James Gunn Says His SUPERMAN Was Shaped by His Marvel Firing: “I Don’t Think That I Would’ve Written the Superman That I Wrote”
James Gunn has talked a lot about what inspired his take on Superman like classic comics, giant monsters, emotional storytelling, but now he’s added something more personal to the list, that time Disney and Marvel fired him.
In a recent Rolling Stone interview, Gunn opened up about how his unexpected dismissal from Marvel in 2018 (over resurfaced tweets) changed more than just his career path. It also rewired the way he writes, and who he’s writing for.
“There’s no doubt that without that experience, I don’t think that I would’ve written the Superman that I wrote.
“I definitely wouldn’t be doing this job if I didn’t get fired, but I don’t know if I’d be doing this job even if it wasn’t for that. I just don’t think that a character that pure would’ve quite appealed to me.”
Before the firing, Gunn admitted his storytelling had been shaped by a kind of people-pleasing instinct—pushing boundaries, going dark, throwing punches wrapped in humor. But that event forced a shift.
“I don’t think that opened the door to me writing the pure Superman. That opened the door for me to stop creating so that people would like me. That’s downplaying it – so people would love me. I think on some level, everything I had done came from a pleasing place.”
DC had offered Gunn the Superman job years ago, but he turned it down. He wasn’t ready. Not for the character, and not for the kind of storytelling Superman demands.
“I needed the right way in, and that required time to think through a few thousand options before I got to the way that I thought worked. But I do also think that my life, and career, has been a gradual softening of the edges.
“I still like black comedy. I still have edges. But I used to like provoking a lot. And today, although I still seem to do it, I don’t really like doing that. In my heart, I’m pretty sentimental. I just believe in basic human values. I think Guardians of the Galaxy was a good starter kit for that.”
When Marvel eventually reinstated Gunn for Guardians Vol. 3, it marked the end of one era and the beginning of another. The trilogy’s final chapter was also its most emotional, and in hindsight, a stepping stone toward the more idealistic tone of Superman.
“They [Guardians] have a lot of heart, but they do have their own weirdness and oddities and edginess, and Superman isn’t that, even though he does from the outside have a lot of oddness.
“A flying dog in a cape is odd. Giant walking robots, and kaijus – that’s all odd. But the very-good nature of him, this really strong belief in what’s right, sometimes perhaps to a fault, is what makes Superman who he is."
That kind of sincerity is something Gunn once might’ve undercut with a joke, but is now it’s front and center in his vision for DC’s next era.
“And that is not Star-Lord or Rocket. That’s not a guy who’s angry or covering up his emotions. He’s pretty pure. And so getting to the place where I could write that character was a journey.
“In the past I would’ve done it through making fun of the character, and I don’t think that’s what I do here. I’m less afraid now than I used to be. I allow myself to be purely creative more than I used to.
“And I thought I was being purely creative, but a lot of times it was just anger releasing itself in another way. I’m less afraid of being goofy or sentimental, or boring or straight.”
Superman isn’t just a reboot for DC. It’s a reset for Gunn himself, who is now an artist more comfortable with hope than sarcasm, and more interested in showing us what’s good than mocking what is.