Now that James Gunn has finally unveiled the DCU’s Chapter 1 – Gods & Monsters to the world, maybe the conspiracy theories claiming that he was a double agent sent undercover by Kevin Feige to tear the competition down from the inside out can be put to rest.
Of course, with the internet being what it is, we’re inclined to believe that it’s not going to happen. At least not yet, anyway. Should Gunn and Peter Safran win over even their most ardent of critics once the film, television, live-action, and animated slate has been released in its entirely, then maybe – just maybe – he won’t be subjected to so much flak on a daily basis.
For now, though, there’s a lot of work to be done, but one of Gunn’s new lieutenants has spoken very highly of his experience. Tom King – who was named as part of the expanded writers’ room set to hammer the DCU into shape – spoke to Word Balloon about the influences Feige’s Marvel Cinematic Universe may or may not end up having on Hollywood’s other superheroic shared mythology.
“I mean, James Gunn is a genuine comic book nerd and reader and someone who’s been in it since he was a kid and passionately cares for the DC Universe. He’s just a cool nerd, which is a wonderful contradiction and on top of that, he’s a guy who has been friends with Kevin Feige and he’s been inside the Marvel machine and saw how that worked, and saw how it created amazing things.”
Marvel influencing DC? Say it ain’t so, trolls, because what’s next; dogs and cats living together, mass hysteria? If there’s one person who knows how to build an interconnected franchise with longevity, it’s Kevin Feige, so we can only hope Gunn picked up as many tricks as possible.
