It can’t be a coincidence that James Gunn has gotten a lot less active on Twitter in the weeks since he first assumed his duties as co-CEO of DC Studios, and began breaking the bad news that diehard fans of the franchise didn’t want to hear.
The SnyderVerse is in the final stages of being torn apart, Henry Cavill’s Superman has been exiled for good in favor of another reboot, and Dwayne Johnson’s Black Adam is looking increasingly likely to go down in the history books as an embarrassing footnote that saw The Rock fly a touch too close to the sun in terms of self-promotion and overconfidence.
Despite his sabbaticals from social media growing lengthier and more frequent, the Guardians of the Galaxy writer and director nonetheless opted to return on Christmas Day to wish his millions of followers a happy holiday. Even though it’s nothing more than well-wishes coming from Gunn and wife Jennifer Holland, you can imagine what happened in the comments.
It’s a very strange and entirely unique position Gunn finds himself in, with every single thing he posts on any social platform (regardless of the subject or content) instantly devolving into Marvel vs. DC tribalism. Of course, it was always going to be the case when he’s got one foot in either camp until May of next year, but it’s hard to imagine things quietening down when we’re not far away from the first wave of DCU projects being announced.
We’ll be very curious to see what the response is, because the hate train has yet to show any signs of slowing down.