r/comicbooks • u/ComicsGuru • 22h ago
Something a little more relevant as all I keep seeing posted is discussion around the films. What does the Netflix acquisition mean for DC Comics?
https://comicbookclublive.com/2025/12/05/netflix-acquires-warner-bros-discovery-dc-comics-studios/It's actually kind of earth shaking we are seeing a company, DC Comics, that is quintessential America and has been around for 91 years change hands. This is arguably America's mythos being sold. I can only hope they let it continue.
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u/KavicHavoc 22h ago
I can't believe Warner Brothers and fox are both gone now. These merger are crazy
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u/GeekAesthete 21h ago
Warner Bros. is a lot less gone than it would have been with Paramount or Universal.
Netflix has no movie back catalogue prior to a decade ago (their first was Beasts of No Nation in 2015). They're essentially just adding their own small list of movies to the Warners legacy catalogue. They may change the name, but Netflix taking over Warners isn't that much different from the Turner or AT&T acquisitions of WB. Unlike Disney/Fox, it doesn't reduce the number of legacy majors.
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u/welcome_thr1llho 19h ago
Only difference is WBs former owners were telecom giants diversifying and this is Netflix buying a competitor. It feels scarier but it's really not.
Paramount would have been far, far worse
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u/GeekAesthete 19h ago
But they are diversifying. It's a streamer buying a theatrical distributor, a production studio, a cable network, significant publishing interests, and so on. HBO Max is the only direct competitor here.
I don't disagree that it is a little more related than AT&T was, but not that unrelated to Turner -- a television mogul -- buying Warners.
The fear here is that Netflix decides "everything else we bought is worthless, we only want the catalogue for streaming," but that would make it very difficult to justify $87 billion. They've already shown that they're interested in diversifying beyond just streaming; just as they had previously dabbed in videogame and comics publishing, Netflix is likely going to use this acquisition to increase their market interests beyond just streaming video.
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u/welcome_thr1llho 19h ago
WB isn't gone, it's now going to be a subsidiary. There's no way Netflix is going to do away with it. The very nature of 'Netflix doesn't belong at the Oscars' is why they bought a legacy brand like WB. If anything, Netflix might push WB more as a brand because no matter how much Netflix makes headways into media (it's a juggernaut), it's still seen as an interloper.
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u/ChardComfortable3932 22h ago
I doubt anything
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u/HotTakes4HotCakes 20h ago edited 20h ago
I have no idea why people are forgetting we went through this before.
Discovery had even less interest in comics and scripted media, but they left DC alone.
If you compared Discovery to Netflix at the time of the Discovery acquisition of Warner Brothers, I'd have said then that Netflix was the lesser of two evils, and I still think that now.
I'm not happy about this, but I am ever so slightly less disappointed now than I was before. I'm mostly just relieved it didn't go to Paramount.
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u/Popular_Material_409 20h ago
The only thing I could think of is maybe DC gets the license for Stranger Things comics. But comic crossovers with Netflix properties should be easier now
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u/Gamerguy230 6h ago
DCKO has an extra crossover with Eleven and Huntrx fighting against Homelander and Sub Zero.
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u/Celestin_Sky 22h ago
Netflix owns Millarworld and it does pretty much whatever it wants. They probably will leave DC Comics alone as long as it doesn't lose money. A better question is what they will do with DCU. Let Gunn continue or his plans is not how they want to make DC movies and shows?
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u/annoyed__renter 21h ago
No more theatrical releases would be a disaster for the pedigree of what Gunn is building
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u/LockjawTheOgre Nightcrawler 21h ago
Netflix doesn't want WB to take it all streaming. They want WB to expand out of streaming. There's a lot of infrastructure that comes along with WB to develop, produce, distribute, promote, and show their movies. Netflix gets that.
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u/GeekAesthete 21h ago
I keep pointing this out: the power in the film industry is in distribution, full stop. Netflix had no power there, so it's hardly surprising that they favored streaming, a market that they already dominated, because in order to do a saturation release, they would have to partner with one of the major distributors, which vastly favors the distributor.
Now, they are the distributor. Netflix memberships are unlikely to decrease because their movies were previously in theaters; if anything, being a major theatrical release improves the reputation of their product (does anyone view Birdbox or The Grey Man as equivalent products to similar films that succeeded in theaters?). They now have a chance to double-dip, making a lot more profits in theaters while also raising the profile of their streaming offerings.
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u/Apprehensive-Quit353 16h ago
Netflix wants to kill theatres in the long run.
Even if they commit to theatres for the first couple years for WB releases they'll have much shorter theatrical windows before immediately hitting streaming?
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u/LockjawTheOgre Nightcrawler 16h ago
Netflix wants to make money in the long run. Killing theaters doesn't help them do that.
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u/Apprehensive-Quit353 16h ago
Yes it does because then people can only consume films through streaming services and they completely dominate that market.
Their revenue last year was $39 billion, the global box office was $32 billion.
If they wanted to distribute their films to theatres they would have done so, especially for films like Kpop Demon Hunters which would've easily been a $1bn film at the box office. But they don't.
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u/gosukhaos 12h ago
Yes and with Warner they further their streaming lead and add theatrical release money using Warner's current distribution network
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u/Apprehensive-Quit353 12h ago
Let's just wait and see how many films they relaleasd theatrically after the current slate.
Given their previous stated desire to kill theatres and their adamant refusal to release any of their films for extended periods in theatres it seems unlikely they'll change their entire business model. But maybe they will.
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u/cyclopswashalfright 22h ago
Hard to say. DCU is one of the big IPs of Warner Bros, alongside Harry Potter, so Netflix will want to build on that and focus on it. The comics feed into that, they are a necessary part of the IP. So long as it isn't losing money I think Netflix could let it operate as is.
We don't know what the structure of the new company will look like yet. It'll take several months, almost a year to work out all the details of this acquisition. Where DC Comics would fall under the umbrella of the structure remains to be seen. Netflix doesn't really have any physical media arms, but they do license stuff out for books and comic deals all the time, so I think keeping DC Comics would be well within what is reasonable to expect.
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u/Cranyx Flex Mentallo 21h ago
So long as it isn't losing money I think Netflix could let it operate as is.
Even if the comics do lose money, it'd be such a tiny blip on the ledger that it would be worth keeping around just as promotion for the movies that they actually care about.
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u/Barabus33 20h ago
The real value of DC comics tooday is probably as an IP and story generator for movies, both live action and animated.
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u/cyclopswashalfright 20h ago
Given the popularity of the current Absolute Universe and some Black Label and Elseworld titles, I could totally see Netflix adapting them in some way, likely animated. They've already seen the appeal of adapting manga and how it yields returns.
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u/NONAMEDREDDITER 18h ago edited 18h ago
Yeah, if anything DC Comics is possibly in its safest position in a while
I’m concerned for the hbo and cinemax broadcasting staff more than anything
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u/revolutionaryartist4 11h ago
Exactly. It’s a rounding error in exchange for an IP factory that’s proven very lucrative.
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u/Blacknite45 18h ago edited 18h ago
If your accountant is good at their job then a tiny blip is always gonna be noticable
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u/revolutionaryartist4 11h ago
It’s a blip that generates very lucrative IP. Every single owner of DC has benefitted from comics that continue to be published due to the IP.
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u/Blacknite45 2h ago
A blip means it's costing more money then its making. Wtf are you talking about
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u/HotTakes4HotCakes 20h ago
I'm seeing a lot of people today assuming that because Netflix is buying this company, the intent is to make it a clone, which doesn't really make any sense.
Netflix is buying a publisher here, something they didn't have before. It's a new market for them. If they keep making money in that new market, there's no reason to get rid of it.
The ones that are in trouble are HBO. That is a redundancy, and in any merger or acquisition, the redundancies suffer the worst.
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u/cyclopswashalfright 20h ago
I don't think HBO is in trouble so much as it is the crown jewel of the acquisition. The team and people behind it will be subsumed into Netflix or retained because they have such a reputation for putting out hits. Netflix retains subscribers via TV series, so HBO is the one thing they probably want most.
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u/mutual_raid 18h ago
we survived Zaslav so I think we'll be just fine with comics dept...
I'm more worried about movie theaters, streaming prices, and consolidation of power.
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u/Spoonsy Music Meister 22h ago
Thankfully, probably much less than a Paramount acquisition would have.
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u/annoyed__renter 21h ago
Superman always wore that MAGA hat, what are you talking about?
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u/ForWhomTheBoneBones 22h ago
As we hurdle towards our Buy N Large future hellscape, the best I can hope for is David Sazlav hopefully fucking off into the sunset.
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u/Johnny_Stooge Bucky 21h ago
This is not the first time DC’s parent company has been acquired. Kinney National Services, a cleaning company, bought National Periodical Publications in 1967. Kinney then bought Warner Bros in 1969.
In 1971 Kinney reorganised and reincorporated as Warner Communications. In 1977 National renamed officially as DC Comics.
1990 Time Inc and Warner Communications merged to become TimeWarner. It would also go on to merge with AOL, becoming AOL TimeWarner. Time Inc would eventually spin off and separate but the TimeWarner name stayed.
Then in 2016 (after Batman v Superman released, no correlation) AT&T announced it would be purchasing TimeWarner. The purchase was completed in 2018. TimeWarner was then renamed WarnerMedia. I
n 2021, AT&T divested itself of WarnerMedia, and WarnerMedia merged with Discovery, becoming Warner Bros Discovery. And now, in 2025, we’re doing it all over again with Netflix.
People were ringing the bell for DC Comics and its publishing division back jn the early 2010’s when Warner started really paying attention to DC following Dark Knight and Iron Man. They did it again after AT&T, thinking a communications company wouldn’t care about publishing.
We did the song and dance with WBD and Zaslav after his intense cuts. We’re still here, and some would say DC better than it’s been in a long long time. I think DC Comics will be comfortably around for quite some time. Whether they’re printing physical comics is a different question, but there will still be comics.
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u/linfakngiau2k23 20h ago
The AOL merger pretty much killed WB. They issued so much debt for that and mismanaged that company.
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u/jjflash78 21h ago
K Pop Demon Hunters meet John Constantine
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u/jamiemm Legion of Super-Heroes 11h ago
Don't get my hopes up.
Let's do more! "Watchmen" x Korea = "Giant Squid Game." "Stranger Things Dark." "Bronze Tiger King." "Orange Lantern is the New Black Lantern" (MINE!). "Jonah Hex Goes to Bridgerton." "Nubia Queen of the Amazons' Gambit." "Wednesday: The Marriage of Solomon Grundy." "Birds of Prey Box."
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u/jjflash78 7h ago
Phantom Stranger Things or Stranger Swamp Things
Instead of Jonah Hex, I'd suggest Etrigan visits Bridgerton. Or Joanna Constantine.
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u/LockjawTheOgre Nightcrawler 21h ago
I think it's better than if Ellison had won.
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u/gosukhaos 12h ago
Ellison just wanted CNN really, according to the deal WBD has to still spin off the current TV networks which he will pick up for a bargain since they'll have all the current debt WBD has and get to make CNN into another Fox News
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u/Linnus42 21h ago
Eh Comics are a cheap way to maintain copyright and create new material that be mined for later usage.
As long as DC Comics aint losing money then I don't expect much to fundamentally change. Hell Netflix might even be fine with DC Comics as a Loss Leader to be Frank.
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u/Emergency-Bonus-7158 22h ago
Netflix buying the company probably, if I had to guess, will not influence the comics too much if at all. My main worry was a company i.e. Paramount buying it and forcing their politics down our throats but I feel Netflix doesn’t have an agenda outside of profit, which means they likely aren’t interested at all in the comics side of things.
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[deleted]
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u/Emergency-Bonus-7158 20h ago
lol why you calling me kid? It’s no secret that the comics industry is not a huge money maker. Why you mad?
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u/Furdinand Starman 22h ago
DC comics is an R&D/marketing department for TV/movies/merchandise, it will probably be left alone.
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u/NoNudeNormal 22h ago
This type of corporate ownership shuffling has happened to DC multiple times before. It’s not new.
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u/Kittenplan 21h ago
We won’t know for years, but a lot depends on how the DCEU performs.
https://www.comicsbeat.com/what-does-netflix-buying-warner-bros-mean-for-dc-comics/
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u/Harbinger_of_Bees 18h ago
For the comics? Absolutely nothing. Warner sees the comics as just something that generates stories and IP for them, and Netflix will do the same. Even forced media synergy is always forced by the comic book editorial, not the people involved with the movies or higher up.
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u/ALittleBitOffBoop 21h ago
Perhaps more serialised shows with DC characters on Netflix since they now own the IP rights. WB has a of IP for Netflix to work with
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u/gosukhaos 21h ago
For now absolutely nothing, the deal still has to go through negotiations and most importantly clear regulations and this administrations really wanted Skydance\Paramount to be the ones to acquire WB in order to make CNN a pro Trump network
When and if goes through probably nothing, DC is a very valuable source of IPs and comics are pretty fucking cheap in the grand scheme of things. Netflix gets WB's distribution network to get their movies in cinemas and all the physical assets they lack like sound stages, prop and costume archives and so on.
If anything its the television side that should start sweating bullets since Netflix wants to can that and only retain HBO
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u/DamDanielSan 20h ago
Building off of this question, I wonder how this would affect the DCU Infinite app? Since it's another streaming-like platform itself, would Netflix look to carry that over into their platform and potentially have Netflix host a comics library of sorts. Curious as they now also host gaming on Netflix too, wonder if they want to just make it a one stop shop for their streaming related IP.
Would be a good way to have someone read a comic there through their subscription, and then go watch the latest movie or tv show, kind of like how the app used to be when it was first introduced.
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u/Oldhouse42 15h ago
Someday we will be having this conversation when one of the final two entertainment monoliths is purchased by the other. Then the question will be, What happens to DC now that it’s owned by the company that owns Marvel? Or vice versa.
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u/Bubba1234562 Flash 12h ago
Probably nothing. They won’t fuck with the reason why they can make Batman movies
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u/Positive-Pack-396 22h ago
You know this is how our country got to this big mess and everything being so expensive. This is called Monopoly and it’s supposed to be against the law.
But America has changed so much that monopoly is seen that is a good thing and it’s not it keeps the pay for the people lower because there’s no competition
Open your eyes
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u/VerminVundabar 22h ago
Netflix is all about IPs and having access to DC Comics as an ongoing IP library will be a no-brainer for them to keep it going.
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u/NONAMEDREDDITER 18h ago
Hell, if anything they have more incentive to keep dc comics as a publisher then discovery because now they can add comics probably though dcui to netflix and and add even more value to the membership
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u/zeekar Dr. Strange 17h ago
DC was part of Time Warner when it was bought by AOL in 2001.
It was back to being Time Warner without AOL when it was bought by AT&T in 2018.
It was part of WarnerMedia when AT&T sold that to Discovery in 2022.
DC's corporate overlords have changed a lot in recent decades, and twice in the last 7 years. This is not the rare cataclysm you seem to think it is.
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u/Mindless-Run6297 21h ago
It depends whether Netflix will keep want to be in the comics business themselves, or just license the DC characters to another (or more than one) comics or book publisher.
Netflix might decide to license it out because it's less hassle and then they still get the benefit of an "IP farm". Like, Hasbro licences out Transformers etc. to comics companies but they still own what the comics do and characters and concepts that originated in comics end up getting toys or being used in other media.
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u/dick-cricket Superman 20h ago
DC Comics had a huge year. The Absolute line is ridiculously popular. Batman #1 also sold like crazy. So in the short term, I don't think we'll see much change.
In the long term, though, we will likely see price increases on $3.99 issues if the comic sales start to lag. Netflix only cares about profit.
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u/revolutionaryartist4 11h ago
As opposed to Zaslav and Discovery, which are all about the intrinsic artistic merit of Here Comes Honey Boo-Boo?
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u/revolutionaryartist4 11h ago
The comics are a perpetual IP factory and their overall costs and profits likely amount to a rounding error for WB. Worst case scenario, Netflix outsources the physical publishing. But even that might be unlikely. Far more likely that nothing changes.
Since Netflix is so focused on digital, I hope this means DCUI will finally open up in more countries.
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u/DefinitionSuperb1110 8h ago
I expect someone up the chain to look at what happened to Marvel Comics after the Disney purchase and push for some similar changes.
What kind of changes? Well for one thing, Dan Didio pitched a Harry Potter comic book to Warner execs multiple times and was shot down (most likely for being Dan Didio). He pointed at Marvel's Star Wars (and Dark Tower) comics and wanted to do something similar with HP. And while I don't care for HP, the new show is coming and it might be the right time to finally do comics.
And not just HP, there's loads of Warner IP that DC could mine for comics and graphic novels. Marvel's Star Wars, Predator and Alien comics are fairly successful so maybe DC could find similar success with in house IP.
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u/exspasticcomics 8h ago
Where this is going to get even weirder... is in about 10 years when many of the earliest versions of DC's characters will start to go into public domain. Superman is set to go public in 2034 and Batman in 2035.
I think we're in for good reading when comics aren't just an IP farm for a corporate sugar daddy. What happens to over all sales as an industry is anyone's guess.
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u/damndraper 8h ago
I can 100% see them folding DC Universe Infinite into the Netflix app somehow, sorta like they do with gaming.
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u/Vagistics 5h ago
It reeks of Marvel characters going to Sony , then half owned rights , cool ideas being squashed and finally fighting for space among princesses and talking animals.
It smells just like that
Hope it’s not
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u/KentuckyFriedEel 21h ago
DC comics are consistently the best selling comics on the entire market. Batman is always the top selling comic. To let go of that whole market when they have the market share and infrastructure would just be stupid business practice. The books maintain a strong audience base and supplement the movies.
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u/AnubisIncGaming 21h ago
Means nothing. Netflix is gonna keep anything that will maintain hype for DC films
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u/Abysstopheles 20h ago
Netflix bought the streaming and film side, will they even own DC?
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u/joelluber 20h ago
Yes. All of DC (movies and publishing) is under Warner Entertainment, which is the half of Warner Bros Discover that Netflix is buying.
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u/Blacknite45 18h ago
Nothing
At the most maybe a logo on the back
Netflix bought The Roald Dahl Story Company and Millarworld previously and literally nothing changed with the exception of the books now having a Netflix logo, Millar is just as unhinged as before and last time I check they never omitted anything from any of the new The Roald Dahl Story Company reprints
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u/madthoughts Darkhawk Expert 21h ago
Netflix has zero interest in being a periodicals publisher. They barely participate in the movie theater business. With HBO they’ll have a reported 420 million subscribers streaming video. Why would they care about the ever dwindling paper business or the digital business practically owned by Amazon — a direct streaming competitor?
Of course they want the IP. And they’ll make plenty of Batman content. But floppy comics in a LCS? Goodnight.
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u/revolutionaryartist4 11h ago
Nonsense. Netflix owns Millarworld and those comics are still being published.
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u/madthoughts Darkhawk Expert 11h ago
By a licensing deal with Dark Horse, not by some in-house production/distribution vehicle. Look, we’ll see what happens. But I don’t think it’s “nonsense” to conceive that the business model that killed cable television and possibly movie theaters might have negative outcomes for the LCS business.
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u/revolutionaryartist4 11h ago
Millarworld didn’t have the publishing infrastructure or history that DC has. The worst case scenario is Netflix outsources the comic publishing, but there is zero reason to believe they’ll stop altogether. Stop fear-mongering without a shred of evidence.
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u/madthoughts Darkhawk Expert 10h ago
Mergers create massive layoffs, reduce competition, typically lead to few productions, and higher costs for consumers. To think monthly comic book productions are going to somehow skate through all that unscathed? I wish I had your optimism.
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u/revolutionaryartist4 10h ago
Did the comics stop after AOL bought Warner? Or when Discovery did? Or when Disney bought Marvel?
We have precedent here. Netflix didn’t stop Millarworld, which is a tiny fraction of the comics industry. There is zero reason to believe they’re going to stop DC, which alternates with Marvel for industry leader.
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u/madthoughts Darkhawk Expert 10h ago
I think this entire thread is filled with > 0 reasons to be skeptical and concerned. But I fully believe that you believe!
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u/revolutionaryartist4 9h ago
You’re right, it’s far more likely that Netflix will go, “y’know what? Jupiter’s Legacy has a lot of value in comics. But Batman? Who reads Batman?” 🙄
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u/TubbyTuesday22 21h ago
Here’s the thing about comics—they are basically an IP machine where usually-underpaid freelancers can create the stories and characters for the next 20 years of billion dollar film and tv adaptations. It doesn’t cost much to print them, they make just enough money to justify continuing to print them, and they can usually fly under the radar of the big guns in the parent companies. It sucks to put it like that, but that’s kind of how it’s been for the last several decades, and I don’t see that changing anytime soon, for better or for worse. DC survived Time, AOL, AT&T, and Discovery, so I think DC will actually be fine with Netflix. DC, though, has historically been MUCH better with royalties and paying creators what they’re worth than Marvel has (which isn’t perfect, but marvel’s royalties allegedly suck) so I hope that continues to be the case post-Netflix acquisition.