As the co-CEO of DC Studios who spend the better part of a decade working for the competition by spearheading the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Guardians of the Galaxy franchise, James Gunn always had a tough task on his hands to win over the naysayers, never mind the fact he isn’t Zack Snyder and has no interest in resurrecting the filmmaker’s abandoned corner of the rival universe.
However, things have been taking more unsavory turns than usual recently, which is saying something. Soon after a band of rogue trolls incredulously accused Gunn of weaponizing the death of his own father coinciding with the release date of Superman: Legacy to try and steal the spotlight away from Snyder’s vague and mysterious tease, he found himself responding to people holding him personally responsible for his wife Jennifer Holland becoming a mainstay of the DCU.
Just when you thought things couldn’t possibly get any more bizarre or outlandish, the writer and director’s celebratory post regarding Guardians of the Galaxy‘s Chinese theatrical rollout has seen him branded as a sympathizer of the regular-controversial nation and its in-house policies. Needless to say, some of the more… questionable responses aren’t worth reposting, but haters always gonna hate.
This is just getting ridiculous now, but such is the way of the world. On the plus side, Gunn doesn’t seem to care much about what people think or have to say about his contributions to both Marvel and DC, but it’s hard to remember anyone else being branded as having outed themselves as a staunch ally and supporter of the Chinese government just because they had one of their movies release there.
Hell, James Cameron releases and re-releases Titanic and Avatar all the time over there, and he doesn’t come in for the same treatment. Then again, he doesn’t like superhero cinema, so maybe that’s the reason.