James Gunn Just Fixed Marvel’s Biggest Problem

By Chris Snellgrove
| Published 29 minutes ago

The other night, I was leaving the movie theater with some friends, and we began to pass the posters advertising upcoming films. I pointed to the poster featuring ClayfaceDC’s upcoming movie written by horror legend Mike Flanagan. I told a buddy how much I was looking forward to watching it; without missing a beat, he said, “It takes place in the same universe as Supergirlyou know.” I didn’t need to be Batman to see his point: namely, that it’s a little absurd to imagine the colorful, wisecracking adventures of a flying party girl taking place in the same cinematic universe as a grounded psychological thriller about madness and murder.

However, Supergirl director Craig Gillespie recently explained how such very different films can easily coexist within the DCU. In an interview with Fandango, he admitted he was worried about how much of Supergirl needed to “be part of the DC universe.” When he asked James Gunn, the DCU Studios guru replied, “’We’re treating this like each is its own graphic novel.” Gillespie leaned into this, believing that great graphic novels can and should be visually and narratively distinct, which is why Supergirl looks and feels so different than Superman. Reading this, I couldn’t help but think of something profound: James Gunn’s fanboyism just helped him fix the problem that sank the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

A Different Kind Of Hero

Part of why fans were so excited by the MCU in the first place was that it felt like the comics it was inspired by. Characters would often pop up in each other’s movies and occasionally all get together for superhero showdowns like The Avengers. However, the nature of this shared universe kept writers, directors, and producers from treating individual movies like their own, self-contained graphic novels. Eventually, the vast majority of MCU films began to feel less distinct because creators were forced to fit their story within the confines of Marvel’s house style. That meant endless quippy jokes and broad comedy, regardless of whether it suited the character or not.

While Iron Man set the tone for a more lighthearted universe, the MCU didn’t get completely silly until the success of The Avengers. Audiences responded insanely well to the self-referential humor and witty dialogue from director Joss Whedon, whose shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Firefly taught an entire generation of nerds to love this style of writing. This inspired James Gunn to go full quirky with Guardians of the Galaxyand after audiences fell in love, all bets were off. The MCU came to be dominated by comedic characters like the Guardians and Spider-Man, and even relatively serious heroes like Thor and Hulk became goofy caricatures.

Marvel: All Formula, No Flavor

What do Supergirl director Craig Gillespie’s recent comments about the DCU have to do with Marvel’s mania for silliness? For one thing, the broad comedy of the MCU isn’t going away anytime soon. While Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars will be serious, Endgame-style affairs, Marvel guru Kevin Feige will be centering a rebooted cinematic universe largely around the X-Men. Not only are these mutants known for their humor, but their first film will be directed by Jake Schreier, whose Thunderbolts was another broad, ensemble comedy. It seems like the “new” MCU will be more of the same, but the DCU is gearing up to finally deliver something new to superhero fans.

Per Gillespie, Gunn’s comments about treating each DCU movie as its own graphic novel means that we can finally have something Marvel never really gave us: an interconnected universe made up of wildly different stories. The DC comics are the same way, with horror titles like Alan Moore’s Swamp Thing existing side-by-side with gloriously goofy titles like Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen. As a longtime comic fan, I love the idea that DCU movies may be equally different in terms of tone, humor, aesthetics, and more. Honestly, that’s far more exciting than watching yet another Marvel movie that has been sufficiently watered down to fit some boring, focus group-driven house style.

Long story not so short? It’s clear that Supergirl is going to have a very different tone and feel than Supermanand Clayface looks like it will be in its own completely new category of weirdness. However, that’s a good thing. Whereas the MCU fell off when all of its movies became crappy knockoffs of the original Avengersthe DCU is poised to thrive by making every movie feel distinct. This is all due to DCU Studios head honcho James Gunn treating these movies with the same reverence he treats the source material. Does that make him a fanboy? Sure. But you know what they say: it takes one to entertain one!