After months of headlines and behind-the-scenes changes over at Warner Bros. Discovery regarding the future of their DC movies, it was officially announced that filmmaker James Gunn and producer Peter Safran have been given the job of co-running the newly created DC Studios, the replacement for DC Films. James Gunn is no stranger to the superhero genre, as he is the director of the Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy for Marvel and has already worked for DC, directing 2021's The Suicide Squad and creating the spin-off series Peacemaker. Meanwhile, Safran is a successful Warner Bros. producer on The Conjuring franchise and various DC Films including Aquaman, Shazam!, and Gunn's own The Suicide Squad.

Both men replace Walter Hamada, the previous man who was put in charge of running DC Films and who had both a positive and controversial tenure as the head of the division. After Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav said he wanted his own Kevin Feige figure to oversea their DC movies, he got one by splitting the duties between a well-established producer and a visionary director who has worked closely with Kevin Feige himself. After months of Black Adam promising the hierarchy of power in the DC Universe would change, it appears it truly has so here is a breakdown of what this news means for the future of the DC Universe.

DCEU is Dead ... Long Live the DCU

The DC Extended Universe or DCEU was first coined in 2015 by Entertainment Weekly writer Keith Staskiewicz when discussing Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice. The name quickly took off among fans, and while Warner Bros. executives didn't adopt the name at first (they even tried to rebrand it as Worlds of DC in 2018), the name stuck around and Warner Bros. officially adopted it in 2020. It is easy to see why the extra letter allows it to distinguish itself from the three-letter MCU, and also the term 'extended' implied a connection to other material not connected to the movies, making room for television series or a connection to a wider multiverse.

However, the MCU has now extended into television and the multiverse as well, and it seems Warner Bros. wants a simpler cleaner name. DCU, short for DC Universe, is simple and lets the audience know these movies and series take place together.

DC Most Likely Won't See Major Changes Until 2024

Gunn and Safran both begin their jobs on November 1, 2022. This means that Gunn and Safran will start being able to greenlight, pitch, and work on projects like a new Henry Cavill Superman movie, Wonder Woman 3, or any other project not currently in development. This means that while the two might be running the show right now, their original work will not be seen until 2024 at the earliest.

Related: Black Adam: How Much Does it Actually Change the DCEU

There is also the matter of the films that the two will be inheriting. Safran is a producer on three of the four DC films currently in production: Shazam! Fury of the Gods, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, and Blue Beetle, so there is a strong chance that plot elements in those films could play a bigger role in the future moving forward. Interestingly, the only one he is not a producer on is The Flash, the DC Film that the entire franchise now unfortunately rests on as it is set to give the franchise a soft reboot.

However, The Flash has been a trouble production due to the off-screen behavior of star Ezra Miller and Warner Bros. Discovery is now tasked with marketing a film with a lead star who has courted multiple controversies. Gunn and Safran will now inherit this issue and it's certainly one they will have to work on. Also worth noting is that Gunn and Safran will not be responsible for the upcoming Joker: Folie à Deux and Matt Reeves' plan for The Batman sequel and HBO spin-offs. Those films will take place outside the continuity of the DCU, and will be overseen by their respective filmmakers.

Gunn is Done With Marvel

Gunn's deal with Warner Bros. now means he has an exclusive relationship with them, meaning he cannot work for another studio unless Warner Bros. allows it. Don't expect to see Gunn return to the MCU anytime soon, as both The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 will now be his last projects for Disney and Marvel Studios for the foreseeable future.

Gunn is obviously finishing up both his Guardians projects and will be doing press for both while being co-president of DC Studios, so it will certainly make for an interesting press period. One thing is for sure, Kevin Feige is likely very happy for his director and friend.

Do Not Expect All DC Projects to Have the James Gunn Style

The announcement of James Gunn heading DC Studios certainly had some people worried as they assumed this meant every DC project would have the same tone as The Suicide Squad and Peacemaker. There is certainly reason to believe this, after all, Warner Bros. originally hired Zack Snyder to shape their enitre cinematic universe and his influence is still being felt on the franchise long after he departed.

Yet Gunn being in charge does not mean he will impose his style on every film. Gunn will likely be there in an advisory capacity, as he has a deep knowledge of comics and the DC Universe (as well as inside info on their rivals at Marvel). He also can help develop projects based on DC characters the studio may not have attempted. As a well-respected director himself, he likely will also be able to count on some very talented filmmakers to join the DCU to direct films.

Related: Best James Gunn Movies (Plus Peacemaker), Ranked

Gunn and Safran's collaboration is likely similar to the dynamic between Michael Eisner, Frank Wells, and Jeffrey Katzenberg during the 1980s at Disney when they turned the company around, or even how Pixar Animation has had a creative brain trust that helps usher in new projects. Now both of those production models had their fair share of issues, as has the single-run approach of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Really there is no one right way to do this, but it is reassuring they have hired people who can handle both the business and creative aspects of the job.

Exciting Time For a DC Fan

Anyone who has followed DC Films since Man of Steel will know that it has been a long and tumultuous road. The franchise has shifted through various creative visions and had multiple people running it for such a short time that no real progress could be made. Unlike the MCU, which by this comparative point was gearing up for Avengers: Infinity War, the DCU has not been building to any grand-scale event or even an attempt at connection. Multiple delays due to COVID-19, changes in tone, and behind-the-scenes scandals have slowed down a lot of momentum and anticipation for DC projects.

Now that Gunn and Safran are running the show though, there is reason to be excited. Gunn and Safran have been behind some of the most critically acclaimed (The Suicide Squad, Shazam!) and commercial hits (Aquaman) of the DCU. The two have a love of this universe and characters, and can truly bring about its potential. Gunn has spent the past decade working within the MCU and has gotten a first-hand look at how it is done. Safran has successfully run the Conjuring universe, where audiences are eagerly anticipating both The Nun 2 and The Conjuring 4.

Gunn introduced a wide variety of lesser-known characters from the pages of DC Comics into The Suicide Squad, and now there is a chance other often overlooked characters will get the chance in the spotlight. There could be a future where heroes like Zatanna, Plastic Man, and Booster Gold are as well known to audiences as Doctor Strange, Ant-Man and the Guardians of the Galaxy are now. These two men seem like the perfect people to usher in the next decade of the DC Universe.