All said, James Gunn has done very well out of the controversy that saw him unceremoniously kicked off Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. The manufactured outrage based on decade-old tweets had him being booted off the project, and while he was apparently never officially fired, he spent his time in the wilderness being courted by rival companies eager for his magic touch.
Now, he’s back in the director’s chair, and in the unusual position of simultaneously working on a Marvel and a DC film, with The Suicide Squad set for release on August 6th, 2021 and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 earmarked for 2022. But, as revealed today, once production wraps on Vol. 3, Gunn might be returning to the DCEU to supervise its creative direction.
The story’s being reported by Cosmic Book News, whose industry insiders say that Warner Bros. “loves” Gunn, and that he’s got plenty of ideas for what to do with their stable of characters. And while we’d take it with a grain of salt given given there’s no official source cited, this story fits with what we heard in early June, which was that the studio are so impressed by how The Suicide Squad is shaping up that they want him to “get the DCEU back in shape.”
Word is that Gunn will be attached as producer to a number of DCEU projects to advise, but right now it’s anyone’s guess as to precisely what that’ll entail. Matt Reeves’ The Batman is probably too far along for him to have any real involvement in, but if he’s going to be the ideas man as the DCEU goes forward, we should see a lighter and jokier tone for the franchise. Interestingly, what we’ve heard about the direction of Birds of Prey sounds in line with this philosophy, which may add credence to the story.
However, even if that were the case, both Warner Bros. and Disney clearly have no objections to Gunn working in both universes at once, so don’t count him out of the MCU just yet.