As both the director of the Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy for Marvel Studios and the new co-CEO of DC Studios, James Gunn has a unique perspective on the superhero universe.
Gunn spoke to Rolling Stone about his new gig with Warner Bros., which he’s also writing and directing Superman: Legacy for, versus his time with Disney-owned Marvel Studios.
“I learned so much from making these movies,” he says. “But it’s not like Superman is going to have exactly the same vibe as a Guardians movie. It’s actually quite different.”
He also disagrees with presumed competition between the two studios. “To be frank, I think the better Marvel movies do, it’s better for DC, and the better DC movies do, it’s better for Marvel,” he expresses.
Gunn is mounting promotion of Guardians Vol. 3 and a 10-year plan for DC Studios just as box office returns for both DC’s Shazam: Fury of the Gods and Marvel’s Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania suggest superhero fatigue.
Gunn agrees, to a point. “I think there is such a thing as superhero fatigue,” he says. “I think it doesn’t have anything to do with superheroes. It has to do with … if you lose your eye on the ball, which is character.”
He explains, “We love Superman. We love Batman. We love Iron Man. Because they’re these incredible characters … And if it becomes just a bunch of nonsense onscreen, it gets really boring. … It doesn’t have anything to do with whether they’re superhero movies or not. If [you’re] … just watching things bash each other, no matter how clever those bashing moments are … it just gets fatiguing, and I think that’s very, very real.”
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 opens May 5.
Marvel Studios is owned by Disney, ABC News’ parent company.
Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.
