When DC Studios was formed at the end of 2022, Warner Bros. already had Shazam! Fury of the Gods, The Flash, Blue Beetle, and Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom in the pipeline.
Those movies couldn't simply be scrapped, even with James Gunn and Peter Safran planning to reboot the DCEU as the DCU. So, they were released to largely negative reviews and performed poorly at the box office, and fans, knowing they didn't matter, contributed to the lack of interest.
The DCU reboot proved not to be much of a reboot, after all. That was down to Gunn, who decided to move forward with Peacemaker Season 2 and make the DCEU series canon to his new world. Last month, he did the same with his 2021 movie, The Suicide Squad.
Gunn had big plans for the DCU, but decided against sharing them with fans or Skydance's David Ellison. However, it's since been revealed that he'd started writing Superman 3 and intended to build to a Justice League movie, potentially as soon as 2029 or 2031.
While the prevailing belief was that new DC Studios CEO Jeremy Latcham might continue the DCU as it stands, Puck has heard otherwise.
"I'm told plans are already afoot to dismantle much of what Gunn and Safran had plotted out beyond next summer's Gunn-directed Man of Tomorrow, the currently shooting The Batman: Part II, and an in-the-works HBO series," Matthew Belloni reveals. "So DC goes back into reboot mode."
It's unclear whether this means David Corenswet's time as Superman is nearing its end, but it now seems likely Man of Tomorrow and The People vs. Gorilla Grodd will be the end of the line for the DCU.
While Latcham is best known for his work in the MCU, it's possible that he won't head down the route of trying to emulate Marvel Studios' success with a slate of projects set in the same world. Instead, he may go back to standalone DC movies like The Dark Knight and, before it was followed by a sequel, Man of Steel.
There's something to be said for just developing DC movies without any crossovers or world-building, but for fans who want to see an Avengers-style crossover event for the likes of Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman, this news will be disappointing.
When Gunn took over DC Studios, he dropped Henry Cavill from The Flash. If another reboot is coming, could Adria Arjona's Wonder Woman now be cut from Man of Tomorrow, or will Latcham choose to keep her and select actors for the next era of the DCU? These are the questions that will have to be addressed in the coming months.