John Oliver Takes Aim at DC Superhero Movies on 'Last Week Tonight' — Including His Own Corporate Sibling's Flops
John Oliver spent part of his Sunday night broadcast taking shots at DC superhero films — a target that sits unusually close to home.
On the August 9, 2026 edition of Last Week Tonight, Oliver pointed to a collage of DC movie posters while mocking the franchise's track record. The films in his crosshairs included Birds of Prey, The Flash, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, Shazam! Fury of the Gods, Black Adam, and Supergirl, according to Variety.
The joke was folded into a segment about the Department of Justice. Oliver compared the DOJ's failed legal cases to DC's string of box-office misfires, quipping that if repeated unsuccessful attempts count as good news, "that's huge for DC movies" (Variety).
What makes the bit land harder is the corporate connection. Those DC films are produced by Warner Bros., which sits under the same parent company as Oliver's HBO show — Warner Bros. Discovery. So the host was roasting films made by a sibling division of the same conglomerate that pays his salary.
The timing adds another wrinkle. Warner Bros. may be taken over by the Ellison family if Paramount Skydance's acquisition goes through, as Variety reported. That puts the studio's future — and its superhero slate — in an unusually uncertain position.
Oliver's most pointed jab may have been the inclusion of Supergirl. The film grossed $126 million worldwide against a production budget of over $170 million plus roughly $120 million in marketing expenses, and stands to lose up to $100 million for its studio (Variety). Those are the kinds of numbers that turn a superhero release into a write-down.
This is not Oliver's first swing at Warner Bros. Discovery. In August 2022, he slammed the company on Last Week Tonight over its decision to shelve Batgirl — a completed film that was cancelled rather than released (The Hollywood Reporter; IndieWire). That criticism came amid broader upheaval at HBO, including the merger of the HBO Max and Discovery+ streaming services (IndieWire).
For viewers, the segment is a reminder that late-night satire can cut in any direction — even toward the corporate family signing the cheques. Oliver has now gone after Warner Bros. Discovery twice in four years, each time tying the punchline to a real business decision with real consequences for the people who make those films.
