Will James Gunn’s MAN OF TOMORROW Suffer the Same Fate as THE FLASH? DC Studios is Repeating Its Own History

DC Studios just can't seem to get out of its own way. Every time the studio charts a new course for its superhero universe, another corporate shakeup comes along and threatens to send everything in a different direction.

Now, with James Gunn's Man of Tomorrow on the horizon, Hollywood is repeating one of its biggest mistakes.

Remember what happened with The Flash? Warner Bros. spent a fortune making the movie, hyped it as one of the greatest superhero films ever made, and then watched it crash at the box office. One of the problems was that audiences already knew the DC universe it belonged to was on its way out.

Now, just a few years later, James Gunn is staring down a strangely familiar situation with Man of Tomorrow, his upcoming Superman sequel. DC Studios is changing leadership again, and the future of the cinematic universe Gunn spent the past several years building is suddenly up in the air.

The irony is pretty damn funny, even if the situation itself isn't. Back in October 2022, Gunn and Peter Safran were brought in to take control of DC Studios and clean up the mess left behind by the previous leadership. Their mission was to build a new, connected DC Universe that could finally compete with Marvel.

That meant the old DCEU was finished. Fans knew it, the studio knew it, and the movies still waiting to hit theaters were left in an awkward position. The Flash was the biggest casualty.

The movie arrived in June 2023, nearly eight months after Gunn and Safran were hired. It was supposed to be a massive superhero event, bringing back Michael Keaton as Batman and using the multiverse to celebrate DC's cinematic history.

Instead, it became one of the biggest superhero box office disasters of the year. With a reported production budget of around $200 million, The Flash earned just $271.5 million worldwide. That's a brutal result for a movie that was supposed to be a major franchise event.

There were plenty of reasons for its failure. The controversies surrounding Ezra Miller, mixed reactions from audiences, and general superhero fatigue certainly didn't help.

But there's another factor that deserves attention. Why should audiences care about a movie connected to a universe they've already been told is getting thrown in the trash?

Warner Bros. was essentially asking fans to buy tickets to a franchise that had already received its eviction notice. Now Gunn finds himself on the other side of that exact situation.

Following Skydance's acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, DC Studios is undergoing another leadership overhaul. Gunn and Safran have exited their executive positions, with former Marvel executive Jeremy Latcham taking over as president and chief creative officer on December 1.

Latcham previously worked on Guardians of the Galaxy, so he and Gunn already have a professional history. Gunn also remains creatively involved with Man of Tomorrow, which is scheduled to hit theaters on July 9, 2027.

But here's where things get messy. According to reports, Skydance is looking to dismantle much of Gunn's larger DC Universe plan while allowing certain projects already in production to move forward.

That doesn't mean the entire DCU has officially been canceled or that Latcham intends to scrap everything Gunn created. Those decisions haven't been fully explained publicly. Still, it's hard to ignore what this could mean for Man of Tomorrow.

Gunn's Superman was supposed to be the foundation of a new era for DC. The 2025 film introduced David Corenswet as the Man of Steel, earned more than $618 million worldwide, and gave fans a reason to get excited about where the DCU was heading.

The plan was to build on that momentum with more movies, television shows, and interconnected stories. Now there's a new boss coming in before Gunn can even release his next Superman movie. Sound familiar?

The timing makes the comparison even crazier. Gunn and Safran took over roughly eight months before The Flash arrived in theaters. Latcham is taking over roughly eight months before Man of Tomorrow is released.

It's almost the same damn scenario, except this time Gunn is the filmmaker watching someone else take control of the universe he helped create. Of course, there are some important differences.

The Flash was part of a franchise that had been struggling for years. Man of Tomorrow is following a successful Superman movie, and Gunn has written and directed the sequel. Fans who enjoyed Superman have a legitimate reason to return, regardless of what happens with the larger DCU.

A good movie can absolutely stand on its own, but superhero franchises also depend on audiences getting invested in what comes next. That's the whole point of building a shared cinematic universe.

If fans start believing that Gunn's Superman story is heading toward a dead end, will they be as excited to show up? That's the problem DC Studios could be creating for itself.

The company has spent years bouncing between different creative visions. Zack Snyder had his plans for the DCEU. Walter Hamada oversaw another direction. Gunn and Safran arrived with a complete reboot, and now another executive is coming in with the authority to change things again.

At some point, fans have to wonder why they should keep getting invested when the people running the studio can't seem to commit to a direction.

It's especially frustrating because Gunn's DCU hasn't even had much time to prove itself. Superman performed well, while Supergirl struggled at the box office and Clayface delivered a much smaller theatrical return. Those results deserve scrutiny, but building a cinematic universe takes more than a couple of movies.

Instead of letting the creative plan develop, Hollywood's corporate machinery is already making another round of changes.

Maybe Latcham has a fantastic plan for DC. Maybe he'll keep Gunn's Superman around and find a way to build on what already works. His previous relationship with Gunn could certainly help. But until audiences know what's happening, DC is leaving its biggest upcoming movie surrounded by questions that have nothing to do with the actual story.

That's a lousy position for Man of Tomorrow to be in. Gunn was hired to rescue DC from years of creative chaos, and now his own Superman sequel could be affected by the same corporate decision-making that helped undermine the movies he inherited.

Man of Tomorrow could still be a huge hit. Corenswet's Superman has an audience, and Gunn has proven he knows how to make entertaining superhero movies. There's no reason to write the film off before anyone has seen it. But DC should remember what happened with The Flash.

You can't keep telling audiences to invest in a cinematic universe while repeatedly threatening to pull the plug on it. If DC Studios wants fans to care about its future, maybe it should start by showing them that the future actually exists.

What do you think? Could the latest DC Studios leadership change hurt Man of Tomorrow at the box office, or is Gunn's Superman strong enough to survive another Hollywood regime change?