When the Paramount Skydance/Warner Bros. Discovery merger closed two months or ten years ago, time is meaningless, one question at the forefront of nerd minds was what would happen to DC Studios under the guidance of co-CEOs Peter Safran and James Gunn. At the time, two months or ten years ago, it seemed like their jobs were safe and their superhero fiefdom would remain untouched. Well! Not so fast! David Ellison strikes again, and Safran & Gunn are out at DC. Jeremy Latcham, former Marvel producer, is now running DC Studios.

This makes a certain amount of sense. After any big merger like this—the new entity is just called “Skydance Corporation”, by the way, for maximum bad guy vibes—it is not unusual to see the chiefs of the previous regime tossed out. In a much bigger blow to the creative operations of the former Warner Bros. Pictures Group, Michael De Luca and Pam Abdy were fired from co-running that studio, which they ran from 2023-2026, ushering original films such as Sinners and Weapons, the box office mega-hit A Minecraft Movie, and the Oscar trophy mine One Battle After Another. True, 2026 wasn’t a great box office year for the old Warner Bros., but overall, De Luca and Abdy were doing a great job of slating diverse, appealing films that mostly did well and often won awards.

Safran and Gunn, on the other, had a much rockier hit rate. Superman is their only hit. Supergirl was a major misfire, turning off critics and audiences alike; Lanterns is okay but didn’t stick the landing and divided audiences; Peacemaker is actually really good but each season was a case of diminishing returns in terms of audience; and while Clayface has done well against its sub-$50 million budget, that is also a credit to Matt Reeves and his Bat-verse. Safran & Gunn can’t claim total victory on that one. Superman is their only undeniable hit. So, while Safran & Gunn might have seemed safe when the merger closed, it isn’t that surprising they’re being replaced, not only because Ellison will want his own lieutenants in charge, but because Safran & Gunn weren’t exactly knocking it out of the park.

For his part, James Gunn is expressing relief at ending his tenure as a studio executive:

To an extent I do believe that he found balancing corporate interests with his creative interests to be difficult, any creative would in that position, which is why (successful) filmmakers almost never jump to the executive track. But I also think if they didn’t fire him, he wouldn’t resign, you know?

It will be interesting to see what happens with Man of Tomorrow next year, because the real friction about this leadership change, to me, is less about James Gunn and more about Jeremy Latcham. Just a few months ago, Latcham was on CBN News—that’s Christian Broadcast News, founded by televangelist Pat Robertson, a noted bigot and homophobe—talking about making superhero movies that would appeal to his Christian grandmother. Okay, fine, you want to make movies so harmless a Christian grandma wouldn’t object, that certainly succeeded at Marvel, which is known for mostly anodyne mainstream entertainment.

What is pinging my radar isn’t that Jeremy Latcham is a Christian, though I do have questions about giving time to anything to do with Pat Robertson’s hateful legacy. It’s more that James Gunn’s Superman is EXPLICITLY about Superman intervening in a foreign conflict to stop a massacre of civilians, one might say Superman stopped a genocide. The morality of Superman is very simple: genocide bad, stopping genocide good. Everyone noticed it in 2025, it was a major talking point around the film. Under David Ellison, though, Paramount has bent rightward, and there have been rumors that the studio, which is now two studios, won’t work with celebrities who are, in their words, “overtly antisemitic” and “xenophobic”, though in other people’s words it would be “pro-Palestine”.

This is getting into deep water, and it’s coming right on the heels of a moment when many of us felt the first rays of hope in a decade in America, like we might actually be moving away from something ugly and hateful and toward something more broadly accepting and optimistic. But there really is no denying that the Ellisons are Trump supporters, Ellison daddy Larry is a close “friend” (quotes because I don’t believe Trump has real friends, just useful tools) of Trump’s, and Larry underwrote David’s purchase of Warner Bros. Discovery.

Sacking Safran & Gunn because they weren’t a smashing success at DC Studios is valid, but I just don’t think this is entirely about that. I think it’s at least a little bit about the fact that James Gunn’s politics, which he infuses into his superhero movies—which have been massively successful to the tune of many billions of dollars—don’t align with the Ellison brand, which is now the Skydance-formerly-Warner-Bros. brand. (Yes, James Gunn was once a 40-year-old sh-thead edgelord, but the whole reason his tweets got dragged up is because he eventually grew up and became a vocally progressive creative and the alt-right was looking for a target to take down after Roseanne Barr’s career exploded because of bigotry.)

What we’re left with is Man of Tomorrow, which is due next summer. According to Matt Belloni’s Puck News, it will be the last James Gunn-led Superman movie. Jeremy Latcham and the new DC Studios will “dismantle” Gunn’s vision, except for what has already been filmed, which is Man of Tomorrow; a Superman spin-off series starring Skylar Gisondo called The People v. Gorilla Grodd; an animated film centered on two Robins, Dick Grayson and Jason Todd; and The Batman: Part II. Given that Matt Reeves’ Bat-verse was only ever half-in with Gunn’s take on DC, I do wonder where all this leaves Reeves and his denizens of Gotham.

I also wonder where this leaves Aaron Pierre, who only just ascended to playing John Stewart/Green Lantern. That will be a tragic waste of casting if they dump Aaron Pierre, and everyone is going to ponder some very obvious motivations if they do. What is clear right now is that with Jeremy Latcham in charge, I think we’re in for much blander superhero cinema from DC, and less of the freaks and geeks we’ve been getting from James Gunn. Truly a win for no one.

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Photo credits: Lucy North/PA Images/INSTARimages

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