As January’s announcement of the upcoming DC Studios slate made clear, the new era of the onscreen DCU has a brain trust behind it that’s larger than just co-CEOs James Gunn and Peter Safran; as revealed during Tuesday’s announcement, there’s a committee at work backing up Gunn and helping to map out the next decade of DC’s movies, shows, games, and animated projects.

This isn’t an entirely new move; Marvel currently has a similar group helping to guide the development of the MCU, and famously had an official Marvel Creative Committee in its earliest days, consisting of executives from Marvel’s publishing arm — including then-Marvel editor-in-chief Joe Quesada, publisher Dan Buckley, and writer Brian Michael Bendis — that gave notes on Marvel Studios projects as they were being developed.

At first blush, the DC Studios committee seems to be more focused on creating a road map of the larger stories threading through the first 'chapters' of the new DC Studios shows and movies than offering specific notes on in-development shows, but as things move forward, it’s very possible that things can change. For now, here are the people who are helping shape the future of DC’s new cinematic universe.

Tom King

Perhaps the most known quantity to comic book readers outside of Gunn himself, Tom King has been a steady presence in the pages of DC’s comic book output for almost a decade. He’s been a mainstay in Gotham City since his 2016-2020 run on the main Batman series, and titles like Mister Miracle, Human Target, and Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow — which is on track to be adapted into one of the first projects of the new DCU era — have shown that he’s got a unique take on classic DC properties. Think of him as the secret weapon in the new team, ensuring that comic book flavor in what’s to come.

Recommended reading: Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, The Human Target.

Christal Henry

For genre fans, Henry — who’s the producer and writer of the upcoming Waller series — is most likely to be known for her work as supervising producer and writer on HBO’s Watchmen series of a few years ago; she was responsible for 'If You Don’t Like My Story, Write Your Own,' if you’re curious. She’s got a background in television beyond that, having been a staff writer on The Chicago Code and Unforgettable, as well as working on Gang Related and APB, amongst other shows. Now, she’s heading up what is likely to be the second project from the new DCU to appear, and the bridge between what came before and what’s to come. Get ready.

Recommended viewing: Watchmen S1 E4, The First S1 E7.

Christina Hudson

Hodson has quite the resume; she’s the woman who jumpstarted the Transformers movie franchise with 2018’s Bumblebee, but also the writer behind the still-underrated-I-don’t-care-what-you-say Birds of Prey movie two years later. That was the start of her connection with DC, but she’s got an additional couple of scripts for the company that are worth calling out: she’s the writer of the upcoming Ezra Miller Flash movie, as well as the writer of the cancelled Batgirl project for HBO Max. She’s tasted the highs and the lows of the former DC era, and now she’s one of the people guiding us into the new one.

Recommended viewing: Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn), Bumblebee.

Drew Goddard

Even if you don’t think you know Drew Goddard’s work, you probably do; he worked on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and continued his association with Joss Whedon on The Cabin in the Woods. He wrote for Lost, and scripted the first Cloverfield movie; he wrote the first episode of the Netflix Daredevil show, as well as the screenplay for The Martian. (He also wrote the World War Z screenplay, if you’re wondering.) In other words, Drew Goddard has done a lot — but, the sole Daredevil credit aside, he’s never really got his teeth into a superhero project, despite many near-misses, including a Sinister Six movie at Sony. Finally, at DC, he’ll get to show what he’s really capable of.

Recommended viewing: Cloverfield, Daredevil S1 E1, The Martian.

Jeremy Slater

Like Goddard, Slater has more of a background with Marvel characters than DC, having been the showrunner of Moon Knight last year — and, to somewhat lesser success, the 2015 Fantastic Four reboot from Fox — but he also developed The Umbrella Academy from Dark Horse comic into fan-favorite Netflix show, as well as creating a show based on The Exorcist. He’s got some interesting stuff coming up before his DC work appears, including the sequels to both Godzilla vs. Kong and Mortal Kombat — as well as the screenplay to Coyote v. Acme, which takes a new look at the logic of the Looney Toons universe. Never mind if he’s ready for the DCU, is the DCU ready for him?

Recommended viewing: Moon Knight S1 E1, The Umbrella Academy S1 E1.

If you want some more details about what to expect from the new DCU, we have them for you right here.