James Gunn may become the Kevin Fiege for the DCEU (DC Extended Universe) after being named co-CEO of DC Studios.

James Gunn has been a fan of both Marvel and DC comics since he was young. He’s been a director since 1997 and has been a part of multiple superhero films throughout his career. He’s directed every “Guardians of the Galaxy” film, as well as two DC projects, “The Suicide Squad” and “Peacemaker.” His latest project, “The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special” was released recently on Nov. 25 (currently has a 92% on Rotten Tomatoes). He’s clearly had a taste in directing both the Marvel and the DC cinematic universe. But, on Oct. 25, DC announced that James Gunn and Peter Safran would be named co-CEOs of DC Studios.

The DCEU has arguably not been flourishing for a while, especially while the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe) is the highest-grossing film franchise of all time (27.3B, compared to the DCEU 5.6B). Just this year, the DCEU experienced many obstacles. There was the surprise cancellation of the movie “Batgirl,” as well as the many issues surrounding Ezra Miller, the lead in “The Flash.” There were also the poor/mediocre reviews from the new movie, “Black Adam,” (40% on Rotten Tomatoes). But, this news of Gunn and Safran working together sparks hope within the DC fanbase. Throughout Gunn’s five (released) Marvel and DC projects, the lowest Rotten Tomatoes score is 85% (“Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2”), and the highest is 94% (“Peacemaker”). Not only does this make it likely for the next DCEU movies to improve under his direction, but it means a huge fan base from previous work is going to follow Gunn into DC Studios, expanding its viewers. Peter Safran has also worked on every film in the popular “The Conjuring” universe. Fans of both Marvel and DC are excited to see what’s in store for the future of the DCEU under Gunn’s control.

“Hopefully this means they won’t take themselves too seriously anymore.” Caroline Fennel (’24) said.