Everybody’s talking about James Gunn. The writer, producer and director is currently one of the hottest properties in Hollywood after finding himself an integral part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the DC Universe simultaneously. The question is why did Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav want the man who started out pumping blood in low-budget horror movies to head up DC Studios and write the rebirth of Superman? Zaslav explained exactly why Gunn is right for the job during Moffettnathanson’s Technology, Media & Telecom Conference (via The Wrap):

“What we tried to do is get really great leadership. The philosophy of our company is we don’t want people to go to meetings, we want the people to do the work. So when I was meeting with James Gunn and he was writing ‘Superman’ and he had written ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ — which is now a big hit for Marvel, which we’re happy about because Gunn wrote that movie and directed that movie — I’m looking at it and I’m thinking to myself, ‘Why isn’t this guy running [DC]?’ He grew up his whole life with DC, his whole life with these DC characters and he knows every one of them, they’re his family. He just wrote ‘Superman,’ which I read. This is the guy we want and everybody wants to work with him.”

There are many new projects coming to the DCU and there is something for everyone in Gunn’s line-up of the well-known to the obscure. Having delivered a huge final hit for Marvel with Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, all eyes will soon be moving to Gunn’s DCU journey.

Related: James Gunn Explains How His Role in DC Studios Is Different from Kevin Feige’s at Marvel

James Gunn and Peter Safran’s Plans Will Cover At Least A Decade.
DC Studios/DC Comics

James Gunn originally joined the DC franchise to write and direct The Suicide Squad, an R-rated, blood-soaked spectacle that was successful enough to instantly produce a spin-off TV series in Peacemaker and the promise of more to come. However, at the time no-one really knew exactly how much that would include. During the conference, Zaslav went on to tease the long-term plans that are now coming together. He said:

“We got a 10-year plan. ‘Superman’ is written, we’re early now in casting. He and Peter Safran are the real deal. We worked really hard on ‘Flash’ and ‘Black Adam.’ ‘Flash’ is a fantastic movie, it’s coming out in six weeks. We like the slate coming up. Now, we think we made the turn on the motion picture business. We’ll see if we’re right. It’s a tough business. But now we have movies that we like, we have movies that when we test, they’re testing really well and we worked hard on them and so I have great belief in DC.”

There is certainly no doubt that Gunn has a very specific vision for the DCU’s future. Whether that turns out to be a good thing, with his creative drive being the forefront of the franchise, is something that will still not be known for a couple of years. By the time Superman: Legacy hits cinemas, what lies in story for the DCU will be much clearer.