DC Studios Will Cut Down On The Number Of People Playing Batman

Over the summer, David Zaslav was promoted to head of Warner Bros. Discovery with a massive merger that had some controversial moments along the way, but the CEO is still optimistic about the future of the company. After putting James Gunn and Peter Safran in charge of the newly-formed DC Studios, formerly DC Films, the future is hopeful for DC's pantheon of iconic characters as more and more are headed to the big screen. Some of them even for the first time.

Talking to RBC Capital Market Tuesday morning, Zaslav gave listeners an idea of what's to come and how he plans to get there with Gunn and Safran in charge of creative, but it's still going to take some time. He mentioned that the duo is "coming close to the end" of laying out their bible for DC and the roadmap for the next 10 years, which includes some streamlining on who plays what.

"I think over the next few years, you're going to see a lot of growth and opportunity around DC, there's not going to be four Batmans," Zaslav said (via The Hollywood Reporter). "And so part of our strategy is drive the hell out of DC, which James and Peter are going to do. I think they've thrilled the fans. I think they're going to thrill you over a period of time."

In the past, you've had live-action Batmans, animated Batman movies, and television Batmans almost all going at the same time. It sounds like what they are about to implement is similar to how they treated Green Arrow. When Stephen Amell was cast as Oliver Queen/Green Arrow in the first years of the WB/CW DC shows, Amell wanted to do everything Green Arrow-related, even if it was less prestigious than live-action TV. He would later voice Queen for animated movies and video games for years to come. We could see a similar situation following that blueprint with Batman to keep confusion at a minimum.

With The Flash movie supposedly having Micheal Keaton as Batman as well as Ben Affleck, it's hard to place where Robert Pattinson's Batman will be in the grand scheme of things, so they might want to mirror what Marvel Studios does and attach a "brand" to an actor that cements their place in that role. Much like how Henry Cavill recently returned as Superman in Black Adam and has been said to be in the role for the considerable future.