“Four years ago, we set out to unite DC under one creative vision. In that time, we helped restore Superman to the heart of DC, while opening new doors and telling new stories in film and television with Peacemaker, Creature Commandos, Lanterns, and Clayface,” Gunn and Safran said in a statement. “We’re immensely proud of the team that turned that ambition into something real, including the actors, crews and executives we had the opportunity to collaborate with.”
In a lengthier and more elaborate personal statement on Instagram, Gunn spoke more candidly about being an executive, explaining how the dual roles of filmmaker and business partner took it out of him. “I will miss being the co-caretaker of these great characters,” he writes, “but I’m also incredibly relieved and excited to get back to pure filmmaking.” Gunn continues:
“My time at DC Studios has been trying, to say the least. I dislike the at-times corporate nature of the job (thanks to Peter for taking the brunt of that). I’m always a very hard worker, but as a filmmaker, I would at least get to take short breaks to unwind, and I’ve stolen even that time from both myself and my loved ones over the past four years (Jenn, I love you and I’m sorry and you don’t need to feel guilty for being the happiest of all people that I’m no longer doing this job). And the thing my ADHD hyperfocus has had the most difficulty with has been dividing my time between projects I’m incredibly passionate about and the ones I’m not so much, and all the things I have to do as a studio head.”
For Latcham’s part, despite the Marvel credits on his resume, he hasn’t worked in the superhero space in close to a decade. Since 2017, he’s produced Spider-Man: Homecoming, Bad Times At The El Royale, Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, and the Nate Bargatze comedy, The Breadwinner. His filmography doesn’t scream “this guy has a great take on The Flash,” but Gunn and Safran still have work to do on The Batman and the Superman sequel, The Man Of Tomorrow, now in the same lame-duck position as Aquaman And The Lost Kingdom.
At times, the Gunn and Safran project did as advertised, with off-beat and colorful versions of Superman, Peacemaker, and The Suicide Squad that differentiated themselves from the MCU. Other times, the project revealed its limits, namely Supergirl failing to replicate the house style and crashing at the box office as a result. After the project rebounded with Lanterns and Clayface, it seemed like they were safe from Skydance’s bloodletting. Less than a month ago, amid spending way too much time on Threads refuting fan theories, fending off trolling criticisms, and promising to cast “the DCU Batman” very soon, Gunn maintained his job confidence as Safran told the press, “that David Ellison invited us to continue.” But Skydance doesn’t appear to be interested in a unique vision for these characters, which Warner Bros. has spent the two decades since Batman Begins trying to craft through Gunn and, before him, Zack Snyder. Neither produced superhero stories that looked like Marvel, but Skydance hiring a producer with mostly Marvel credits signals an about-face.
Gunn and Safran will continue working on the DCU, just no longer as the studio heads. They’re both producers on The Batman Part II, a production that can’t seem to catch a break. Meanwhile, Man Of Tomorrow, written and directed by Gunn, is in post-production, and so is The People V. Gorilla Grodd, which, sight unseen, is a legendary television series to greenlight and mostly finish before getting fired.
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