At least one high-profile James is happy that Avengers: Endgame now holds the prestigious honor of being the highest-grossing film of all-time. James Gunn, the director of the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise, took to Twitter to voice his amazement as to what the fellow MCU project has done.
He didn’t need many words to communicate his congratulations, simply electing to go with the concise: “So incredible,” followed by the praying hands emoji. Below the tweet was a screenshot of the Deadline article that announced the movie had finally broken the record it had been chasing since its release.
Of course, Gunn himself has played no small part in the feature’s success, as several of the most important characters in the MCU canon stem from his extremely popular movies. The way many stars rallied around him after his controversial firing after Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 shows how beloved he is by everyone he works with.
It’s impossible to predict what would’ve happened to his crucial branch of the Marvel Cinematic Universe if he wasn’t ultimately rehired by Disney to direct the series’ highly-anticipated third installment, much to the joy of everyone not named James Woods. Now the director’s on board to keep producing Marvel movies even after Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, which proves that the studio knows how valuable he is to the legendary franchise they’re creating here and are determined to keep him around for as long as they can this time.
While James Gunn may be thrilled about the accomplishment, James Cameron might not feel the same way. The accomplished filmmaker’s blockbuster projects now sit in second and third place on the all-time box office list, thanks to the Russo Brothers’ magnum opus.
Avatar and Titanic held their respective spots at the top for years before the superhero flick knocked them both off. While Cameron was gracious when the record-breaking movie toppled the latter film to move into the second place spot, it’s unknown if he’ll be so accepting now that neither of his projects are atop the leaderboard.
Either way, it sure is an epic accomplishment for Avengers: Endgame. Gunn definitely realizes that, just as Marvel realizes that there’s no way they could’ve ever done it without him.