James Gunn on shifting from Marvel to DC
James Gunn is formally leaving his Marvel days behind as his new chapter with DC Studios begins, beginning with the upcoming launch of Superman.
With the extremely anticipated movie hitting theaters on July 11, the director mirrored on his path from Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy to main DC’s rebooted cinematic universe.
Talking on the Armchair Professional podcast, Gunn regarded again at his sudden firing from Marvel in 2018, a second that left him unsure about his future.
“I thought my career was over,” he admitted. However issues took a flip when Warner Bros. got here calling.
“Toby Emmerich from Warner Bros. at the time came to me. He’s like, ‘James Gunn’s Superman?’ I said, ‘I don’t know, man.’ And then he was like, ‘Well, what about Suicide Squad?’ So I came up with an idea. I went and pitched it. They were like, ‘Yes, let’s do it.’”
That pitch led to the 2021 movie The Suicide Squad, which Gunn accomplished earlier than ultimately returning to Marvel for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 in 2023.
However whilst he stepped again into the Marvel universe, his future was already shifting in a special path.
Gunn recalled that on the identical day he bought the Suicide Squad provide, then-Disney CCO Alan Horn reached out after Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige pushed to carry him again.
“I went over to Kevin’s house,” Gunn shared.
“I went into his basement where he’s got all his Star Wars figures like a little museum and he said, ‘This is amazing.’ I’m like, ‘Yeah, it’s good, but I have to do something else first.’ And — oh my God, I didn’t remember this until right now — Kevin goes, ‘Ugh, are you doing Superman?’”
Regardless of leaving Marvel to tackle DC tasks, Gunn mentioned he by no means felt conflicted concerning the transfer.
“No, I just shook my head. I didn’t feel that way because I was fired,” he mentioned. “Listen, there are people that I’m not that happy with over there [at Disney], but that certainly wasn’t the Marvel guys, you know? They were completely supportive
[Marvel Studios Co-President] Louis D’Esposito called me all the time. Lou and Kevin were great. So it certainly wasn’t them. But I didn’t feel guilt at all. I mean, I had to take a job! I took a job [with] people that I also really liked, and that was it.”
Now co-heading DC Studios with Peter Safran, Gunn is launching a brand new imaginative and prescient for the DC Universe.
Superman marks the start of the Gods and Monsters chapter, with David Corenswet taking over the long-lasting position of Clark Kent.
He stars alongside Rachel Brosnahan as Lois Lane, Nicholas Hoult as Lex Luthor, and María Gabriela de Faría as The Engineer. The solid additionally options Skyler Gisondo, Sara Sampaio, Sean Gunn, Edi Gathegi, Anthony Carrigan, Isabela Merced, and Nathan Fillion.
