UPDATE: The doubts about Gunn’s grip on DC deepen with our exclusive report that there is no clear path to Gunn ever getting Batman on screen, with Matt Reeves said to have pushed back on any use of the Dark Knight before The Batman Part II. The timing question sharpens as our exclusive points to an inside push to force Gunn out ahead of the ownership change, with the Supergirl leak apparently engineered to hang the failure on him.
Buried near the bottom of THR’s Supergirl post-mortem is the single most important detail for James Gunn’s future at DC, and it isn’t the test scores.
Per THR, it’s unclear when Gunn and Peter Safran’s contracts as DC Studios co-chiefs are up, but sources believe it’s either the end of 2026 or the end of 2027.
That’s the real story.
Gunn’s DC Clock May Already Be Running Out
Line that up with the calendar.
The Paramount acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery is expected to close this month, putting David Ellison’s regime in charge.
If Gunn and Safran’s contracts run through the end of 2026, their deals lapse roughly five months after the new owners walk in.
Nobody has to fire anybody. Nobody has to buy anybody out. Nobody has to stage some ugly public break. The deal simply ends, and the new regime decides whether it wants to renew the people it inherited.
If the contracts run through the end of 2027, that changes the timing but not the problem. That version covers Man of Tomorrow, which Gunn is directing for July 9, 2027, and expires right after his Superman sequel is out in theaters.
That’s the clean exit. Gunn delivers Man of Tomorrow, hands over the keys, and walks.
Both Contract Dates Match What Our Insiders Said
Notice what both scenarios have in common. They are the two exit windows our insiders have been describing for months.
Back in October, our Hollywood sources told us Gunn would be out at DC once the WBD sale goes through, with the Ellison regime looking at Mike De Luca to take over.
In February, John Campea predicted Gunn would ask out of his contract before the end of the year. If the deal expires in December anyway, he barely has to ask.
Then in March, insiders at WonderCon told us Gunn could make a graceful exit around Man of Tomorrow rather than be pushed out.
A contract that ends right after that movie’s July 9, 2027 release is exactly what a graceful exit looks like on paper.
Man Of Tomorrow Looks Like Gunn’s Last Swing
The 2027 scenario also lines up with what we’ve been told about Man of Tomorrow itself.
Our insiders have said the movie could be Gunn’s last hurrah at DC, loaded with cameos and fan service, the kind of everything-in-the-pot sendoff a filmmaker makes when he knows it’s his final swing. A contract that expires right after the movie’s July 9, 2027 release turns that read from speculation into a schedule.
It would also explain the state of the ensemble.
We were told Gunn has no real take on Wonder Woman despite her appearing in Man of Tomorrow, with the character written so generalized she’s interchangeable with Maxima. That’s what a cameo looks like on the page. Not a character with a plan behind her. A costume in a crowd scene.
Reeves Has Every Reason To Protect Batman From Gunn
Then there’s Batman.
Our insiders believe Matt Reeves pushed back against Gunn using the character in Man of Tomorrow, and the calendar explains why.
Man of Tomorrow opens July 9, 2027. The Batman Part II follows on October 1, 2027, just three months later. Reeves’ concern, we’re told, is that whatever Gunn does with the Dark Knight would hurt his movie, which THR notes stands separate from the DCU.
It tracks with the Reeves concerns our insiders already described, with word that Gunn has been all over the place without a clear plan. A director with an expiring contract has little reason to hand him his crown jewel on the way out.
Ellison Doesn’t Have To Fire Gunn, He Can Just Not Renew Him
THR writes that Gunn and Safran will continue to guide the ship, then spends the next paragraphs showing why that future is anything but locked: contract uncertainty, anxiety over the Paramount acquisition, and the scrutinizing spotlight Supergirl‘s failure puts on Gunn specifically.
Puck’s Matt Belloni already put the decision where it belongs, writing that Gunn and Safran’s future will likely be decided by Ellison and the incoming Paramount team.
A contract expiring on the new owner’s watch is that decision gift-wrapped for him.
It also explains why the regime change talk got louder the moment Supergirl bombed. A flop two films into a ten-year plan is survivable when the same owner hired you, backed you, and owns the plan.
It’s a very different conversation when the new owner inherited you, inherited the plan, inherited the flop, and holds the power to let the deal expire.
The Exit Window Is Now On Paper
None of this is officially confirmed, and THR’s sources themselves hedge between the two end dates.
But the shape is now clear. The exit our insiders described in October never required a firing, a scandal, or some dramatic Hollywood showdown. It only required the calendar to run.
Per THR, that calendar runs out either at the end of 2026, months after Ellison takes over, or at the end of 2027, right after Man of Tomorrow.
Either way, Gunn’s DC future is no longer just about box office. It’s about who owns the clock.
