James Gunn rose from levels of obscurity — from working with Lloyd Kaufman at his graphically crass movie studio Troma Films to being a large figure in the comic book movie community. Troma Films and Kaufman himself have an extreme, immature, off-putting sense of humor that can easily offend the general mass audience (his famed Toxic Avenger film was a comedy that also featured a graphic scene of a child getting run over by a car repeatedly). Gunn adopted that style of humor and had a past of tweeting disturbing statements played for humor.
When these decade-old tweets resurfaced, the public was understandably shaken by the nature of them. And Marvel Studios would decide to part with Gunn. The Hollywood Reporter reflects with Gunn on his firing and how his Guardians cast came to his support. Gunn and his star, Chris Pratt, are close friends with seemingly differing philosophies. After Gunn’s departure, Pratt would text him Bible verses for strength and support, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.”
Pratt and his co-star, Zoe Saldaña, took a private meeting with Marvel Studios higher-ups, including Kevin Feige, in an effort to resolve the situation, while Dave Bautista called out the studio on Twitter, “Nauseating to work for someone who’d empower a smear campaign by fascists.” Gunn is an outspoken liberal and would be the target of many conservative figures on the social media platform.
Regardless of political stances, his cast had formed a familial relationship with each other with the director at the center. “This was a man who took chances on us, and it just made sense for us to have his back when he needed it the most,” Zoe Saldaña stated. Kevin Feige has been dealing with a bevy of emotionally troublesome situations at Marvel and he knows the stakes for the future of the company have heightened, “Every release we have means everything to us. We still are the people that remember when we only had one or two movies a year where we just put all our chips in. That’s what every film is for us. And this in particular is extra emotional because of the journey with James.”
This particular controversy seems to have quelled, although Gunn is dealing with a whole new can of worms as the head of DC films and making controversial decisions that are proving to be unpopular with fans. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is said to be emotional and is drawing Endgame comparisons, so Gunn is going out on his own terms while starting the new slate at DC.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 will be released in theaters on May 5.