Speculation Mounts That James Gunn Could Leave DC Studios In The Wake Of WBD/Paramount Deal

Could James Gunn step away as DC Studios co-CEO in the wake of the announcement that Paramount Skydance will soon take ownership of Warner Bros. Discovery?

Gunn has previously made it clear that his contract would remain secure regardless of the outcome (this was back when Netflix seemed likely to come out on top), and Paramount's David Ellison has assured that everything will continue to operate as normal when it comes to Warner Bros.' theatrical output.

This doesn't mean that Gunn will still want to be associated with the studio under the Paramount banner, however.

Speculation is mounting that Gunn could decide to step down from his current position once he has completed work on Man of Tomorrow.

Here's what John Campea had to say on his YouTube show.

“I am 100% sure that before the end of the year, James Gunn is going to go to David Zaslav and say, ‘It’s been nice, but there’s no way I’m working for those guys. So, can you please let me out of my contract?’ And I think David Zaslav will let him out of his contract."

“I think he’s going to end up back at Marvel, and he will become Kevin Feige’s heir apparent to take over Marvel after Kevin Feige finally goes,” he added. “That’s what I think is going to happen. That’s the road map that I see happening here.”

Campea says he has no inside information, and this is simply how he sees the situation playing out.

“I just can’t imagine a scenario that James Gunn – because we all know how James Gunn feels about Donald Trump – whether you think he’s right to feel that way or whether you think he’s wrong to feel that way, we all know how James Gunn feels about Donald Trump, and Ellison’s are Donald Trump’s little f**k toys,” Campea went on. “So I just don’t see any reality in which James Gunn stays. He’s gonna quit.”

Hollywood After Dark Podcast host Matt Jarbo believes the same.

One thing you have to remember about the way Hollywood operates, is that when there's a new owner of a property, they want to do it with their team, rather than relying on other people.

When have you ever heard of a merger happening where they kept people on board because they…

— Matt Jarbo (@mjarbo) March 1, 2026

While there's always a chance Gunn does call it a day, we don't see it happening anytime soon. We can't imagine he's overjoyed about the merger, but he has invested way too much in the development of the DCU to just walk away two movies in.

What do you think? Be sure to drop us a comment down below.