DC hired James Gunn for his creative identity – only for it to become his curse

Skydance announced on November 9, 2026, that James Gunn and Peter Safran, the creatives behind DC Studios and the re-launch of a DC cinematic universe over the past four years, were out as studio chiefs. Marvel veteran Jeremy Latcham has been announced as their successor, and now fans are collectively bracing for yet another DC reboot in less than a decade.

Gunn posted his response the same day on Instagram. The Superman director admitted how hard he found the other half of the job. “I dislike the at-times corporate nature of the job,” he wrote. The role’s responsibilities also stole his downtime between shoots, which hurt him and his family. Hardest of all, he wrote, was splitting himself between “projects I’m incredibly passionate about and the ones I’m not so much.”

In James Gunn, DC went looking for a filmmaker whose voice and storytelling chops could save the cinematic universe after the misfires and false starts of the Snyder years. Gunn always showed a fan’s devotion to the source material, and more importantly, what the source material stood for, but that was just the problem. The industry cares first for its own machinery and second for the creative visions of any one director, even if he is as beloved as Gunn.

WB hired an artist and asked him to run a business

When Warner Bros. Discovery gave Gunn and Safran the job in October 2022, chief executive David Zaslav praised their “singular and complementary talents,” per The Hollywood Reporter. Singular is the right word to describe the director of Guardians of the Galaxy and The Suicide Squad, a man whose distinct taste you could spot from a movie’s poster alone. His stories feature quirky characters who turned into unlikely heroes, and loud soundtracks that became iconic by association. He is a master storyteller who could twist a running gag into a gut punch by the final act, and these have always been his main strengths.

Gunn knew it too. “I don’t think there’s ever been a storyteller in charge,” he told El País in 2023, outlining his credentials for DCU and explaining why he was the perfect person for the job. Zaslav even went further, telling investors that “Gunn is on a mission from God,” per Variety. Three years later, that mission from God has ended with a goodbye letter on Instagram, leaving his carefully mapped plans for the DCU in limbo.

The problem, at least according to Gunn, appears to have been the job itself. Directing and running a slate pull in opposite directions. Many compared Gunn’s charge to DC finally getting its own Kevin Feige, but Feige built Marvel by running the whole machine from the top, while Gunn is a creative with a vision. In the director’s chair, he could obsess over his script and characters and story. As a studio chief, his weren’t the only scripts that needed his notes and input. Every budget needed Gunn’s signature, and every investor call required a calm face. The filmmaker admits he couldn’t spread himself that thin, and the results actually back him up.

The DCU’s box office record is still messy despite Superman’s success

Superman, which Gunn wrote and directed, took in $618,7 million worldwide. Supergirl was a critical and commercial disaster, ending at about $126 million on a reported $170 million cost. Clayface, which opened in late October, has managed to gross $110.7 million, per Box Office Mojo.

Jeremy Latcham, meanwhile, has credits on a long list of Marvel films that includes Gunn’s first Guardians of the Galaxy. He starts his work on December 1, 2026, as president and chief creative officer. This isn’t exactly a tragedy for Gunn, who is stepping down as co-CEO of DC Studios. His Man of Tomorrow, the sequel to Superman, is still dated for July 2027, and he’s writing another DC project. If anything, his note sounds more relieved than wounded.

Gunn can now go back to caring about one thing at a time — his stories — and DC might just get what Zaslav originally wanted in 2022. We were thrilled when Gunn took over because his name behind a 10-year plan sounded infinitely more exciting than another executive promising to course correct. A studio is a business, though, and Gunn never pretended to be the man fit for that job.