Top Ten Most Influential Comic Book TV And Movie Industry Professionals Of 2014

Mainstream American comic books are mostly adventure and science fiction fantasies featuring larger-than-life characters who can do just about anything given their unique skills, powers and the unlimited resources at their disposal.

But who has the real power?

Well, increasingly it's the TV and movie executives whose products drive massive profits and end up impacting not only the public perception of the source material (since millions of people go see comic book movies and TV shows but most comics can boast a readership less than around 50,000) but sometimes even the source material itself.

Who had the biggest comics-to-screen footprint in 2014? Well, read on.

Robert Kirkman

The creator and showrunner of TV's biggest show, The Walking Dead's Robert Kirkman has enjoyed a success that's helping to reshape the indie comics economy while building himself up as a TV and film magnate.

Kirkman's upcoming The Walking Dead companion series is expected to head to air in about a year alongside Outcast, a new series based on another of Kirkman's comic books and starring Almost Famous and Wristcutters star Patrick Fugit. He's also producing Air, a feature film starring The Walking Dead's breakout actor Norman Reedus.

Kevin Feige

Marvel is a seemingly unstoppable force at the worldwide box office right now, and nobody gets more credit for that than Kevin Feige, the studio chief who makes most of the key calls in terms of what movies get made and who to put in charge of them.

This year, in particular, he's been basking in the glory of decisions to make unlikely candidates like sitcom directors Joe and Anthony Russo and indie darling James Gunn the filmmakers behind Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Guardians of the Galaxy, respectively.

Those worked out so well that both franchises overperformed by a significant margin at the box office, Gunn is being heralded as a geek hero and the Russo brothers are reportedly set to direct not only the hugely-anticipated Captain America: Civil War but also two Avengers movies.

Zack Snyder

Last year, Snyder's Man of Steel performed well at the box office...but it was less than expected, and the movie was wildly divisive, with everyone from fans to comic book professionals to other filmmakers taking potshots at the movie for a variety of reasons.

Warner Bros. has faith in him, though, and despite delaying the movie by ten months to prep for their next cinematic step, Snyder will direct not only Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice, which wrapped possibly the most talked-about production period of any film in recent memory, but also two Justice League movies after that, making him the first director to surpass Christopher Nolan's three DC adaptations as director.

Bruno Heller

As the showrunner of Gotham, Heller has the ability to reinvent characters from the Batman mythology and, in many cases, will be the first live-action interpretation of the post-Burton era of superheroes on screen.

That means, for characters like the Black Mask, Heller is bringing them to millions of people for the first time, setting the expectations for what will have to be met when they make their way to the big screen down the line. And since he's doing it on FOX rather than The CW, even a show that has fans as divided as Gotham can pull down the same or better ratings than something as beloved as The Flash most weeks.

James Gunn

Gunn directed the most enjoyable comic book movie of the year -- and some people would say ever -- and its massive, unexpected success has already started messing with Hollywood's dour ecosphere.

On the heels of an underwhelming box office performance by Star Trek Into Darkness, a movie that feels like it was made by combining all the things Hollywood thinks audiences like, word is Paramount is looking to increase their revenue by trying to make its 2016 follow-up "more like Guardians of the Galaxy." Given its distinctive voice and it success not only at the box office but in merchandising, DVD and CD/vinyl sales, don't be surprised to hear much more of that over the next year or two.

Russo Brothers

Prior to taking on Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Joe and Anthony Russo's biggest feature film was Welcome to Collinwood, a Sam Rockwell/William H. Macy film that made less than $500,000 at the domestic box office and whose most memorable pop culture impact was probably hooking the Russos up with Luis Guzman, who would become a recurring joke, and eventual guest star, on Community, one of the series that established them as a creative force in television.

Now? It looks like they're on the cusp of being announced as Joss Whedon Mark II, the directors who will shepherd Marvel's entire third phase of filmmaking alongside Feige.

Marc Guggenheim

As the de facto mouthpiece for Arrow, Guggenheim is the public face of what's quickly turning into the respected veteran on the superhero-TV block. Now in its third season and with reviews and ratings getting better as it ages, Arrow owes much of its success to the fact that it has the right people in place...including Guggenheim, who has experience writing comics that range from X-Men and Wolverine to The Flash.

Arrow continues to set the standard for comic book shows, even as The Flash has become a ratings juggernaut for The CW and reviewers have warmed up to Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. It's hard to argue against the influence of Guggenheim, who is often the one to frame the conversation surrounding the series.

Geoff Johns

If you don't think many of the decisions being made by Warner Bros. as it relates to the DC Universe have Geoff Johns' fingerprints all over them, you're crazy.

As Chief Creative Officer of DC Entertainment, he's one of three members of senior Warner Bros. management (along with Dan DiDio and Jim Lee) who still work on monthly comics every day. That means he's got his hands dirty on both sides of the business and is key to the way DC will respond to changes in the comics and motion picture marketplace as their slate unfurls over the next half-decade.

He's also arguably the most accomplished and commercially successful writer to launch his career at DC in recent memory, and fans still celebrate his run on The Flash, making his role as producer and writer on that series kind of ideal...!

Greg Berlanti

It's sometimes easy to forget just how important Greg Berlanti has been to DC's television success.

That's not because he isn't hugely influential, but he doesn't do as many interviews as guys like Andrew Kreisberg and Marc Guggenheim, and he doesn't geek out the way they do, so he's never really become "one of us" and a big part of the fanboy conversation.

What he does have is a keen ability to spot what "works" in a property and a long history of success on TV that make people -- not just The CW, but also CBS with his upcoming Supergirl project and FOX with Riverdale -- want to bet on him.

Andrew Kreisberg

Kreisberg, I tell ya what: get Booster Gold on TV and you'll top this list every year.

Besides writing and producing The Flash and Arrow, on which he's typically known as the guy with the final say, Andrew Kreisberg is currently writing comics: The Flash Season Zero along with one of the series' writers and Green Arrow along with one of that show's writers. He, like Johns and Gunn, is "one of us," a geek who done good and is now using his influence in show business to make TV shows that he wants to see.