What Really Happened with James Gunn & Jeremy Latcham at DC Studios

Drama at DC Studios. James Gunn and. Peter Saffron are out. Jeremy Latcham is. in. So, what is the future of DC on. film? And who is this Jeremy Barmy guy? Welcome back to New Rockstars. I'm Eric. Voss. And in news that shocked the nerd. world this week, Skyance announced that. James Gunn and Peter Saffron are. stepping down from their positions as. co-CEOs of DC Studios effective December. 1st. And they will be replaced by Jeremy. Latcham, a former Marvel Studios. executive from the early years up. through 2017. This announcement came as.

a complete surprise when the press. release went out to news outlets on. Monday morning with prepared statements. from the Sky Dance CEO and chairman. David Ellison and from James Gunn. himself. All sounding magnanimous and. professional when as recently as two. weeks ago James Gunn appeared on a DC. Studios podcast talking about his future. plans for the DCU and the casting of his. version of Batman. So, I reacted to this. news in real time on yesterday's live. stream, and I did my best to answer your. early questions. But now that we have. more information about what really. happened here, I have to go further and. break down specifically what really.

happened and what it really means for. the future of the DCU and who Jeremy. Latcham really is and what is his plan. Before we get into it, thank you for. trusting New Rockstars to break the. stuff down for you. And if you like us. and want us to continue doing what we. do, a great way to support New Rockstars. as we try to cover these kinds of. stories is to subscribe and hit that. join button to join our channel as a. member. Okay. On Monday, November 9th, it was announced that James Gunn and. Peter Saffron would be stepping down as. co-CEOs of DC Studios effective December. 1st. In statements to the press and. James Gun's personal post on his social.

media, the following has been. communicated that James Gun and Peter. Saffron will still release the Superman. sequel Man of Tomorrow on July 7th, 2027. In that film, David Kornsweet. Superman will team up with Nicholas. Holtz Lex Luthther against Brainiac and. Aaron Pierce, John Stewart, Green. Lantern, Audrea Arjona's Wonder Woman, and Millie Alco Supergirl are all. expected to appear. James Gunn has begun. writing at least one more DC screenplay, he said that will come out at some point. after that. Gun and Saffron will remain. attached as producers to The Batman part. two starring Robert Patson coming. February 2028. That movie was delayed by.

a few months and director Matt Reeves. had to step back for personal reasons, but Steven Soderberg stepped in to help. finish the movie and it's expected to. release on time. Gun and Saffron are. still going to be in the creative mix at. DC Studios under Sky Dance, but will. also be free to work on any other. projects they wish, including for James. Gunn potentially returning to Marvel. Studios to make even more Guardians of. the Galaxy related projects. Jeremy. Latcham will be stepping in to replace. them at DC Studios. Latchin was a. longtime Marvel Studios executive with. producing credits on many of the early. Iron Man and Avengers movies, as well as.

the first Guardians of the Galaxy film. and Spider-Man Homecoming, and then in. 2017 left Marvel for his own producing. venture behind titles like 2018's Bad. Times at the L Royale and 2023's. Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among. Thieves. More on him in a bit. In James. Gun statement, he specifically shouted. out the highs of his four-year tenure at. DC Studios, including Superman, Clayface, Peacemaker, and Man of. Tomorrow, which he called the best. filmmaking experience of his life. He. didn't mention Supergirl, but for that. matter, he also didn't mention lanterns. either. I just think he wasn't as. involved in those. Gun also admitted.

that he didn't like the sometimes. corporate nature of his job as Studio. Head, and Gun said that all the. characters that they created in their. time at DC Studios will live on. HBO. series The People versus Gorilla Grod is. still set to release on HBO in 2027. This spin-off will feature Skyler. Gazando coming back as Jimmy Olsen with. the flash villain Gorilla Grod, played. by Jimmy Tatro, and various other cameos. by DCU characters. All of this comes in. the wake of Skyance completing. acquisition of Warner Brothers. Discovery, which includes DC Studios. And with that has come lots of other.

high-profile departures from both sides. of this merger. Last year, when Warner. Brothers announced it was up for sale, and Netflix and Paramount Skyance. engaged in a bidding war over it, many. of us wondered what that would mean for. James Gun and Peter Saffron in the DCU. franchise that they were building. Our. assumption initially is that they would. be okay, as Gun and Saffron are. considered huge talent and prized assets. in this acquisition. So much so that. when federal regulations allowed. Skyance's acquisition to move forward, Sky Dance CEO David Ellison's. announcement video and a company press. release in early October included James. Gunn and Peter Saffron and their titles. as part of the new Sky Dance Dance Dance.

Dance Dance Dance Dance Dance Dance. Dance Studio Leadership and James Gun. even reposted the video in support. In. the weeks since then, James Gunn. appeared on this DC Studios podcast. talking about his 2021 movie The Suicide. Squad and its confusing canonicity to. the DCU, but he talked about his plans. for the DCU in the present and future. tense. It was clear that when he. recorded that he planned to continue. building this franchise, which included. his plans for the DCU Batman, which he. still planned at that point to be a. separate Batman from the Robert Patson. Batman in the Matt Reeves films and in. the Penguin series. Originally, James.

Gun mentioned that his DCU Batman would. be a Brave and the Bold story, teaming. up Batman with a son, Damen Wayne, a son. that he conceived with Talia Algul as. the Robin of the story. And in the. Lantern series, the character share of. Carrie Kane came from the DCU Gotham. City, the Gotham City that we just saw. in Clayface, where in Lanterns there was. an implied bat family that could have. included a Barbara Gordon and a Kate. Kane. And here's what James Gun said. recently on that podcast about his plans. for a Batman. This podcast was posted as. recently as October 29th. >> It won't be too long before we're.

casting uh, you know, Batman, who isn't. cast yet, by the way, by all the people. thinking he's going to show up in this. or that. It's all Um, but when. we do cast the DCU Batman, which isn't. very far away, you know, I don't want. to, you know, if I gave somebody a day. role in Suicide Squad that is going to. be the best Batman, I'm not going to. rule him out from that. I want to get. everybody into account. You know, one of. the things that's excites me about. casting Batman is being able to, you. know, pick a Batman who's actually the. best actor for that role. >> Weird, right? Well, others noticed that.

in that same podcast, Gun talked about. initially taking the job as head of DC. Studios and joking that he regretted it. >> People came to me and asked me if I. wanted to um with my partner Peter. Saffron take over uh DC Studios and in. fact create a new studio and uh and I. said yes to that question and I and I. regret it profoundly. [laughter]. >> So why did this happen now? Well, Gunn. has also spoken publicly about his and. Peter Saffron's roles as heads of DC. Studios put them in a unique position at.

Warner Brothers where they did not. report to the people who used to run. Warner Brothers motion picture group, Mike Duca and Pam Abdi. Gun and Saffron. instead reported directly to their boss, Warner Brothers Discovery CEO David. Zazloth. Gun spoke how he preferred him. and Saffron operating with their own. autonomy at DC Studios and only really. having one boss to report to, even if. they might not have liked that boss all. that much. But it appears that when. David Zassoff sold Warner Brothers to. Sky Dance, Duca and Abdi were ousted and. replaced with David Ellison's heads of. Paramount Studios, Dana Goldberg and.

Josh Greenstein. Goldberg and Greenstein. now run the studio at Sky Dance. And. it's possible that Gun and Saffron would. have now had to report to them in. addition to their boss, David Ellison. And maybe just something about that. didn't sit well. We don't know for sure, but since my live stream yesterday, Ben. Fritz, the entertainment reporter at the. Wall Street Journal, who's really one of. the most knowledgeable reporters on. these types of stories, reported that. James Gunn and Peter Saffron learned. that they were out in just the last few. days, and that Sky Dance must have been. talking to Jeremy Latcham for a while. Fritz then tweeted that Gunn and Saffron. were indeed ousted, but they likely.

would not have stayed with the new. structure where DC Studios reports to. Goldberg and Greenstein. Fritz also said. that Gun and Saffron are still planning. to debut Wonder Woman in Man of Tomorrow. and that they had hoped to introduce the. DCU Batman in the Brave and the Bold. Initially, he said 2028 before. correcting to 2029 and aiming for gun. directed Superman sequels that he said. low-key evolved into Justice League in. 2029 and 2031, but now not so sure. Assuming Fritz's reporting is accurate, the quick turnaround on this decision. would explain why Gun in the October.

29th podcast still assumed at that point. that he would be the one casting the new. DCU Batman sometime soon. In the past 24. hours, some great reporting from the. Hollywood Reporters Boris Kitt and Aaron. Couch, the raps Umbber Gonzalez and. Jeremy Fster, and the Puck's what I'm. hearing newsletter has given us way more. context on the exact timeline and the. decision-making here. The Hollywood. Reporter cited an insider claiming this. executive shuffle was in the works since. early fall, starting with Josh. Greenstein reaching out to Jeremy. Latcham. Again, this would be months. ago. These two worked together back 20.

years ago in the late as when Jeremy. Latcham was a young exec at Marvel. Studios and Josh Greenstein was in the. marketing department at Paramount, which. if you remember actually released Iron. Man 1 and Iron Man 2. They worked. together again when Greenstein was at. Sony while Marvel was releasing. Spider-Man Homecoming, the last Marvel. movie that Jeremy Latchin worked on. The. Hollywood Reporter affirmed the issues. of Gun and Saffron now having to report. to Greenstein and Goldberg and added. that reportedly Gun and Saffron were not. forthcoming or were slow in sharing. plans, slate details, and footage with. their incoming bosses. And I'm going to.

jump in here to say it sounds like this. source is saying Gun and Saffron got. ousted in part for taking 3 weeks to. respond to an email. But sometimes when. you get a new boss, you don't exactly. want to respond to their email right. away, especially if you feel like they. shouldn't be your boss. And then the. Hollywood Reporter stated that James Gun. and Peter Saffron were fired on Friday, November 6th, when Skyance chiefs David. Ellison and Enon Crease themselves. personally arrived at Gun and Saffron's. offices on the Warner Brothers lot in. Burbank. Reportedly, Gun and Saffron. were told that despite previous. assurances that they would be part of. the new Sky Dance mega studio, there was.

a change of plans. Literally, while this. was happening, I was less than a mile. away here at the New Rockstars offices. ironically hosting a 90-minute live. stream ranking 100 actors who James Gunn. would be considering to play Batman in. his DCU, completely unaware that right. down the street a high-profile decision. was being made to dismantle whatever. those plans were. The rap, meanwhile, cited a producer who discussed Gun and. Saffron's whole approach to adapting DC. source material, saying, quote, "James. seemed to be focused on the corniness of. the 1950s DC. He had to adjust from the. abject failure of the Zack Snider era,

but I don't think people wanted. Cornball." Now, it wasn't clear if this. anonymous producer was saying audiences. didn't want Cornball or the new studio. leadership didn't want Cornball. I also. think it's debatable whether 2025. Superman truly amounts to cornball. It. sounds like this producer just didn't. really prefer James Gun sense of humor. Some believe that the second weekend box. office of Clayface was part of the. reason Gun and Saffron got ousted. I. highly doubt that was the case. Clayface. had a $40 million budget and has already. crossed $und00 million in the global box. office, making it a moderate success.

The Sky Dance leadership would have seen. early box office tracking in early. October and they would have known going. into these weeks how well Clayface was. going to do. And if anything, the deal. that Skyance had to sign to settle the. lawsuit from the various state attorneys. general requires that Skyance will have. to release 30 movies theatrically per. year, which will undoubtedly have to. include midsized movies like Clayface. When Lantern's first season ended in. early October, Peter Saffron said that. the decision on whether to announce a. second season would have to be made by. the end of the year. So maybe he was. being given some uncertainty as to his.

future prospects at the studio at that. point. I know from my own sources that a. writer room for season 2 was already. being put together, but that doesn't. mean the studio officially green lit it. Under the new Skyance merger, Casey. Blys, head of HBO, will oversee all of. direct to consumer content at the. studio, meaning everything at Paramount. Plus will now fold under him. So. anything Casey Bl liked at HBO, including Lanterns, could still move. forward theoretically. It's less certain. what this means for animated titles like. Creature Commando season 2. James Gunn.

has already written those scripts and. various casting reports have been coming. out, but Creature Commandos came out. under the Max division of HBO, something. that's less part of Casey Boy's vision. for the HBO brand. Meanwhile, the. Dynamic Duo animated film is still. scheduled to release in September 2028. James Gun had been reading scripts for a. Mr. Miracle series. It's not clear. what's really going to happen with that. Meanwhile, who is Jeremy Latcham? While. some press reports were describing him. as Kevin Feigi's right-hand man in the. early years at Marvel Studios, I. encourage you to read the book MCU: The. Reign of Marvel Studios by my good.

friend Joanna Robinson and Dave Gonzalez. and Gavin Edwards. Specifically, chapter. 4, Plausibility, details the early years. of the studio when Jeremy Latcham was. the assistant of David Meiselle, who. became the president and COO of Marvel. Studios back in January of 2004. But. don't let his start as an assistant make. it seem like he wasn't important, because Latcham really had a very. similar start as Kevin Feige did. Kevin. Feige was an assistant to an executive, Lauren Scheler Donner, who then became a. junior producer on X-Men. That's exactly. the path that Kevin Feige charted for. both Jeremy Latcham and his own. assistant, Steven Brousard. Latcham was.

an assistant who transitioned into a. junior producer on movies like Iron Man, who then became the creative executive. who was assigned to titles like Iron Man. 2, while Steven Brousard was handling. Captain America: The First Avenger. So, he wasn't Kevin Feigi's right-hand man. He was like one of three or four of. Kevin Feigi's right-hand men. And this. role working as a producer within Kevin. Feige's inner circle grew for Jeremy. Latcham and he found himself in a. position where Jeremy Latcham and Kevin. Feige both had to go to Marvel corporate. and defend James Gun's decision to write. his mixtape soundtrack into a script for. Guardians of the Galaxy. Feige and.

Latcham won that fight for Gun. And when. you watch any of these guys in. interviews, they're all kind of a bunch. of dorks of a certain age who just love. comic books and hanging around in their. Santa Monica office in the mid200s. This. video is sponsored by Raycon. Black. Friday is almost here. Figuring out. where to score the best deal on. electronics can normally take up a. decent chunk of November, but this year. I can save you the trouble. Raycon is. having a massive Black Friday sale and. you can get up to 50% off sitewide. My. recommendation this year is Raycon's. Everyday Clip Earbuds. I've been using.

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the sound quality is just as good as the. way more expensive brands. And if you. don't like them, they have a 30-day. guarantee. Click the link in the. description box or go to. buyracon.com/newrostars. clip to get up to 50% off sitewide. during Raycon's Black Friday sales. Thanks to Raycon for sponsoring this. video. Now, you may have seen this quote. going around on social media from an. interview that Jeremy Latcham did in. July 2026 with CBN News. CBN News being. a pro-Christian news service in a video. titled Hollywood producer behind massive. Marvel hits loves Jesus. Like if you.

read the the history of Marvel book or. whatever, there's like this bit about my. grandparents in there because when we. were making the first Marvel movies, I'd. always be like, I don't know if my. grandma would like that, you know? And. that became like a guiding light of like. as we were developing the movies, like I. just had this like sense of like, I. don't know if my grandma would like. that. And that became the standin for. like is this going to work for like. regular people that are outside of the. bubble of Hollywood? Like what does this. say for like a regular family? And I.

remember my grandmother called me when. Iron Man 1 came out and she said, you. know, our pastor on Sunday preached. about the movie and he doesn't even know. that you worked on it. Like he just like. the story of redemption like wo its way. into his sermon and like Iron Man was. like the proxy for redemption that he. like used as like you know trying to. make yourself a better person. And I was. like, "Oh man." Like all the time that. Favver would like joke and be like, "Oh, Jeremy's mimon peep wouldn't like this.". Like it it ended up the movie connected. and like was for Miman Peipa at the end.

of the day. And it's not even what I. call my grandparents. That just became. like the joke of like Jeremy's mima and. peep. I was like, "No, it's it's Granny. and Peppa." And and everyone was just. like, "Ah, you're Mimon Peep wouldn't. like this. We got to take we got to cut. that joke or cut that joke or whatever. because Jeremy's mimona wouldn't. wouldn't like it." Um, and that was like. kind of a a guiding light for like how. we made stuff in those early days of. Marvel was like wanted to connect and. and feel redemptive and feel hopeful and. feel like it had something to say that. was meaningful. You know, >> the Hollywood Reporter did further.

reporting into Jeremy Latcham's time. after he left Marvel in 2017. Latcham. left California and moved to Texas. And. outside of Bad Times of the L Royale and. Dungeons and Dragons, Latcham's. independent producing venture has. focused on inspirational movies like. Flyer, the Wrights Brothers film, which. was made with the faith-based Texas. production company, The Wonder Project, that also made films like Young. Washington with Angel Studios. Also with. the Wonder Project, Jeremy Latcham. helped make House of David, the 2015. prime video series about the Old. Testament figure. Projects like these.

are partly why Jeremy Latcham has. appeared on networks like CBN and. podcasts like Bible Bros, talking about. his Christian faith and how it affects. his decision-making as a film producer. It's not that uncommon for Hollywood. figures to be faith-minded, even. vocally. So, look no further than James. Gunn's recurring collaborator of Chris. Pratt, who has spoken a lot about his. faith and made social posts promoting. Young Washington. For Latcham, the. Hollywood Reporter said, "Sources. affectionately describe Latcham as a. down-the-middle shooter whose goal is to. make hits for the masses and get people. into movie theaters. If Gun was the guy. to deliver fbombs and lesserk known.

characters, Latcham is the guy to. deliver what's more in line with. Ellison's broader tastes, say multiple. sources. Again, I would argue that. Superman was very much designed to be a. hit for the masses, as much as James. Gunn is capable of doing. And it. arguably was making $619 million. worldwide. So, I'm sensing that a lot of. the framing here might be hinting that. James Gunn's edgelord sense of humor is. misaligned with David Ellison's. conservative values. And readers. nowadays are likely to get stirred up. over anything that smells like a. possible puritanical shadow agenda.

creeping into Sky Dance because they. know that there's going to be a whole. other side of people online that feels. like Hollywood bullying Christians or. Christians overreacting and purging. anyone who is in line with their values. I don't know if that whole culture war. is actually what's going on here. The. reality probably had more to do with the. reduced autonomy and awkward new. reporting structure that Gun and Saffron. bristled against in the weeks after the. Sky Dance merger. Josh Greenstein and. Dana Goldberg are going to be the bosses. calling the shots for the DCU now. And. they probably felt that Jeremy Latcham. was just their guy to execute their.

vision for DC without any kind of push. back or friction. The RAP reported that. as a contrast to James Gun's vocal. online presence, quote, "Latcham is more. likely to follow the example of his. former boss Kevin Feige, who has. operated for decades as a social media. titoler. Keeping out of the spotlight. aside from premieres, his annual. showcases at San Diego Comic- Con, and. the occasional tightly controlled press. interviews. Not for nothing, Latcham. deleted all of his ex posts and locked. down his account ahead of the. announcement. What insiders also expect. Latcham to do by mandate of Ellison is. to get the Justice League back on the.

big screen as soon as possible. No more. polka dot men, or even modestly known. heroes like Supergirl. Latcham will be. expected to get films for Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, The Flash, and other. heavyweights going in the years ahead. The Puck newsletter reported, "I'm told. plans are already a foot to dismantle. much of what Gun and Saffron had plotted. out beyond next summer's Gun Directed. Man of Tomorrow, the currently shooting. the Batman part two, and an in the works. HBO series referring to the People. versus Gorilla Grod." So DC goes back. into reboot mode again. So, the 10-year. plan that James Gunn had previously.

alluded to, which I assumed would have. included some follow-up to Peacemaker. Chris Smith being stranded in Salvation. and further digging on the whole notion. of Superman's father, Jorel being a. cosmic fascist from Krypton, and these. inklings that we got from the Lantern. series of a bat family being set up in. Gotham City and all of this being. executed in some mix of the Gods and. Monsters slate of titles that James Gun. announced back in January 2023, including at one point the Authority. movie that James Gunn has since said was. already shelved and a booster gold. series. Greenstein and Goldberg are.

instead now entrusting Jeremy Latcham to. greenlight and fasttrack alternating. years of Justice League movies and. Batman movies. In my live stream, I. talked about the possibility that this. might mean Gun and Saffron's plan for a. separate DCU Batman might now be in. jeopardy or even dead. Gun did make it. clear in his Instagram statement that. DCU characters that they created will. live on, but the DCU Batman hasn't been. created yet. We haven't seen or heard of. any particular script or any casting. choice yet. One thing that complicates. the future of the Robert Patson Batman. is the reporting you might have seen.

over the weekend that Patson reportedly. did a screen test for James Bond. I. don't know about that. That might have. been one of those fake leaks designed to. drive down the contract rate for the. actor that they are actually planning to. sign, perhaps Callum Turner. So really, the success of Jeremy Latcham is going. to have less to do with what slate he. unveils on a big stage and more to do. with what directors and what scripts he. greenlights. And we know that some of. those scripts are going to include James. Gun's DC projects. And if Man of. Tomorrow is successful, James Gunn is. probably going to continue on as the. driving creative voice at the studio.

Effectively, James Gun might have just. shifted from being DC's Kevin Feige to. being DC's the Russo brothers. And yes, James Gunn is now free to return to. Marvel Studios and fulfill his legendary. Star-Lord promise. But if that works, it. really might just come down to Gun being. the rare filmmaker talented enough to. pull off worldbuilding details that are. really cool in his movies. Like for. example, in the MCU, James Gun was the. one who gave the Infinity Stones their. full cosmic backstory with a simple. monologue from the collector in. Guardians of the Galaxy. Something that. he wrote in under an hour, he later.

laughed about, and that Marvel later. used to establish their full narrative. structure for Avengers: Infinity War and. Avengers Endgame. James Gunn didn't need. to be the studio head to do that. He. just needed to be a good storyteller. And I still think that James Gunn, even. in a diminished role, can still do that. with his next two DCU movies. Even if. these narrative rules are less. enforceable if he's not the studio head, were they ever that enforceable anyway. when they have to be executed by. different filmmakers with different. narrative priorities? Like arguably, even when James Gunn was in charge of DC. Studios, directors and showrunners like. Craig Gillespie and Chris Mundy weren't.

always necessarily on his wavelength or. necessarily capable of executing his. exact narrative rules in a way that made. sense. And honestly, how much do. audiences of DC movies really care about. those narrative rules of the universe. anyway or understand what they are if. they don't watch new Rockstars videos? But I do think we're getting back to. Batman being the central figure of this. franchise. Regularly released Batman. movies was a prerogative that David. Zazlov stressed with James Gunn and. Peter Saffron. But Gun and Saffron had. the influence to pretty much just ignore. or delay those and just really default. to prioritizing the Batman part two and.

that's it. Jeremy Latcha, meanwhile, won't necessarily have that same. authority under Dana and Josh and David. Ellison. So, I believe starting in 2028, we're going to have Batman movies every. two years, 2030, 2032, and beyond. And. yes, a Batman Beyond movie may be one of. the things to consider because all these. Batman movies don't necessarily have to. be narratively connected, but either. way, they are coming. We're going to be. covering this transition a lot in the. [music] weeks ahead. So, comment down. below with your thoughts on this. And a. special thanks to one of our channel. members, Miguel Party Parrot, for.

supporting us at the executive producer. level. If you click that join button, you can look at the different tiers of. membership. We really appreciate. everyone who's supporting us that way. Big thanks to Studio Tech Brian Kim, New. Rockstars editors Joshua Steven Hurd, Abby Fel, and Robert Butler III, and all. of our supporting editors for their work. on this video. Follow me at EA Boss and. hit that subscribe button. Thanks for. watching, and I'll see you next time. Bye. [music].