Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3 Proves James Gunn Can Make A Superman Movie
In his career, James Gunn has written or directed eight superhero-based movies and TV shows. Early on, Gunn seemed eager to deconstruct the world of superheroes with their petty, human qualities (as in "The Specials") or the dark side of their devotion to violence (as in "Super"). As his career has continued, however, Gunn's work has become more earnest, and he has altered his focus toward quirky, violent characters who, now, possess a great deal of warmth and vulnerability.
For example, his first "Guardians of the Galaxy" film from 2014 was presented as the "bad boy" off-shoot of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, featuring characters that were stranger and less brazenly heroic than their Earthbound counterparts. But, despite their oddness, the PG-13-rated film had little interest in glorifying their outsider status, instead presenting them as an ersatz family, each one marked by trauma and abuse. Many of the film's fans responded to the Guardians' unabashed sentimentality, and one needn't search through social media very long to find ecstatic and weepy reactions. The "Guardians" movies have only become increasingly familial ever since.
And while Gunn still has the capacity for violent, snarky, R-rated material — he made the bloody "The Suicide Squad," its TV spinoff "Peacemaker," and produced a horror-inflected Superman-like movie called "Brightburn" — one can see a definite arc in his interests as an artist. It seems that Gunn has moved away from adolescent goopiness and toward a kind of respect and admiration of superheroes that one could not have guessed from watching "The Specials" and "Super."
So armed with that newfound earnest regard, Gunn is now poised to make a straightforward, sincere superhero movie. His next film will be "Superman: Legacy." It seems the timing is right.
The dry run
Not only will Gunn be making "Superman: Legacy," but — with his creative partner Peter Safran — will be overseeing an entirely new series of films and TV shows based on characters from DC Comics. The decade-long, grim-'n'-gritty "Snyderverse" is more or less being wiped clean, and Gunn will be restarting things with more light and color; one might recall that most of the movies that spun out of Zack Snyder's 2013 film "Man of Steel" were drab, joyless, and featured a lot of meaningless, adolescent philosophizing. Gunn, perhaps ironically, seems to be maturing by moving away from Snyder's self-serious adolescence and into something more fresh-faced and childlike.
One of the clearest indicators of Gunn's views might be found in the character of Adam Warlock (Will Poulter), a Superman-ish character that Gunn characterizes well ... and also summarily pokes fun at. In the original comics, Adam Warlock was a self-styled Messiah figure who often touted his own greatness and floated through the cosmos pondering his existence and occasionally stealing souls with a magic gem in his forehead. In "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3," Adam Warlock is a newborn enforcer, an indestructible gopher for a powerful boss. While possessed of an aristocratic sense of self, he also doesn't possess a lot of agency. Warlock is powerful, thoughtful, and intelligent, but also innocent and naïve. The least fortunate thing about the character is that he's not in the film very much and serves little plot function.
Adam Warlock feels almost like a dry run for Superman. Like the Man of Steel, Adam Warlock possesses regality as well as an earnest need to help others. Warlock is more or less Superman with less down-home relatability and a touch more ego. Also better taste in music; Warlock prefers King Crimson.
Superman, Sr.
What's more, Adam Warlock resembles Superman in many ways. The flowing red cape is an obvious parallel, as Gunn's characters aren't typically of the cape-wearing variety. Adam Warlock seems to be invulnerable like Superman, super strong like Superman, and can effortlessly fly through the air like Superman. In one notable sequence in "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3," Adam Warlock soars at top speeds across the surface of a planet that has just begun exploding, and the Superman-like imagery is obvious.
Superman is often called godlike, but he rarely stops to think about the significance of his own godhood the way Adam Warlock did regularly. Warlock could literally snatch up souls. Superman could only lead by example.
But with a newly mature James Gunn at the helm, it seems that leading by example is what he now wants to do. He can film ultra-powerful characters in capes flying through the air, and he can tell stories about superheroes who no longer possess an incessant need to joke around or ponder their hurtful origins. Gunn has already gone on record talking about how "Superman: Legacy" will most assuredly not be like "Guardians of the Galaxy," and will most assuredly not be a comedy.
Looking at just his filmography alone – a filmography replete with snarky comedies and R-rated takedowns of the genre — one might be left feeling skeptical at Gunn's abilities to be serious. But looking over the finer emotional details in his body of work, it seems like Gunn has been heading in this direction for a moment. He's reached the point in his adult life when he can finally do something childish.