On Monday, news broke that DC Studios co-CEOs James Gunn and Peter Safran had been fired. The news shocked everyone, including Gunn and Safran, who reportedly learned about it that morning.
Former Marvel Studios executive Jeremy Latcham has since been named their successor, with the plan to shift the spotlight away from obscure characters like Peacemaker, Clayface, and Polka-Dot Man to instead focus on Batman, Wonder Woman, and the Justice League.
Based on what we've learned from a variety of reports, Gunn and Safran were spending too much money and not making enough back (it's possible DC Studios didn't come close to turning a profit in three years). The plan they pitched to Skydance CEO David Ellison also seemed to have fallen flat, leading him to secretly engage in talks with Latcham as their replacement.
The DCU wasn't a complete failure; most of the projects earned positive reviews and received praise from fans. However, some people are so upset that they've now launched a Change.org petition to demand that Skydance "Keep James Gunn and Peter Safran as heads and co-presidents of DC Studios."
As we write this, the petition has received 231,017 signatures. It's an impressive number, but will it catch the attention of Ellison? Well, while this is a nice gesture for Gunn and Safran, it's highly doubtful that the ruthless studio executive will ditch the newly hired Latcham and allow the DCU to continue down the route it was heading.
Here's another important caveat: based on the average cost of a movie theater ticket in 2026, 231,017 adds up to roughly $2.83 million in ticket sales. That's a drop in the ocean, especially as the vast majority of these fans will likely still pay to see whatever is released by the new DC Studios.
What this petition might do is make Ellison consider keeping Gunn around as a filmmaker beyond Man of Tomorrow. He and Latcham worked together at Marvel Studios, so there's nothing to say that Gunn can't continue telling stories with Superman, albeit on a much tighter leash. Whether he'd want that is another matter, of course.
Gunn has acknowledged the challenges that came with his time as DC Studios co-CEO by writing, "What only the closest people to me have known over the past four years is 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)."
He continued, "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... I will miss being the co-caretaker of these great characters, but I’m also incredibly relieved and excited to get back to pure filmmaking."
Will you be signing this petition? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.