DCEU officially killed, Warner Bros. announces new name for DC cinematic universe

Warner Bros. is attempting yet another major shakeup for its DC cinematic universe, and we're all really hoping this one sticks.

It's been a rough ride, watching Warner Bros. attempt to compete with Marvel and build its own interconnected movie franchise with iconic DC characters. For every standalone hit like Joker and The Batman, the likes of Justice League, Suicide Squad, and Batman V Superman have proved that the whole "shared DC universe" idea just hasn't worked.

So it's back to the drawing board... kind of. The boffins at Warner Bros. have decided it's time to give the DC cinematic universe a major facelift. We've already learned that Henry Cavill will be returning as Superman for multiple projects, and Dwayne Johnson's Black Adam will doubtless be a big part of the action going forward to.

It's also emerged that Warner Bros. is killing off the clunky DCEU (DC Extended Universe) name in favour of the much more simple DCU. Will losing one letter make that much difference? Probably not, but it's not the only big change Warner Bros. has just made.

It's no secret that the company has long been on the hunt to find someone who can oversee all DC projects in the same way that Kevin Feige is responsible for the running of the MCU - no small task. Ironically, they've found the right candidate in an MCU heavyweight: James Gunn.

Gunn will be best known to comic book fans as the director of the Guardians Of The Galaxy movies, although he's also worked with DC - most notably on The Suicide Squad. He'll be joined in this endeavour by Peacemaker producer Peter Safran.

Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav released a statement on the future of the DCU, via The Hollywood Reporter.

“DC has among the most entertaining, powerful, and iconic characters in the world and I am thrilled to have the singular and complementary talents of James and Peter joining our world-class team and overseeing the creative direction of the storied DC Universe," the statement reads.

“Their decades of experience in filmmaking, close ties to the creative community, and proven track record thrilling superhero fans around the globe make them uniquely qualified to develop a long-term strategy across film, TV, and animation, and take this iconic franchise to the next level of creative storytelling.”

If the two of them could work out some way to bring Batgirl back from whatever hell dimension it's been sent to, that'd be nice.