In the summer of 2018 when James Gunn would have been left distraught by his firing as the writer and director of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, anyone who predicted that less than half a decade later he’d be one of the most powerful figures in the entire superhero genre would have been laughed out of the building.
It’s funny how these things tend to work out, with Kevin Feige inadvertently causing the ripple effect that led to Gunn being named as the co-CEO of DC Studios. Disney tasked the Marvel Studios boss to break the news, which saw the filmmaker having his pick of the projects over at Warner Bros., before The Suicide Squad and Peacemaker snowballed into his position as the creative architect of the entire shared universe.
You couldn’t have made it up, and that extends to where the comic book adaptation as a whole currently finds itself. The MCU has been trending downwards for a while as the Multiverse Saga continues to disappoint on a critical and commercial level, while Shazam! Fury of the Gods cratering at the box office has made it very clear that the DCU’s overhaul can’t come quick enough.
What’s the next major spandex-clad blockbuster out of the gate? Why, it just so happens to be James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. Should the threequel live up to its predecessors, then it won’t just give the entire genre a much-needed shot in the arm by winning rave reviews and earning big bucks, it could reassure jaded Marvel supporters that things are heading back in the right direction.
Not only that, but it would also dispel notions that the artform as we know it is running out of gas, while additionally reiterating Gunn’s credentials for writing and directing acclaimed, successful, and emotional epics, thus increasing the hype for Superman: Legacy. No pressure, then.
