When James Gunn was initially fired from the helm of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, the director’s chair had barely gone cold before he was fielding offers from Warner Bros. and DC Films, who essentially offered him the choice of any property that he wanted, one of which was Superman.
As we all know, Gunn opted to remain in the wheelhouse of superpowered misfits, which turned out to be the right call, at least from a qualitative level. The Suicide Squad may have tanked spectacularly at the box office, but it ranks as one of the best-reviewed entries in the DCEU, while Peacemaker became a phenomenon when it premiered on HBO Max earlier this year.
The Super and Slither architect will be heading back across to DC for a second season of Peacemaker and perhaps another spinoff or two once he wraps up his association with Marvel in the aftermath of Vol. 3‘s release next summer, but fans have made it perfectly clear they still don’t want him anywhere near Superman.
After a tweet claiming he’d do a better job with the Man of Steel than Zack Snyder gained traction, even the staunchest supporters of Gunn admitted that he probably isn’t the right person from the job.
Could James Gunn make a great Superman movie? Very probably, he’s a hugely talented dude. Does he want to? He’s made it clear already that’s a negative, and he might even be the first to admit that the naysayers are correct in their assertions that he’s the wrong fit for the material.