Arrowverse Co-Creator Breaks Silence on DC Snub

Even before Arrow that launched in 2012, the Arrowverse grew into a massive superhero soap opera, making up for the absence of the DC Trinity (Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman) with fan-favorites like the Flash and the Atom, and rehabilitated D-listers like Wild Dog and Vibe.

But for all of its popularity and success, the Arrowverse is nearly over. With Shazam! Fury of the Gods, he has no similar plans for the Arrowverse.

That’s a hard pill to swallow for both fans and creators, including Marc Guggenheim. Along with You, which secured him a first-look deal with the streaming service, and Kreisberg was fired by Warner Brothers for sexual assault, Guggenheim has been shut out.

According to CBR, Guggenheim addressed his status in the February 3rd issue of his newsletter. Since Gunn and Safran took over, Guggenheim insists that he has been completely ignored by the company. “Not a job, mind you. A meeting. A conversation,” he vented. “A small recognition of what I’d tried to contribute to the grand tapestry that is the DC Universe.”

It’s easy to understand Guggenheim’s frustration. His work in the DC Universe extends to before the Arrowverse, when he wrote The Flash, Action Comics, and Justice Society of America (as well as various books for Marvel and other publishers). Along with Berlanti, Guggenheim worked on the ill-received Green Lantern movie from 2011, and planned to return for the prestige Green Lantern series for HBO.

But when Gunn and Safran launched DC Studios, the Green Lantern series was pulled from production and has been replaced with Lanterns, a procedural featuring Hal Jordan and John Stewart. Gunn and Safran have assembled a writer’s room that includes Mister Miracle‘s Tom King, Netflix Birds of Prey, or the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn writer Christina Hobson.

Without the least bit of recognition directed his way under this new regime, Guggenheim feels deeply let down. “Although working for DC had been creatively fulfilling, it involved a lot of adversity, challenges, and personal sacrifices — none of which seem to have accrued to any professional benefit,” he wrote. “Simply put, the Arrowverse hasn’t led to any other gigs, so it feels — at least on a career level — that I really wasted my time.”