The world’s newest media constellation, courtesy of Warner Bros Discovery and Paramount Skydance, seems to have chosen a name as bland as its mission. With a lineup that includes HBO, CNN, and the entire DC Comics universe, one might expect more sparkle. Instead, it settled on ‘Skydance’—the least-recognised of its many brands, and possibly the most forgettable. Titanic, anyone?

The launch video’s opening doesn’t bode well, with a nod to the franchise’s own downfall. People don’t generally embrace monopolies, and this merger’s showreel only serves to highlight why there was so much controversy. ‘It’s like Thanos collecting the infinity stones,’ says one person on X. The branding is equally uninspiring, using the same logo and name from David Ellison’s former production company, Skydance Media. It’s a neutral name, true, but it feels more like a vanity project, like Elon Musk renaming Twitter as X.

The logic behind the rebrand is that it avoids a mashup like ‘ParaBros’ and won’t upset Warner Bros or Paramount shareholders. But it risks making audiences feel they have a visible culprit to call out. After all, the company’s size has people comparing it to Skynet from the Terminator franchise. And guess who owns the rights to that?