It would be fair to say that James Gunn has come a long way from the early days of his career as an aspiring filmmaker, moving from writing Scooby-Doo movies to becoming Hollywood’s go-to guy for comic book franchises based around a team of misfits and antiheroes. After unceremoniously being fired from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, Gunn quickly jumped ship to the DCEU to take over reboot/sequel The Suicide Squad, before ultimately being rehired by Marvel Studios to finish his cosmic trilogy.
By the time Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 hits theaters, Gunn will have spent ten years of his career directing nothing but team-based superhero movies, so it’s understandable that he’d be keen to step away and recharge his creative batteries. While he’s kept busy in the interim writing and producing various horror flicks, the last time Gunn directed a film that didn’t feature any ties to superheroes at all was 2006’s Slither.
Vol. 3 is widely expected to be a key part of the MCU’s Phase Five, meaning we won’t see the movie until late-2022 at the earliest, and in a recent Q&A on social media, Gunn admitted that he’d always planned the story out as a trilogy and he has no plans to round up Star-Lord and the gang for a fourth adventure.
There doesn’t seem to be any bitterness on the director’s part about his highly-publicized firing and subsequent rehiring from Guardians of the Galaxy, but with the notable exception of Thor, the MCU usually tends to abide by the rule of three for their standalone franchises anyway. Besides, if The Suicide Squad and Guardians Vol. 3 both turn out to be critical and commercial smash hits, then Gunn will be free to pursue whatever he wants, after solidifying his credentials as a reliable big budget hand.