James Gunn talks the differences between working with Marvel & DC

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

James Gunn is in a very interesting position as a filmmaker being the first and only director so far to have directing credits in both the MCU and the DCEU. He helped create a fascinating world for Marvel with the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise and he's now bringing his unique sensibilities to DC with the upcoming release of The Suicide Squad. Since he's the first filmmaker to be in this position, Gunn was asked if he saw any major differences between working with the two entities and he gave some very honest and to-the-point answers about their different approaches to their films.

The question came up during an interview with "The New York Times" and Gunn first responded by saying that DC Films does not have an all-involved presence like Marvel has with head-honcho Kevin Feige. Here is what he had to say:

"There's no doubt Kevin Feige is way more involved with editing than people are at Warmer Bros. He gives more notes. You don't have to take them and I don't always take them. Then again, I had more problems. If you saw the first cut of Guardians 1, it had more problems, because that was my first time making something so gigantic and there's some learning to what works and what doesn't, carving away the excess stuff. The truth is, as Marvel goes on and Kevin Feige starts to amass ownership of half of all film in general, he's more spread out."

His compliments for DC Films begin when he starts talking about their desire to prioritize a filmmaker's vision over the interconnected storytelling that has made Marvel what it is today. Gunn said, "That is one of the ways in which DC can distinguish itself from Marvel…I think the current batch of folks over at Warner Bros. are really interested in building out a world and creating something that's unique to the filmmakers. We're in a strange time so anything can happen."

While Gunn has made it pretty clear that Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 will be his last hurrah with Marvel, he seems much more open to working with DC Films again because there is more opportunity to do different things:

"I do find, because of the ability to do different stuff in the DC multiverse, it's fun. They're starting to really resemble comic books. The Marvel Universe has always been a little more cohesive, and DC has always had more great single runs. They had "The Dark Knight Returns." They had 'Watchmen.' They had 'The Killing Joke.' They had Alan Moore's 'Swamp Thing.' The fact that they did 'Joker', which is a totally different type of movie, that to me is cool. I'm very excited about Matt's movie [The Batman, from Matt Reeves]. They're getting some really good filmmakers involved. They're always going to be hit or miss, I just don't want them to get boring."

Gunn clearly sees the pros of working for both Marvel and DC but it seems as if he had more creative freedom working with DC Films and they mostly left him to his own devices. That being said, his comment about the first cut of Guardians 1 shows that you need someone like Kevin Feige in charge to step in and give notes when necessary.

What are YOUR thoughts on his comments regarding the differences between working with Marvel and DC?