James Gunn is living the good life right now.
The co-CEO of DC Studios is celebrating the trailer release of his two passion projects, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 and The Flash. The former was directed by himself, and the latter falls under his purview as the DCU’s new commander-in-chief. Nothing anybody says — not even snarky fans with witty comebacks — can derail his enthusiasm. If they try — well, let’s just say he has no problem dishing out those one-two punches he writes about so convincingly.
That’s exactly what happened when one fan tried to poke fun at the similarities between Ezra Miller’s upward gaze in The Flash trailer and Dwayne Johnson’s “Flying Black Adam” meme from Black Adam.
“Did they do Black Adam as well?” said one fan, referring to the cinematographer Henry Braham, whom Gunn praised for his work on Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 and The Flash.
The fan’s clear attempt to shade Gunn (and Braham) for a lack of ingenuity immediately backfired when Gunn wrote back, “No. I know it’s hard to believe he isn’t the only person to ever shoot a person’s face bent towards the camera.”
Gunn’s sucker punch comes following similar comparisons between Will Poulter Adam Warlock in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 and Johnson’s “Flying Black Adam” meme. Like Ezra Miller’s upward gaze, Poulter stares intently past the camera while in mid-flight, enlarging his forehead in the same way as Johnson’s.
Since Gunn had no connection whatsoever to the making of Black Adam, and Ezra Miller’s upward gaze looks nothing like Johnson’s meme (can’t say the same for Will Poulter, though) there’s no real joke here to be had. So, what’s the lesson, folks?
In a world where fans can talk directly to influential creators like Gunn via social media and enjoy cracking a joke or two, it’s best to make sure said joke is, well, funny. Otherwise, as we saw here, Gunn will roast you faster than you can say “Barry Allen.”