Warner Bros Discovery is looking to step in the right direction trusting its newly appointed leading men for DC, James Gunn, and Peter Safran. And from the outside, it looks like Co-CEO James Gunn has a lot going on in his mind regarding his new job to build a better cinematic universe for the company.
It is apparent from the fact that Gunn brought up Bat-Mite in the conversation which prevailed among the Studio executives in a global Zoom meeting hosted a few days ago.
Bat-Mite, for the more casual fans, is an imp with magical powers who finds it amusing to put up strange scenarios and chain of events for Batman to get into action. James Gunn also has a soft side for this nuisance-appealing character, as he said in the past that Bat-Mite was his favorite supervillain growing up.
He did that again. In the global Zoom meeting for Warner Bros. Discovery, the execs shared their excitement for the new work structure with Warner Bros. CEO David Zaslav mentioning his plans to build a cohesive DC Universe spanning across Movies, TV Shows, animation, gaming, and much more. True to his claims, James Gunn didn’t shy away from admitting his love for characters like Metal Men and Bat-Mite.
The fan-favorite director also nudged the interaction between Superman and Batman and how they’re the same and different at the same time.
The Studio organized the meeting as an introductory interaction between the newly-appointed heads, James Gunn and Peter Safran, and the team of execs they are supposed to lead. Safran, who most recently wrapped up the production of Nun 2 in Europe, shared his admiration for DC franchises such as Aquaman, DC’s highest-grossing movie ever at $1.1 billion worldwide, and Shazam! while Peacemaker director Gunn was awestruck with the interaction between DC’s lead superheroes, Superman and Batman.
It is also worth mentioning that the duo said they had no new projects to announce as of now but had words of endearment for some of the forgotten DC properties.
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If you may recall, The Peacemaker had a subtle reference to Bat-Mite confirming his presence in the DC Universe, which indirectly fuels the speculations of this character making his debut on the big or small screen sometime later in the future.
But this isn’t the first time we have heard Gunn bringing up this character along, with the limitations that surrounded him for live-action adaptation to come to play.
In a now-deleted Twitter thread, James Gunn did mention Bat-Mite concerning his appearance in The Suicide Squad, as “[he] never seriously considered Bat-Mite” for the film.” The reason not being that excluding Bat-Mite was a “DC mandate,” but because Gunn “didn’t think he’d fit on the team” before he was “too powerful.”
The tweet read, “If I said I was unable to use Bat-Mite – which I don’t quite remember – it was only because I didn’t think he’d fit on the team, so it would be because of my story, not a DC mandate. Honestly though I never seriously considered Bat-Mite. He’s too powerful for one!”
Talking about James Gunn and Peter Safran’s job tenure that started on November 1, both the directors will report directly to Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav and also will work closely with Warner Bros Film Group co-chairs and CEOs Mike De Luca and Pam Abdy foreseeing marketing, distribution, and capital spending.
These critically acclaimed filmmakers also bring in a strong portfolio of film projects that have attracted more eyeballs than their counterparts hailed by a different studio.
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Safran has been responsible for making the highest-grossing horror franchise ever, The Conjuring, which has made more than $2 billion worldwide. In addition to giving Jason Mamoa’s portrayal of Aquaman a massive run at the global box office, he’s also worked on Shazam! and its upcoming sequel Shazam: Fury of the Gods, as well as Aquaman: The Lost Kingdom and Blue Beetle.
James Gunn, on the other hand, has worked for both Marvel Studios and DC, dawning successful franchises such as Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.1, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, and The Suicide Squad and the HBO Max series, The Peacemaker.
His upcoming projects include the Guardians of the Galaxy holiday special, a Disney+ spin-off of his billion-dollar grossing directorial Guardians franchise, along with the third installment called the Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3, hitting cinemas on May 5, 2023.
As for the fans, James Gunn’s take on the leadership for DC would prove to be worth the effort, given that whatever characters the filmmaker touches are bound to have fans and critics rooting for them in the theatres or behind the small screens. Look how he introduced lesser-known characters like The Rat-Catcher, Polka-Dot Man, and Peacemaker, giving them a perfect live-action adaptation that fans just loved watching.
It’s only a matter of time before Gunn does the same for Bat-Mite. Would you like to see Bat-mite make a debut in the DC Universe? Tell us your thoughts in the comments, and make sure to visit averagebeing.com for more superhero updates.