'Superpowered' directors on the best DC movie, James Gunn's 'bold swings' and why Ryan Reynolds's 'Green Lantern' is MIA from documentary

Hyped as “the best superhero movie ever,” The Flash has instead face-planted into box-office ignominy, falling so far short of its lofty expectations that the Ezra Miller vehicle appears destined to rank alongside all-time DC and Warner Bros. misfires as Halle Berry’s Catwoman and Ryan Reynolds’s Green Lantern.

While the postmortems continue to pour in on what went wrong with the meta multiverse-spanning film, which unites screen versions of DC characters dating all the way back to the 1950s, a real-world look at the iconic comic publisher’s storied history is about to unfold. The three-part Max original documentary Superpowered: The DC Story explores the company’s nearly nine-decade history, from its founding in 1934 as National Comics Publications up to the present.

Speaking to Yahoo Entertainment following a screening, co-directors Leslie Iwerks and Mark Catalena, who previously collaborated on the 2019 Disney+ documentary The Imagineering Story, offered unvarnished commentary on the mixed success of DC-based adaptations and shared their thoughts on what might be in store under the new leadership of James Gunn.

From Comics to Film

Working on the documentary allowed Iwerks the opportunity to revisit every DC film and TV show from the original Superman serials of the ‘40s to the present-day DCEU. This gave her a new perspective for both the adaptations and the characters themselves.

“I enjoyed seeing how the DC movies were influenced by the original comics, which is an obvious thing,” says Iwerks. “But how they transformed, how they evolved, how they reflected ‘today,’ and how the effects became better. And ultimately how the characters themselves changed. It's just fascinating to see it from the prism of time.”

Catalena specifically cited Richard Donner’s Superman as the benchmark for DC cinema, and also shared an aside about the landmark film’s influence on Marvel.

“The original Superman, I think without that, none of it happens,” says Catalena. “I can’t even remember who told us this, which isn’t in the [documentary], but Kevin Feige even shows the original Superman to all of his Marvel filmmakers. It’s like, ‘This is the blueprint. This is the tone.’”

DC vs. Marvel

Superpowered doesn’t shy away from diving into DC’s rivalry with Marvel, even when the fight turned in Marvel’s favor.

“We go into the ups and downs of the battle between Marvel and DC through all three episodes,” says Iwerks. “First the business story of DC not taking Marvel seriously, then Marvel ultimately becomes this powerhouse that DC has to worry about.”

“It gets written more often about Marvel pitted against DC at the box office,” adds Catalena.

“But if you look at television, video games, and animation, DC is way up there on Marvel in many aspects. We wanted to touch on it, but we didn’t want it to be a story just about the rivalry.”

Green Lantern’s Light

While Superpowered doesn’t dwell on the likes of Catwoman (2004) or Green Lantern (2011), Catalena says the filmmakers did look into Reynolds’s epic box-office blunder; however, the segments ended up on the cutting-room floor.

“We were more focused on talking about the big swings they were taking,” the filmmaker explains. “Look, we interviewed people about Green Lantern. We have the stories, we just choose to not focus on it. When we had so much to consider, and so much material that was really good, those [bad films] just kind of naturally fell away.”

A New Legacy

Last year, Gunn and Peter Safran were hired to be the new co-CEOs of DC Studios. Gunn subsequently announced plans to write and direct Superman: Legacy, the first film in a new chapter for the DC Universe. (Gunn recently cast David Corenswet and Rachel Brosnahan as the new Clark Kent/Superman and Lois Lane.) Although Gunn is only briefly present in Superpowered, Iwerks and Catalena both express optimism for his new slate of movies and series rebooting DC’s on-screen universe.

Iwerks praises the “new regime” and their work so far, saying “they really know what they are doing.”

“I think they’re going to continue to be courageous and take bold swings,” adds Catalena. “This isn’t in the show because it happened after we finished, but James Gunn is already tying what he is attempting to do in the cinema back to the comic books. That wasn’t necessarily done before, and I think that is key. The ideas begin in the comic books and then they blossom elsewhere. He embraces that, because he’s a fan himself.”

Catalena says Gunn’s The Suicide Squad “is proof that all of these secondary characters can work. … I have a great faith in him that he’s going to be able to pull it all together.”

Superpowered: The DC Story premieres July 20 on Max.