James Gunn and Peter Safran Are Out at DC Studios, but the Real Story Is the Marvel Lesson Behind It

James Gunn and Peter Safran were appointed in 2022 by then-Warner Bros. Discovery chief David Zaslav with a mandate to build a genuine rival to Marvel. For a while, the plan looked like it was working, with a single continuity, a unified tone and a fresh slate of heroes.

Then the ground shifted under the whole studio. Skydance’s nearly $111 billion absorption of Warner Bros. Pictures reshaped the corporate structure above DC, and the duo initially survived the merger, which was finalized as ‘Clayface’ reached theaters.

That reprieve did not last long. Variety reports the co-CEOs were pushed out, and the publication’s social post says they were “dismissed” after their decade-long plans “imploded.” According to Variety’s sources, the thinking was that Gunn and Safran spent big and lost too much on projects that failed to resonate, while leaning on lesser-known characters like Supergirl and Clayface instead of marquee names.

Variety also shared a line from one studio insider that reads like a verdict on the whole superhero business. “The industry has taken away the wrong lessons from Marvel’s success. Higher budgets don’t equal quality storytelling,” the insider said. It is a pointed take, and it frames the exit as a lesson about spending rather than just a personnel change.

The official language was much gentler. Skydance Motion Picture Group announced Monday that the pair were stepping down after four years leading DC Studios. The change takes effect Dec. 1, with Marvel veteran Jeremy Latcham named president and chief creative officer.

The box office numbers help explain why the “lost money” angle has gained traction. ‘Superman’ grossed $618.7 million worldwide, a respectable result that still fell short of the biggest superhero hits, while ‘Supergirl’ took $126 million against a $170 million budget. ‘Clayface,’ an R-rated body-horror hybrid, has grossed $109 million on a $44 million budget, a modest win that arrived too late to change the verdict.

The television side of the ledger looks stronger. ‘Peacemaker’ and ‘Lanterns’ gave HBO Max two connected series, and ‘Creature Commandos’ opened the new continuity in December 2024. In their joint statement, Gunn and Safran pointed to that work, saying they helped restore ‘Superman’ to the heart of DC while telling new stories with ‘Peacemaker,’ ‘Creature Commandos,’ ‘Lanterns’ and ‘Clayface.’

Gunn also sounded less like a man who had been shown the door and more like one who was ready to leave. He confirmed the exit in a statement shared to his Instagram on Monday. He said the corporate side of the job had been trying, and that he was relieved to return to pure filmmaking.

He is not walking away from the DC characters just yet. ‘Superman: Man of Tomorrow,’ written and directed by Gunn and starring David Corenswet and Nicholas Hoult, arrives next summer and is in postproduction now. Gunn also said he is writing another DC project.

That leaves Latcham with a lot to sort through. He joined Marvel Studios in 2004, worked with Gunn on ‘Guardians of the Galaxy,’ and reports to Skydance Motion Picture Group co-chairs Dana Goldberg and Josh Greenstein. Projects including ‘Swamp Thing,’ a ‘Brave and the Bold’ Batman film and a ‘Wonder Woman’ feature were in development with no greenlights attached.

The bigger question is whether the Marvel comparison that haunted this regime from day one will now steer the next one. If the insider is right, the lesson Hollywood keeps drawing from the Marvel era may be the wrong one, and Latcham, a Marvel alum, has the chance to prove it.