DC Comics is one of the largest and most popular comic book production companies, boasting household names like Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, and Joker.
Despite the success that the company found with its comic series, DC began to make a mainstream name for itself when it began producing films. Whether it be its early attempts, such as Superman and Mole Men in 1951, the plethora of animated films starring its characters, or more recent entries such as Justice League, DC has become a household name when it comes to superhero films.
Unlike Marvel, its greatest competitor, DC has the ability to use every one of its comic book characters in its movie series. So it may leave you wondering, who exactly owns DC?
Who owns DC?
In 1969, DC Comics was purchased by Warner Bros. Entertainment and has remained within the companies network ever since.
As of right now, however, both DC Comics and Warner Bros are offshoots of American telecommunications company Time Warner. And after a recent purchase of competitor AT&T in 2018, DC Comics were moved into the Warner Bros. Global Brands and Experiences division.
Being housed under the same corporation for the majority of its time on the big screen, DC remains unmatched in the amount of material to draw from that spans over 80 years of comics. This has led to plenty of hits—and just as many misses. From its recent attempts at jumpstarting the DCEU before seemingly abandoning the idea completely, it hasn’t been smooth sailing for these characters.
Recently, the studio managed to find some success with its newer films, such as the fun comedic entry of Shazam, or the dark twisted solo film for their most notorious villain in Joker.
Fans also recently got a recut of the highly criticized Justice League film by the original director of the project, Zack Snyder. The Snyder cut has been met with overwhelming praise and has also rebuilt fan anticipation for the studio to continue with its plans for the DCEU.
With Time Warner owning the popular streaming service HBO Max, plenty of DC Comic’s characters have found success on the small screen. It’s likely we will see this trend continue as the studio finds creative ways to introduce comic book favorites to fans.