Well no, just “letting them know” isn’t enough, you need in writing them saying that it’s okay to use the license if you want to make a game. DC/WB doesn’t have interest in just their name in a list of credits, they’ll probably have a licensing fee or special agreement to sign for an IP so popular.
Anything short of written consent from the company puts you at risk for having the game shut down and you getting sued unless you never plan on releasing the game. Look at any of the fan games Nintendo’s shut down lately for evidence of that.
Well technically he doesn’t need permission to make it. He needs permission to release the game. There’s been many mods created that used licensed brands (lots of Disney stuff in Skyrim mods) that didn’t get shut down, Nintendo is famous for not allowing anything though. With DC they’d probably shut it down too if he tried to release it.
Which is why I suggest just doing something original. Make a superhero in a cape with a black suit but don’t make it Batman. If the Watchmen can get away with making owlman guy (that looks exactly like Batman) TS is better off just using a different name and character type.
Go on turbosquid and buy a model that is rigged. No one is going to do ALL that work for free haha. You could obviously learn yourself to save money and learn something.