By Chris Snellgrove
| Revealed 1 hour in the past
Recently, I’ve been watching all issues created by James Gunn, from older stuff like Sliver to the newer episodes of Peacemaker. As I rewatched Superman, the superb debut movie for the DCU, it occurred to me that I used to be watching greater than the Man of Metal defeat Lex Luthor. I used to be additionally watching Gunn casually dethroning former Marvel and DC director Joss Whedon because the beloved king of the nerds.
Again in 2012, Joss Whedon directed The Avengers, a vital and business smash hit that introduced full ensemble storytelling to the MCU. It actually felt like Whedon’s life had been resulting in this, as he parlayed his fame because the creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer into a brand new profession as a high-power superhero director. He went on to direct The Avengers: Age of Ultron and Justice League, however controversies with that DC movie and Whedon’s private life successfully ended a profession that appeared prefer it had nowhere to go however up.
The Accusations Towards Joss Whedon
As for the Avengers director’s private life, his ex-wife Kai Cole wrote a weblog put up in 2017 alleging that Whedon had slept with actresses from Buffy and different productions he labored on; she didn’t title names, however her put up (together with issues like Whedon’s insanely misogynistic Marvel Lady TV pilot script) harm Whedon’s repute as a loud, proud, male feminist. After Justice League stars Ray Fisher and Gal Gadot alleged that Whedon mistreated them on set, his former Buffy and Angel star Charisma Carpenter alleged that Whedon was merciless to her on set, calling her fats and questioning whether or not she’d maintain the newborn after she obtained pregnant.
Carpenter was supported by former costars corresponding to Sarah Michelle Gellar, David Boreanaz, and the late Michelle Trachtenberg, who went on to say there was an on-set rule that Whedon wasn’t allowed to be alone along with her (she was solely 14 when she joined Buffy). Collectively, all of this sank Whedon’s profession even because it doomed his repute, making the avowed feminist appear to be a misogynist. On the identical time this was taking place, although, Whedon was slowly getting changed by James Gunn.
The Rise Of James Gunn
When Buffy was wrapping up, Gunn was a rising star in Hollywood, writing the scripts for each the Daybreak of the Lifeless remake and the live-action Scooby-Doo movies. He made his directorial debut in 2006 with Sliver, successful horror movie starring Whedon’s golden boy Nathan Fillion. Gunn did another work, together with directing the hilariously darkish superhero satire Tremendous, nevertheless it’s truthful to say he didn’t turn out to be a mainstream celebrity creator till the success of his MCU debut movie Guardians of the Galaxy.
After Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 proved to be one other main hit, Gunn was firmly established as one of many coolest figures in geek historical past. He had turn out to be fairly a bit like Joss Whedon in that his title was now synonymous with work that was fashionable and funky whereas nonetheless being unapologetically nerdy.
However then he confronted the identical problem Whedon had confronted: a couple of yr after the Buffy creator’s spouse wrote her devastating weblog put up, Gunn was fired by Disney after a few of his critically out-of-pocket previous tweets resurfaced.
How James Gunn Recovered From Cancelation
As of late, even Gunn is the primary to confess that he thought this controversy was going to fully destroy his Hollywood profession. However then one thing occurred for the Guardians guru that by no means actually occurred for Whedon: his former actors, together with a legion of celebrities, followers, and media retailers, started to publicly assist him and criticize Disney for its determination to let the director go.
Gunn got here again to direct Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, however not earlier than directing The Suicide Squad for Warner Bros. This laid the groundwork for Gunn to finally turn out to be the co-chair of DC Studios, and his DCU debut movie, Superman, proved to be a smash hit. And that success signifies that his former Marvel bosses now have to fret a couple of in style rival cinematic universe, even because the MCU is reeling from high-profile failures like The Thunderbolts and The Improbable 4: First Steps.
James Gunn Has By no means Claimed To Be A Champion Of Something, Besides Good Storytelling
In evaluating their careers, I can’t assist however discover that James Gunn had one factor Joss Whedon seemingly didn’t: the collective assist of almost everybody who beforehand labored with him. Gunn repeatedly acknowledged the immaturity of his provocative previous social media posts and apologized for them, however everybody typically understood that these had been simply phrases (albeit infantile and offensive phrases).
Whedon wrote his personal narrative and made himself seem like a champion of ladies. In the meantime, his publicly acceptable persona was allegedly hiding (in response to his ex-wife and a number of former actors) a darkish historical past os misogyny, cruelty, and on-set abuse.
That brings us to the current day: Gunn’s profession survived an tried cancellation whereas Whedon’s whole profession quietly pale away. And now, because the architect of the DCU, Gunn is doing for superhero movies what even Whedon couldn’t do on the top of his energy and affect. Transfer over, Joss: you’ve been dethroned because the king of the nerds.
And judging from how a lot enjoyable Gunn appears to be having, one factor stays clear. It’s good to be the king!
