James Gunn is officially leaving his Marvel days behind as his new chapter with DC Studios begins, starting with the upcoming release of Superman.
With the highly anticipated film hitting theaters on July 11, the director reflected on his path from Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy to leading DC’s rebooted cinematic universe.
Speaking on the Armchair Expert podcast, Gunn looked back at his unexpected firing from Marvel in 2018, a moment that left him uncertain about his future.
“I thought my career was over,” he admitted. But things took a turn when Warner Bros. came calling.
“Toby Emmerich from Warner Bros. at the time came to me. He’s like, ‘James Gunn’s Superman?’ 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.’”
That pitch led to the 2021 film The Suicide Squad, which Gunn completed before eventually returning to Marvel for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 in 2023.
But even as he stepped back into the Marvel universe, his future was already moving in a different direction.
Gunn recalled that on the same day he got the Suicide Squad offer, then-Disney CCO Alan Horn reached out after Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige pushed to bring him back.
“I went over to Kevin’s house,” Gunn shared.
“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?’”
Despite leaving Marvel to take on DC projects, Gunn said he never felt conflicted about the move.
“No, I just shook my head. I didn’t feel that way because I was fired,” he said. “Listen, there are people that I’m not that happy with over there [at Disney], but that certainly wasn’t the Marvel guys, you know? They were completely supportive
[Marvel Studios Co-President] Louis D’Esposito called me all the time. Lou and Kevin were great. So it certainly wasn’t them. 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.”
Now co-heading DC Studios with Peter Safran, Gunn is launching a new vision for the DC Universe.
Superman marks the beginning of the Gods and Monsters chapter, with David Corenswet taking on the iconic role of Clark Kent.
He stars alongside Rachel Brosnahan as Lois Lane, Nicholas Hoult as Lex Luthor, and María Gabriela de Faría as The Engineer. The cast also features Skyler Gisondo, Sara Sampaio, Sean Gunn, Edi Gathegi, Anthony Carrigan, Isabela Merced, and Nathan Fillion.
