James Gunn’s exit makes clear: DC’s biggest problem was never him

The handoff is coming fast. After four years running DC Studios, James Gunn and Peter Safran are stepping away from day-to-day leadership following Skydance ’s acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery in October. Former Marvel executive Jeremy Latcham will take over creative control on December 1. The company line is “continuity,” but several in-development titles are now in a holding pattern while the new boss gets his bearings.

Gunn isn’t disappearing from DC entirely. He’s still creatively involved with the sequel to his Superman reboot—Man of Tomorrow—even as he and Safran return to filmmaking. That project, along with the broader “Gods and Monsters” roadmap Gunn unveiled in January 2023 (promising new takes on Superman, Batman , Supergirl , Swamp Thing and more), now passes to Latcham to steer.

Jeremy Latcham takes charge of DC Studios on December 1.

The scorecard

Gunn and Safran’s run showed signs of creative momentum but mixed commercial results—exactly the kind of ledger a new chief has to study on day one. Here’s where the biggest recent titles landed:

• Superman — about $619 million worldwide on a reported $225 million budget; 83% critics and 90% verified audience scores on Rotten Tomatoes.
• Supergirl — roughly $126 million worldwide against a reported $170 million budget.
• Clayface — approximately $110 million worldwide.
• The Batman — around $773 million worldwide (a separate, director- driven lane outside the DCU plan).
• Joker — crossed $1 billion worldwide (another standalone success, even as its sequel carried bigger risks).

The picture that emerges: audiences responded to a hopeful, classic-hero approach in Gunn’s Superman, but launching pricier films around lesser-known characters didn’t translate into the same turnout. At the same time, distinctive one-offs like The Batman and Joker proved there’s still big interest in focused, filmmaker-led stories that don’t exist mainly to set up a future crossover.

Stability vs. resets

DC’s challenge isn’t just which heroes to spotlight—it ’s keeping the steering wheel steady. The brand has whiplashed through regimes since the turbulent end of the Zack Snyder-era DCEU, cycling from the Geoff Johns/Jon Berg and Walter Hamada years to the Gunn/Safran rebuild. Every swap asks viewers to buy into a fresh long-term plan before the last one fully plays out.

This is where Latcham comes in. A Marvel veteran who helped launch The Avengers era, he inherits both an in-progress DCU blueprint and moviegoers who have grown more selective about superhero fare. The task now is less about unveiling another elaborate slate and more about delivering consistent, satisfying movies that earn return trips—without promising a destination that keeps moving.

For fans wondering about the near-term, the studio has stressed continuity, but didn’t spell out the fate of every announced title in the “Gods and Monsters” lineup. One thing that is set: Gunn remains creatively attached to Man of Tomorrow, which already has a date.

Man of Tomorrow is currently scheduled to hit theaters in July 2027 .