‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ fans have Steven Spielberg to thank for James Gunn’s film career

While origin stories in superhero films are important, if not a little bit tired by this point, it’s often easy to forget that the minds behind the movies have origin stories of their own. On the promotional circuit for the upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, the film’s director James Gunn lifted the veil on what exactly it is that got him into filmmaking.

As it turns out, Gunn, who over the past decade or so has become one of the leading pioneers of the superhero film industry, had his initial spark of inspiration for sitting in the directors chair after seeing Steven Spielberg’s classic Indiana Jones film, Raiders of the Lost Ark, he revealed to THR in a roundtable with some of the Guardians of the Galaxy cast.

“The first movie I watched that made me want to make movies, really, I think was Raiders of the Lost Ark,” he tells the publication. He goes on:

 “I think that’s when I became aware of the director as a part of the creative process. When Raiders came out, I remember Steven Speielberg being advertised, I was starting to understand what a director was.” 

Of course, it’s not only Guardians of the Galaxy fans that have Spielberg to thank for James Gunn’s hand in the superhero film landscape. As you’re probably well aware by now, late last year Gunn was appointed as co-head of DC Studios, and more or less wiped the DC slate clean to make way for a story arc of his own making, and ousted numerous Snyderverse stars in the process. He recently offered up an update on where he is at with his hunt for a new Superman.

Whether you love or hate the decisions Gunn has made in recent months, his contributions to the genre have been undeniable. After all, Gunn managed to take what was once considered to be an unsalvageable wreck of an anti-hero team, The Suicide Squad, and made it his own – and dare we say, it ended up being one of the best projects that has ever come out of the DCEU. 

With that in mind, we may be going against the grain a little in saying we’re optimistic, and looking forward to seeing what Gunn does next with DC. In the meantime, however, the new DC Studios co-head has one last Marvel-related duty to attend to  – the release of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, which lands in theaters on May 5.