From 'Guardians' to 'Superman': James Gunn addresses his career shift

Jame’s Gunn, an American filmmaker and director of Guardians of the Galaxy, marks a new chapter in his career and a definitive break from his marvel past.

After the successful launch of the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise, Gunn admitted during a recent appearance on the Armchair Expert podcast, 'thought my career was over.' However, a new opportunity soon knocked on his door.

Gunn shared “Toby Emmerich from Warner Bros. at the time came to me. He’s like, ‘James Gunn’s Superman?'”

He continued, “I said, ‘I don’t know, man.’ And then he was like, ‘Well, what about Suicide Squad?’ So I came up with an idea. I went and pitched it. They were like, ‘Yes, let’s do it.”

Later in the conversation, Gunn recalled a call from then-Disney CCO Alan Horn.

“I went over to Kevin’s house. I went into his basement where he’s got all his Star Wars figures like a little museum and he said, ‘This is amazing.’ I’m like, ‘Yeah, it’s good, but I have to do something else first.’ And — oh my God, I didn’t remember this until right now — Kevin goes, ‘Ugh, are you doing Superman?'”

He then clarified that there were no hard feelings toward Marvel leadership. “Lou [D’Esposito] and Kevin were great,” Gunn said. “They were completely supportive… But I didn’t feel guilt at all. I mean, I had to take a job! I took a job [with] people that I also really liked, and that was it.”

For those unversed, in 2014, James Gunn launched the most memorable franchises in the Marvel Universe, Guardians of the Galaxy. He wrote and directed both Guardians of the Galaxy and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.

He officially left Marvel Cinematic Universe in October 2022 to take a prestigious job at Warner Bros. alongside his creative partner Peter Safran.