gunn’s planned Superman sequel, Man of Tomorrow, and the second season of Lanterns. It has also brought renewed praise for Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige, who was already widely regarded as one of the most successful film producers of the 21st century. One viral social media post called him a “generational talent.”

Feige’s knowledge of Marvel comics, enthusiasm for their stories and ability to plan on a large scale have helped produce four major Avengers movies, with a fifth approaching. That work takes talent and effort. But Feige has also benefited from a level of studio stability that DC’s leaders have lacked.

Marvel was only two movies into the Marvel Cinematic Universe when Disney bought the company in 2009. For the past 17 years, Feige has largely been able to run the studio as he sees fit, despite some close calls. That freedom gave him room to make long-term plans and build toward Avengers: Endgame.

The MCU has not been free of corporate pressure. Disney’s push into streaming at the start of the 2020s arguably diluted both Marvel and Star Wars, suggesting the cost of executive demands on a franchise. Warner sought to give Gunn and Safran more independence by placing them in charge of their own studio and giving them a direct line to the CEO. Their departure has cut that arrangement short.

DC’s recent film history has been marked by changes in direction. After Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy revitalized the genre, director Zack Snyder became the architect of a DC Extended Universe intended to compete with Marvel. His Man of Steel arrived in 2013, one year after The Avengers, with the DCEU already trying to catch up. Some of its films were financial successes. Batman v. Superman earned $874 million at the box office, and Aquaman passed $1 billion.

Behind the scenes, the franchise was less stable. Snyder left the unfinished Justice League in 2017 after a personal tragedy, and Joss Whedon took over the film. Geoff Johns and Jon Berg, who had been appointed in 2016 to launch the interconnected franchise, gave way to Walter Hamada in 2018. Hamada pursued a more standalone approach that produced Joker and Matt Reeves’ The Batman.

Both approaches had strengths and weaknesses, but the shifts, compounded by Warner being bought and sold multiple times, made a coherent long-term strategy difficult. Over roughly the same period, Feige and his team moved from Captain America: Civil War to Avengers: Endgame, telling a largely linear story across almost a dozen movies and introducing Spider-Man, Black Panther and Doctor Strange to the MCU.

When Gunn arrived in 2022, DC needed a fresh start. Whether he was the right person to lead it remains open to debate, but he did not get the same opportunity Feige had. The following four years brought a strong Superman movie to launch the DC Universe, two less memorable films about minor comic book characters, and several mostly good television shows that did not feel closely connected to a larger story.

Gunn had limited time to build his franchise, and his strategy also left room for criticism. A more cohesive plan, or a stronger focus on major characters such as Batman and Wonder Woman, might have bought him more time.

Iron Man and Thor were not necessarily most children’s favorite Marvel heroes either. Feige had more time and freedom than Gunn to tell the story he believed in, an advantage that has been central to his success at Marvel Studios.

Source: Polygon