While Marvel has been drawing many of the headlines of late for its acquisition by Disney, Warner Bros. reminded everyone today that they own a major comic brand as well. The entertainment conglomerate today founded DC Entertainment, designed to "realize the power and value of the DC Comics brand" by leveraging DC properties in media like games and movies.
Diane Nelson will oversee DC Entertainment, putting her over two decades of experience towards marketing, development and production of DC properties. She will retain her responsibilities as President of Warner Premiere and will also oversee the Harry Potter property.
“DC Comics and its super hero characters are truly touchstones of popular culture, and the formation of DC Entertainment is a major step in our company’s efforts to realize the full potential of this incredible wellspring of creative properties,” said Barry Meyer, Chairman & CEO of Warner Bros. Entertainment. “Diane knows our studio as a creative executive, a marketer and a senior manager, and this varied background will help her effectively and creatively integrate the DC brand and properties across all our businesses. We’re also thrilled that Paul will remain involved with DC and we’ll be able to tap his expertise to help us reach our goals for this new business.”
President & Publisher of DC Comics Paul Levitz will step down to be a contributing editor and overall consultant to DC Entertainment. He will help integrate the DC Comics organization into DC Entertainment in order to maximize the growth of the various properties in all media.
“After so many roles at DC, it’s exciting to look forward to focusing on my writing and being able to remain a part of the company I love as it grows into its next stage,” said Levitz. “It’s a new golden age for comics and DC’s great characters, and I hope my new position will allow me to contribute to that magic time.”
While DC has a pantheon of classic characters like Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, and the Flash, they haven't been well capitalized on, especially compared to their counterparts at Marvel. With this move, hopefully gamers will see more properties like Batman: Arkham Asylum and movie goers will see more movies releases and not end up in development hell.
