Posted in: Batman, Batman, Comics, Comics Publishers, Current News, DC Comics, Flash, Justice League, Justice League, Marvel Comics, Marvel Studios, Movies, Superman, Superman, Warner Bros, Wonder Woman | Tagged: Diane Nelson, joss whedon, justice league, Wall Street journal, zack snyder

DC Comics President Thought Joss Whedon's Justice League Was Terrible

Former DC President Diane Nelson talked about "the single biggest thing that made us look amateurish, certainly relative to Marvel, if not just on its own."

David Maisel, former Vice Chairman, President of Marvel Studios, and CEO of Marvel Entertainment, was the man who pitched the concept of Marvel Studios to Avi Arad and Ike Perlmutter, financing and producing its own movies in a connected cinematic universe, and who also sold Marvel to Disney. Currently, he is a partner in Mythos Studios, which owns Aspen Comics and the rights to Fathom, Soulfire, and Cupid as part of the Mythosverse.

But even at his height at Marvel Studios, he feared DC Comics."I was afraid of DC. And their model was hiring final cut directors, and sometimes that works, and you get a Chris Nolan movie, and sometimes it doesn't, right?" Because Marvel "was a team effort, and the producers were Marvel Studios and, as Marvel Studios, we needed directors and writers and talent that wanted to be part of a team and a culture. But handing over the keys to a final-cut director? I don't know how, as a producer, that is a fiscally or creatively responsible decision."

Back in July, The Wall Street Journal's podcast, The Journal, hosted by Kate Linebaugh and Ryan Knutson, ran a series of episodes by Ben Fritz looking at the rise of Marvel Studios from comic book publisher to film studio to Disney purchase and the executive and creator battles within. It made a few headlines, but there are lots of gems that seemed to be missed, such as Marvel's initial relationship with Sony Pictures, led by our favourite Marvel executives, Avi Arad, and Ike Perlmutter, two toy manufacturers who took over the comic book company and made it profitable again. Catch up on more of our coverage with this tag.

DC President Diane Nelson Compared DC Unfavourably to Marvel

As well as David Maisel talking about DC's approach compared to Marvel, they also spoke to an old friend of Bleeding Cool, the former President of DC Entertainment, Diane Nelson, who was there for the whole Zack Snyder Justice League debacle at Warner Bros. for twenty-two years and President for nine. She had some issues regarding the Marvel/DC comparison, too.

Diane Nelson says, "Certainly, there was an undercurrent of frustration that we were not hitting the mark. We were not a standalone studio the way Marvel was. They were a freestanding studio with their own production budgets and their own production staff. They were really charting their own course, and they did an amazing job of it. The fans assumed that we at Warner Bros., were replicating the organizational structure of Marvel. In fact, we did not, and it was quite intentional."

She continues, "I don't know that there was an appreciation for the extent to which the DC team really just had a seat at the table. We would have the heads of each of the relevant businesses and DC to talk about DC-related issues, including our slate of films and TV shows, video games, and so forth. But DC was not the one leading that charge. And honestly, I'm not sure there was anyone leading that charge. It just wasn't the culture of Warner Brothers to dictate a particular strategy."

Marvel Studios pioneered the idea of a slate of upcoming films and TV shows displayed for fans that showed a planned rollout of connected stories, and Warner Bros. followed suit for DC's movies. But Diane Nelson wasn't happy. "The idea of a slate just felt like window dressing. The bottom line is, there was never a thoughtful, well-controlled, confidential slate process, and I think it's the single biggest thing that made us look amateurish, certainly relative to Marvel, if not just on its own."

Why Zack Snyder Was Seen As DC's Kevin Feige

And in the fan press, with Zack Snyder directing Man of Steel, Batman v Superman, Justice League I and II, and with his films setting up and spinning off into Suicide Squad, Wonder Woman, Flash, Cyborg, and more, Snyder was regarded in the same way that Kevin Feige was at Marvel. Diane Nelson pushed back against that. "Unless there were meetings that happened that no one told me about, which is possible, I don't know that there was ever any conversation where it was decided that Zack would be leading the DC slate for any particular period of time. So even if it wasn't a conscious decision that Zack Snyder was our Kevin Feige, from a consumer standpoint, that's kind of what happened for a while there. There's a place for Zack's movies, and I would've always wanted Zack to be a part of the DC filmmaker lineup. But should he have been the one defining that universe? Maybe not, in hindsight. Hard questions."

And then there was what happened after Zack Snyder delivered his version of Justice League. "There was a desire to ensure that the movie was not too long and that there was an opportunity for more heart and humour. And then, oh, we're going to bring in another director to help."

That would be Joss Whedon, who would heavily rewrite, recut, re-edit, and shoot new footage – including the now infamous CGI Superman lip when Henry Cavill had grown a moustache he couldn't shave for filming Mission Impossible. And what did Diane think of what they got?

Joss Whedon's Justice League – A Terrible Frankenstein

"My characterization is Joss was a bit of a shiny penny during a time when they were looking for something shiny to grab onto… Yeah, I mean, I thought the final film was terrible. Yeah, I mean, I would have much preferred a darker-than-I-wanted or longer-than-I'd hoped-for Zack Snyder cut than the Frankenstein cut we got in theatres. The Trinity characters of Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman should have, by any measure, blown any other superhero movie away, and they didn't."

A terrible final film. A Frankenstein cut. Diane looks back, saying, "There are so many things I would do differently. I certainly think that DC would have benefited, the company would have benefited, much more strongly, had DC been its own independent entity with its own ability to mandate and set a slate and a vision for its properties. Whomever ran it, it needed to report to the CEO, and it, I believe, should have been set up independently, the way Marvel was, with its own budgets and so forth."

A few years later, we would get Zack Snyder's Justice League Directors Cut so everyone could judge for themselves… and come to precisely the same conclusion as Diane Nelson.

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