DC Entertainment is an American

entertainment Entertainment is a form of activity that holds the attention and interest of an audience or gives pleasure and delight. It can be an idea or a task, but is more likely to be one of the activities or events that have developed over thousa ...

company A company, abbreviated as co., is a Legal personality, legal entity representing an association of people, whether Natural person, natural, Legal person, legal or a mixture of both, with a specific objective. Company members share a common p ...

that was founded in September 2009 and was based in Burbank,

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. The company is a subsidiary of

Warner Bros. Discovery Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. (WBD) is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at 230 Park Avenue South in New York City. It was formed after the spin-off of WarnerMedia by AT&T, and its merger with Di ...

that manages its

DC Comics DC Comics, Inc. (doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with thei ...

units and

characters Character or Characters may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''Character'' (novel), a 1936 Dutch novel by Ferdinand Bordewijk * ''Characters'' (Theophrastus), a classical Greek set of character sketches attributed to The ...

in other units, as they work with other Warner Bros. units. It also delves into those units within their flagship the

DC Extended Universe The DC Extended Universe (DCEU) is an American media franchise and shared universe centered on a series of superhero films and television series produced by DC Studios and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. It is based on characters that ...

(DCEU). In April 2022, following the merger of parent company

WarnerMedia Warner Media, LLC ( traded as WarnerMedia) was an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate. It was headquartered at the 30 Hudson Yards complex in New York City, United States. It was originally established in 1972 by ...

with

Discovery Inc. Discovery, Inc. was an American multinational mass media factual television conglomerate based in New York City. Established in 1985, the company operated a group of factual and lifestyle television brands, such as the namesake Discovery Cha ...

, DC Entertainment was reported to be reorganized into its own vertical unit rather than being handled by other Warner Bros. subsidiaries on its behalf.

History

Formation

In September 9, 2009, Warner Bros. announced that DC Comics would become a subsidiary of DC Entertainment, Inc., with

Diane Nelson Diane Dezura (born July 1, 1958 in Burnaby, British Columbia as Diane Nelson) is a Canadian retired curler and Olympic medalist. As Diane Nelson, she played lead on for the Kelley Law rink in the early 2000s, one of the best teams in the world ...

, President of

Warner Premiere Warner Premiere was an American direct-to-video label of Warner Bros. Home Entertainment, itself a subsidiary of Warner Bros. History Early years (2006–2008) In 2006, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment announced that they would enter the market ...

, becoming president of the newly formed holding company and DC Comics President and Publisher Paul Levitz moving to the position of Contributing Editor and Overall Consultant there. Warner Bros. and DC Comics have been owned by the same company since. On February 18, 2010, DC Entertainment named

Jim Lee Jim Lee (Korean 이용철; born August 11, 1964) is a Korean American comic-book artist, writer, editor, and publisher. He is currently the Publisher and Chief Creative Officer of DC Comics. In recognition of his work, Lee has received a Harvey ...

and Dan DiDio as Co-Publishers of DC Comics,

Geoff Johns Geoffrey Johns (born January 25, 1973) is an American comic book writer, screenwriter, and film and television producer. Johns's work on the DC Comics characters Green Lantern, Aquaman, Flash and Superman, has drawn critical acclaim. He serve ...

as Chief Creative Officer, John Rood as EVP (Executive Vice President) of Sales, Marketing and Business Development, and Patrick Caldon as EVP of Finance and Administration.

Property Expansion

In October 2013, DC Entertainment announced that the DC Comics offices were going to move in 2015 from New York City to the headquarters of Warner Bros. in

Burbank, California Burbank is a city in the southeastern end of the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Located northwest of downtown Los Angeles, Burbank has a population of 107,337. The city was named after David Burbank, w ...

. The other units, animation, film, television and portfolio planning, had preceded DC Comics by moving there in 2010. DC Entertainment announced its first franchise, the DC Super Hero Girls universe, in April 2015 with multi-platform content, toys and apparel to start appearing in 2016. Warner Bros. Pictures reorganized in May 2016 to have genre-responsible film executives, thus DC Entertainment franchise films under Warner Bros. were placed under a newly created division, DC Films, created under Warner Bros. executive vice president Jon Berg and DC chief content officer Geoff Johns. This was done in the same vein as

Marvel Studios Marvel Studios, LLC (originally known as Marvel Films from 1993 to 1996) is an American film and television production company that is a subsidiary of Walt Disney Studios, a division of the Walt Disney Company. Marvel Studios produces the Mar ...

in unifying DC-related filmmaking under a single vision and clarifying the greenlighting process. Johns also kept his existing role at DC Comics. Johns was promoted to DC president and CCO with the addition of his DC Films while still reporting to DCE President Nelson. In August 2016, Amit Desai was promoted from senior vice president, marketing & global franchise management to exec vice president, business and marketing strategy, direct-to-consumer and global franchise management.

Digital distribution

DC Comics are available in digital form through several sources. Free services: In 2015, Hoopla Digital became the first library-based digital system to distribute DC Comics. In April 2017, DC announced an upcoming streaming service with Warner Bros. Digital Networks, which was to feature original live-action and animated series based on DC characters and franchises, such as ''

Titans In Greek mythology, the Titans ( grc, οἱ Τῑτᾶνες, ''hoi Tītânes'', , ''ho Tītân'') were the pre-Olympian gods. According to the ''Theogony'' of Hesiod, they were the twelve children of the primordial parents Uranus (Sky) and Ga ...

'' and '' Young Justice: Outsiders''. The service, later announced as

DC Universe The DC Universe (DCU) is the fictional shared universe where most stories in American comic book titles published by DC Comics take place. Superheroes such as Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Robin, Martian Manhunter, The Flash, Green Lant ...

, would launch in September 2018, and also feature access to classic DC television series and digital comics. With frustration over DC Films not matching

' results and Berg wanting to step back to being a producer in January 2018, it was announced that

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...

executive

Walter Hamada Walter Hamada is an American film executive and producer. He joined New Line Cinema in 2007, where he served as an executive producer on horror films such as '' The Conjuring'' (2013), '' Annabelle'' (2014), ''The Conjuring 2'' (2016), '' Lights ...

was appointed president of DC film production. After a leave of absence starting in March 2018, Diane Nelson resigned as president of DC Entertainment. The company's executive management were to report to WB Chief Digital Officer Thomas Gewecke until a new president was selected.

DC Entertainment, LLC

In June 2018, Johns was also moved out of his position as chief creative officer and DC Entertainment president for a writing and producing deal with the DC and WB companies. Jim Lee added DC Entertainment chief creative officer title to his DC co-publisher post. In September 2018, DC became part of the newly-founded Warner Bros. Global Brands and Franchises division overseen by President Pam Lifford. Paid services were

Google Play Google Play, also known as the Google Play Store and formerly the Android Market, is a digital distribution service operated and developed by Google. It serves as the official app store for certified devices running on the Android (operating sys ...

and

ComiXology Iconology Inc., d/b/a ComiXology (styled comiXology), is a cloud-based digital distribution platform for comics owned by Amazon, with over 200 million comic downloads . It offers a selection of more than 100,000 comic books, graphic novels, and ...

. In January 2019 it was reported that 7 of the DC's 240 person workforce were laid off, including several vice presidents. In August 2020, DC publisher Jim Lee announced that all video content from DC Universe would migrate to

HBO Max HBO Max is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in the United States on May 27, 2020, the service is built around the libraries of HBO, Warner Bros., Cartoon Netw ...

, with the majority of the staff of DC Universe having been laid off. In September 2020, it was announced that DC Universe's original programming and future productions would be folded into WarnerMedia's new streaming service

. In January 2021, the remainder of the service would become a comics-centric service known as

DC Universe Infinite DC Universe Infinite is an online service by DC Comics that launched on January 21, 2021 and primarily distributes past issues of DC-published comic books over the internet. It is a relaunch of the former DC Universe streaming service, after its ...

. The service would feature DC titles six months after their retail release date (comparable to

Marvel Unlimited Marvel Unlimited, formerly known as Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited, is an online service by Marvel Comics that distributes past issues of their comics via the internet. The service launched on November 13, 2007, and now has more than 30,000 comic ...

), early access to DC Comics' digital-first titles, exclusive comics created for the service, and access to 24,000 titles in DC's back catalog.

Warner Bros. Discovery subsidiary

On April 14, 2022, after the merger of parent company WarnerMedia with

, it was reported that the company was exploring a restructuring of DC Entertainment into a "solidified content vertical" more akin to Marvel, with its film, television, and video game development brought directly under DC with a central leader, rather than being handled by other Warner Bros. subsidiaries on its behalf. As part of the reconstruction, the DC Comics website was relaunched under the "DC.com" URL (note: no longer "DC COMICS"). The update featured more digital experiences, such as weekly video content, allowing fans access to DC Universe Infinite through the same user profile.

Units

Active

* MAD *

** DC Black Label **

DC's Young Animal DC's Young Animal is a "pop-up" imprint of DC Comics started in 2016. It was developed in collaboration with Gerard Way, an American musician and comic book writer, author of ''The Umbrella Academy''. Its main focus is to relaunch characters and ...

WildStorm Wildstorm Productions, (stylized as WildStorm), is an American comic book imprint. Originally founded as an independent company established by Jim Lee under the name "Aegis Entertainment" and expanded in subsequent years by other creators, Wild ...

Sandman Universe The Sandman is a mythical character in European folklore who puts people to sleep and encourages and inspires beautiful dreams by sprinkling magical sand onto their eyes. Representation in traditional folklore The Sandman is a traditional charact ...

** Hill House Comics **

Wonder Comics Wonder Comics or Wonder Color Comics was a very short-lived American comic book publishing company that existed from 1985 to 1987. They only published a few titles, some of which moved to another short-lived company, Pied Piper Comics, after their ...

** DC Graphic Novels for Kids ** DC Graphic Novels for Young Adults **

Defunct

* DC Universe (SVOD) - shut down with catalog absorbed into HBO Max; spun off into

Executives

Presidents

(September 9, 2009 – June 6, 2018) *

(2016–2018) * Anne Leung DePies,

Senior Vice President A vice president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vice president is on ...

(2022–present)

Others

* Geoff Johns, Chief Creative Officer, DC Comics (2010–2018) *

, Chief Creative Officer, DC Comics (June 2018–present) * Amit Desai, Executive Vice President (2016–2019)

Productions

Notes

References

External links

* {{Authority control American companies established in 2009 2009 establishments in California Companies based in Burbank, California Entertainment companies based in California Entertainment companies established in 2009 Mass media companies established in 2009 Warner Bros. Discovery subsidiaries