At last week’s San Diego Comic-Con, fans and press noted a distinct change in tone from DC’s offerings. Everything that was shown from JUSTICE LEAGUE and WONDER WOMAN felt far more colorful, wondrous, and- at times- more humorous than either of the DCEU films we’ve seen so far. There was a lightness and a playfulness that seemed to signal the Snyder Era was over. 

For those of us in the know, this was no surprise and it didn’t happen by accident.

Two months ago, the big story making the rounds was that Geoff Johns and Jon Berg had moved up the Warner Bros/DC Films ladder and were now in charge of the DC Extended Universe. This was all part of the fallout from BATMAN V SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE, which was so maligned by critics, caused such a negative stir among fans, and had underperformed at the box office in such a way that Warner Bros. was frantically altering their creative infrastructure. At the time, I argued that this was all good news for DC fans, because it meant they were moving away from Zack Snyder’s divisive vision, and towards people like Johns and Berg’s friend Ben Affleck.

Well, it looks like the shift up the ladder for Johns was even more of a whopper than had been initially reported.

Bleeding Cool broke the story yesterday that not only was Johns the Chief Creative Officer of DC Entertainment, but he was now also the President. So the man responsible for some of the best comic books since the turn of the century now has a voice that looms large over the DCEU film slate. 

This isn’t to say he stands alone. No, Warner Bros still has an interesting power structure where there’s another, “higher” President for DC Entertainment. That person is Diane Nelson, and she’s who Johns answers to, according to Bleeding Cool. So they’re both Presidents, but she’s got rank on him because she’s been in the position since 2009. By all accounts, though, the DCEU is now the Johns show, and Nelson seems to act more as a bridge between Johns and Warner Bros.

It would appear that Comic-Con was the coming out party for Johns as the honcho of the DCEU, and based on the positive buzz, he’s had a fairly immediate impact on their slate of films. 

These are certainly exciting times to be a DC fan. 

SOURCE: Bleeding Cool