Fast on the heels of news that Seth Grahame-Smith has exited as director of "The Flash" comes word of potential rough seas for another Warner Bros. superhero film.

Citing "multiple, reliable sources," Birth.Movies.Death contends director James Wan, known for his work on "Saw," "The Conjuring" and "Furious 7," is "feeling a tremendous amount of trepidation" about the 2018 "Aquaman" film.

The website asserts that Warner Bros. executives are in crisis mode following the response to "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice," leading to conflicts with director Zack Snyder about the tone of "Justice League: Part One," now filming in London, and the DC Comics movie universe as a whole.

It's unknown what "creative differences" led Grahame-Smith to depart his intended his directorial debut, or whether the rumored conflicts about the direction of the shared universe played into his decision or Wan's purported "trepidation" about "Aquaman." However, Birth.Movies.Death notes that Wan "doesn't really need" a big-budget superhero movie.

Although he stepped onto the main stage last year with "Furious 7," which grossed more than $1.5 billion worldwide, he's most comfortable producing low-budget films that become big hits: "Saw," "Insidious," "The Conjuring." His "Conjuring" sequel arrives in June, followed in July by "Lights Out," which he produced.

Just last month Wan sang the praises of Warner Bros. as "a filmmaker-driven studio," which extends to the DC movies.

"As I've always said, whether it's at Marvel or at DC, they have that sandbox. That sandbox is in place," he said. "So you have to come in there and play within their sandbox. But the key here is to build your own sandcastle. And make that sandcastle yours."