With Marvel being the dominant box office giant, other shared universe franchises have been trying to follow in its footsteps and replicate the MCU's success. DC in particular has been attempting to match Marvel's popularity while still establishing and preserving its own unique identity. With the appointment of James Gunn as co-chair and co-CEO of DC Studios (alongside Peter Safran), it seems like DC might be making moves towards changing for the better, and implementing some fresh ideas that could finally take the DCEU to the next level.
Having Gunn in this position would give him an opportunity to hire some talent to work on future DC movies that could give them a lot of style and flavor. In particular, bringing visionary directors on board would be really helpful to the DCEU's approach, as it's something that has worked well for Marvel in the past. Gunn's own Guardians of the Galaxy movies are a great example of this. Allowing directors to put their personal stamp and style into the DC movies they make would really elevate the format, and would allow for a variety of stories to be told in the most interesting ways possible.
If anything, Marvel has been becoming rather formulaic as of late, and DC could really move towards overtaking them if they worked with directors who were able to put more of a personal stamp on their movies. It could be similar to what Matt Reeves did with The Batman, where he took an established character to a new place with his directorial style and managed to make a superhero movie that was really memorable, and still totally distinct from the tone of the MCU. It would be in DC's best interests to do what Marvel isn't and let these directors really have free rein.
While Marvel often brings on acclaimed directors to lend their talents to the MCU, a lot of times they are really reined in by the Marvel formula. There's only so much style they can bring to their movies because they still have to fit within the visual and tonal aesthetic of the MCU enough to feel like part of a big shared universe. However, this sometimes works to the detriment of these films, as they end up feeling more like cookie-cutter Marvel movies than fresh and exciting takes on the characters by auteur directors.
There's certainly something to be said for consistency, as it seems to have worked for Marvel so far, but DC could really prove themselves to have much different goals if they prioritized letting the director's individual style shine through a lot more. This was a success with The Batman, and showed that audiences like seeing something different, especially if it's a take on a character that's been done a hundred times before. This kind of agency would allow newer DCEU entries to really feel unique and cement their own spots in the superhero movie Hall of Fame.
James Gunn in particular is the perfect person to spearhead a movement like this, as a fresh personal style was something that he was able to bring to the MCU to change it for the better. He was one of the first directors brought on board who was able to insert their vision and specific take on a group of characters in a way that made them far more compelling to audiences than they might have been otherwise. Guardians of the Galaxy was lauded upon its release for feeling like something brand new for Marvel and for having it's own distinct identity within the MCU (so much so that it's instantly identifiable in Avengers: Infinity War when the movie cuts to the Guardians' storyline before the audience even sees their faces).
DC has seen a few auteur directors helm its movies, but for the most part the universe has been a bit lacking in distinct style. Gunn could use the Marvel method to bring some new and exciting projects to DC. It seems that, in general, the DC movies that set themselves apart in tone and overall style (such as The Batman or even Shazam!) are more successful and more well-liked by fans than the films that come off as more generic, as would be expected. He has seen the success that this approach brought at Marvel with his own set of films, as well as the films of other big-name directors, and would therefore be a good person to guide DC through the process.
DC has always been following behind the MCU in terms of popularity, but a shift in management and direction could be just what they need to push forward and finally be the front-runners in the realm of shared universe superhero movies. The DCEU has so much potential for this to be the case, the talent just needs to be utilized properly in order to bring them to the next level. Hopefully Gunn will be able to take some of the lessons he learned at Marvel and apply them to DC's new creative outputs.