James Gunn Reportedly Had Big Plans for Multiple Superman Movies and a Potential Justice League Franchise Before DC Studios Exit

James Gunn reportedly had big plans for Superman movies that may have led to the creation of a Justice League franchise, before his shock exit from DC Studios.

Yesterday, Skydance confirmed the departure of DC Studios co-CEOs Gunn and Peter Safran in a reshuffle that sees former Marvel Studios exec Jeremy Latcham take direct control over DC. The change casts doubt on the future of the DC Universe Gunn was only two years into rebooting, with question marks hanging over the planned Batman movie, The Brave and the Bold.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the pair’s exit was a combination of studio politics (Gunn and Safran had complete control over DC Studios, but Skydance boss David Ellison allegedly had other ideas) the DCU’s box office struggles, and an apparent feeling that Latcham will deliver movies “more in line with Ellison’s broader tastes.”

What happens to the DCU? THR claimed Gunn had big plans for Superman in particular. With Superman follow-up Man of Tomorrow due out next summer, the writer and director allegedly was in the middle of writing a third Superman movie, and planned to release a new Superman movie every two years before potentially evolving Superman into a Justice League franchise.

Gunn has talked openly about the potential for a superhero teamup movie in his DCU, and teased the overarching villain the likes of Superman, Supergirl, Wonder Woman, and Batman would go up against. Only last month, Gunn said DC Studios was finally getting ready to cast the DCU's Batman. Are those plans now torn up?

Yesterday, Gunn shared a letter with fans that suggested he was happy to be free from the corporate politics that came with being co-CEO of DC Studios, and was looking forward to getting back to filmmaking only. Gunn added he and Safran have “just been engaged on another DC project which I'm writing, and we'll see where it goes after that. And, of course, the characters we set up will live on.”

THR said Skydance was thinking about the box office returns of the DCU so far when making its decision. While everyone knows that this summer’s Supergirl was a disaster, bringing in just $126.4 million worldwide during its theatrical run, Skydance apparently felt Superman’s $618 million box office haul wasn’t enough for pop culture impact status. What sort of figure would have been good enough? $800 million? $1 billion? Clayface, meanwhile, has brought in $109 million so far, which is seen as a success given the body horror movie was relatively cheap to produce. But is Skydance looking for more mainstream appeal from DC films?

Predictably, fans of Zack Snyder’s DCEU have called for the Snyderverse to return, reinstating, for example, Henry Cavill as Superman and continuing where Snyder’s Justice League left off. There is no indication that Skydance will do so, but that hasn’t stopped fans comparing the box office returns of four years of the Snyderverse and four years of Gunn’s DCU.

We’ve got plenty more analysis of Gunn’s exit from DC Studios, including James Gunn and Peter Safran May Be Out, But Their DCU Needs to Continue, and The DCU and James Gunn's Batman Was Dead Before It Was Even Born.