James Gunn's Superman Will Be Nothing Like The Guardians Of The Galaxy

Director James Gunn, over the course of his career, has taken a long and circuitous path through the superhero genre. Back in 2000, he wrote the screenplay for a low-budget superhero film called "The Specials," which saw superheroes on their day off. It seems that a lot of them were less noble and far greedier than one might assume. A decade later, Gunn was still deconstructing superhero tropes with his aggressively depressing film "Super," a film that linked superhero instincts to violent madness. It was very curious, then, that 2013 should bring him to "Guardians of the Galaxy," a PG-13-rated chapter in the high-profile, ultra-safe Marvel Cinematic Universe. Gunn replaced danger with sentimentality, while retaining his off-kilter sense of humor. "Guardians" became deeply beloved.

While Gunn worked his way through a TV special and two sequels with the Guardians (the second sequel is due in theaters on May 5), he also crept over to the always-ailing DC Extended Universe in 2021 to direct "The Suicide Squad," essentially a make-good for the unbeloved 2016 film. Like "Guardians," "Squad" was a little offbeat and featured slightly quirkier characters than usually seen in mainstream superhero fare. It also spawned a spin-off series, "Peacemaker." Perhaps based on the success of the "Squad" projects, Gunn and his compatriot Peter Safran were tapped by Warner Bros. Discovery to reboot the entire DCEU as the new-and-improved DC Universe. The brand-new cinematic continuity will wipe all the old films away and start fresh.

It has been announced that the first film in the DCU will be "Superman: Legacy," planned for release in 2025. 

Gunn, better known for being flip and winky with his superhero characters, recently spoke to The Hollywood Reporter, and wanted to assure audiences that "Legacy" would not be anything like "Guardians of the Galaxy." Notably, it will be serious.

James Gunn's primary concern was the baggage that Superman brings with him. Because Superman has been a consistent part of the pop culture firmament since 1938, and because he has remained visible and popular ever since, almost every human being on the planet has an idea of who Superman is and what he "should be." This, of course, wasn't the case with the Guardians of the Galaxy, characters who only lurked in the margins of Marvel Comics, and who weren't assembled in their movie-ready form until 2008. Gunn felt fine monkeying with the Suicide Squad. Superman, he felt, was sacred. As such, joking around was most assuredly off the table. He said: 

"It's easier to take a character nobody knows, like the Guardians, or Peacemaker, and then do whatever you want with them. [...] People in every single country in the world know the story of Superman."

Gunn also felt that he required a perspective. He revealed that he had been offered a Superman movie in 2018, but couldn't think of an angle for the character. In 2021, he finally had an idea. One, he felt, that was fresh and traditional at the same time, and that would stand apart from the myriad extant Superman movies. "How can I make it different from the Superman movies that have been made so far, but also have it respect all the Superman movies that have been made so far?" he said to THR. "It just took me some time to try to figure it out."

"Superman: Legacy" is still only a screenplay with no actors yet cast, so it will take quite some time to understand what Gunn's perspective will exactly be. 

The most notable difference between "Superman: Legacy" and James Gunn's previous superhero projects is that this will be the first that is not a comedy. "The Specials" was most certainly humorous, and "Super" was perhaps more tragic than funny, but had a strange comedic vibe. Both the "Guardians" and "Squad" projects are most assuredly comedies, filled with characters who crack wise and make winking "that just happened" comments. Gunn's "Superman" will not have the usual brand of quips that has become a mainstay of the genre. What "non-comedy" looks like for Gunn remains to be seen; the only film he has written or directed that wasn't a comedy was the 2016 horror film "The Belko Experiment." 

It's also not likely that the new "Superman" will be a horror movie. Indeed, Gunn already served as an executive producer on a "Tales from the Crypt"-inflected Superman-like story called "Brightburn." In a way, he's already worked a kooky version of Superman out of his system. Now he's ready to play it straight. 

The head honcho of Marvel movies, Kevin Feige, acknowledged that Gunn's contributions to the MCU were invaluable and that his films made the Guardians of the Galaxy household names. Feige, also talking to the Hollywood Reporter, had nothing but support for Gunn, saying: "I'll be first in line to see anything he does. And Superman is a very important character to me and to the genre."

Gunn's DCU films will be sold under the banner "Gods and Monsters," and his writer's room will include Drew Goddard, Jeremy Slater, Christina Hodson, Christal Henry, and Tom King. Other projects have been hinted at, but "Superman: Legacy" is the only one to date to receive an official announcement.