James Gunn and Peter Safran are stepping down as co-chairmen and co-chief executives of DC Studios after four years in charge, in the biggest leadership shake-up at the superhero studio since it was created, with former Marvel Studios executive Jeremy Latcham named as their successor.
Skydance announced the change on Sunday, 9 November. Gunn and Safran will leave their executive roles on 1 December, when Latcham takes over as president and chief creative officer, overseeing DC Studios' film, television and animation productions, including creative development, production, talent and long-term strategy.
The announcement came as a surprise. Gunn and Safran had been appointed in 2022 to rebuild DC's superhero franchise into a connected cinematic universe capable of rivalling Marvel, and they had been included in Skydance's leadership plans when Paramount Skydance completed its $111 billion acquisition of Warner Bros Discovery in October, bringing DC Studios under new ownership. Their departure, only a month later, was not widely expected.
Latcham is a veteran of the rival studio. As a producer at Marvel Studios, he worked on foundational films of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, including Iron Man and The Avengers, and he arrives with a reputation as one of the architects of the modern superhero blockbuster. He will report to Dana Goldberg and Josh Greenstein, the co-chairs of the Skydance Motion Picture Group.
Gunn and Safran are not leaving DC altogether. The pair will return to full-time creative work, and they remain attached to the projects they were developing. Gunn is writing and directing Man of Tomorrow, the Superman sequel scheduled for release on 9 July 2027, and he has confirmed that he and Safran are developing another DC project that he is writing.
The change of guard arrives at a delicate moment for the studio. Gunn's Superman, released in 2025, relaunched the DC Universe on screen, and the slate now includes The Batman Part II, starring Robert Pattinson and due in 2028, the Superman spin-off series The People v. Gorilla Grodd, and a second season of the animated series Creature Commandos. Latcham will decide which parts of that wider universe to preserve, change or approve, and no comprehensive plan for his tenure has yet been announced.
For fans, the news has raised immediate questions about the direction of the DC Universe. Gunn had become the public face of the franchise, announcing casting and story decisions directly to audiences, and his creative vision shaped the connected universe from its first chapter. Latcham's appointment suggests Skydance wants a steadier, more traditional studio hand on the franchise, but it also risks unsettling a slate that was only just finding its footing.
The reporting around the departure has itself been confused, with some outlets initially describing the pair as having been pushed out before the framing settled on a mutual stepping down. What is established is that the handover is an announced transition, not one that has already taken effect, and that both men retain work on named productions. Whether they chose to leave or were nudged out has not been settled publicly.
For Skydance, the move is the first major creative decision of its ownership of Warner Bros Discovery, and it will be judged on what follows. The studio paid $111 billion for the company, and DC Studios, with Superman and Batman among cinema's most recognisable characters, is one of its most valuable assets. Latcham's record at Marvel gives him credibility, but he inherits a franchise whose recent history has been defined by reboots and false starts.
What happens next will become clear in the coming months, as Latcham sets out his plans for the slate and as Man of Tomorrow moves through post-production. For now, the era of Gunn and Safran as the bosses of DC is ending after four years, and a Marvel veteran is about to take charge of the studio they rebuilt.
