The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly: DC "Out-Gunn's" Marvel

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Submitted by S.J. Mitchell on Fri, 10/12/2018 - 14:08

When news broke on Twitter that James Gunn had posted jokes about pedophilia and deplorable acts of sexual assault, including rape, Marvel Studios had a PR nightmare on their hands.

Gunn, the writer/director of Marvel's highly successful GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY franchise, had been exposed as someone that may not be a good representative of Marvel's parent company, Disney. While some would argue that since an "alt-right extremist" outed James Gunn, it shouldn't matter. Whether you like who "outed" him or not, it doesn't make the situation less believable when the evidence is clear as day.

While he apologized for them back in 2012, and again when his tweets re-surfaced, the court of public opinion crucified him and demanded that he be fired. At the time, he was writing and preparing to direct the third GotG movie. It took less than a day for him to be fired.

The entire cast issued a letter, with their signatures, in support of Gunn. Saying that he shouldn't be judged for things that he had said in the past and that he's actually a really nice guy. Dave Bautista even threatened to break his contract over the matter.

Enter Warner Bros. and the DC Cinematic Universe.

Needing a writer and director for the anticipated sequel to David Ayer's SUICIDE SQUAD, which in itself was a critical hit and even won an Oscar, James Gunn's name surfaced as a candidate. Things started picking up quickly as rumors turned to buzz and buzz turned into fans clamoring for Gunn.

Gunn's humor and directorial style would fit the damaged and emotionally compromised characters that make up the Suicide Squad. His fans are expected to swarm the box office in support of him, aren't they? Suddenly, many of those who were calling for him to be fired, now find Gunn working for a company they admire. This should create a bit of a paradox, but it hasn't.

Where is the backlash? Why is it okay for Gunn to jump right into another blockbuster, this time for WB? Will people just let it go now that they realize it was just a hit job?

While Gunn's comments on Twitter were extremely offensive and undesirable, it was a dark sense of humor that, ironically, might be appreciated by characters like Harley Quinn, Joker, and Captain Boomerang.

They are villains after all.

Warner Bros. is still getting criticized for the JUSTICE LEAGUE debacle and how they may not even get their marquee actors back in Affleck and Cavill. Given the positive reactions from the AQUAMAN trailer and the excitement that's building around WONDER WOMAN '84, was it really wise to negate that by bringing in a controversial figure such as Gunn?

James Gunn has a cult following of fans that seem loyal to him. Fans of the MCU have nothing but hate for anything DC does, so it'll be interesting to see if they're suddenly excited to see him directing again. Or perhaps they'll have an epiphany and agree that Gunn shouldn't be allowed to direct a movie; a rebirth of the #FireJamesGunn Twitter campaign could happen.

It's more likely they'll just remain silent and post bad reviews of his sequel to drive that Rotten Tomatoes score down.

What do you think of the move? You can let us know by voting on our highly scientific Twitter Poll.