The Crazy Conversation Between Kevin Feige and James Gunn After His Firing: “Ugh… Are You Going to Do Superman?”
When James Gunn was briefly fired from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, the ripple effect ended up reshaping the entire superhero movie landscape. That moment opened the door for Gunn to eventually take the reins at DC Studios and give us the new Superman. But how that transition happened, and the conversations along the way, are fascinating.
On Dax Shepard’s Armchair Expert podcast, Gunn broke down how it all started when Warner Bros. came knocking:
“Toby Emmerich, from Warner Bros. at the time, came to me; was like ‘James Gunn’s Superman? James Gunn’s Superman?’, and I said, ‘I dunno man.’ Then he was like, ‘Well, what about Suicide Squad?’. And so I came up with an idea, I went and pitched it, they were like ‘Yes, let’s do it.’”
So, as we all know, before he was co-CEO of DC Studios and writing Superman, Gunn initially turned down the Man of Steel. Instead, he jumped into The Suicide Squad, a project that let him play in a different corner of the DC universe while still finishing his Guardians trilogy at Marvel, thanks to an unexpected twist.
“No joke, I went home and I got a phone call. It was Alan Horn, and he said, ‘James, I wonder if you could come in and see me tomorrow?’ … He said, ‘I wanted to hire you back.’ I said, ‘Oh. I’m gonna have to talk to Kevin.’”
That meant one more crucial conversation, with Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige. And here’s where things get really interesting. Gunn revealed a moment he hadn’t shared before:
“So I went to Kevin’s house … and he said, ‘This is amazing. This is so good. This is what I wanted.’ And I said, ‘Yeah, it’s good, but I have to do something else first.’ … And Kevin goes, ‘Ugh. Are you doing Superman?’ … I said, ‘No, I’m gonna do a Suicide Squad sequel,’ and he said, ‘Whoa.’”
Years before Gunn would actually take on Superman, the idea was already in the air, enough for Feige to assume that’s where he was headed. Gunn may not have been ready then, but fate clearly had other plans.
Fast forward to now, and Gunn is not only launched Superman, he’s building the foundation for an entirely new DC Cinematic Universe.
What do you think? Was Superman always destined to be James Gunn’s ultimate project?