Warner Bros. Offered James Gunn Superman Before 'The Suicide Squad'
Since James Gunn was unfortunately fired from directing Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, he's now jumped over to Warner Bros. Pictures to tackle their own misfit comic book sequel, The Suicide Squad. However, before the studio gave him control of the unlikely comic book heroes, they offered him the Man of Steel.
That's right. Back when Warner Bros. was still courting James Gunn for a new gig following his departure from Marvel Studios, they gave him the opportunity to pick any of their available properties. Superman was one of them, and even though he didn't end up taking the job, he did take a liking to one aspect of the Man of Steel's comic book history.
The Hollywood Reporter's Heat Vision newsletter has details on comic book opportunities offered up to James Gunn by Warner Bros. Pictures. The trade says:
"When Warners was courting Gunn, the studio gave him his pick of properties, including Superman. Though Gunn never got far enough along to seriously consider tackling a Superman movie, the filmmaker did take a shine to the Man of Steel's superpowered dog Krypto during his comics research — which makes sense for a man who turned a talking raccoon into one of Marvel's most popular big screen characters."
It should come as no surprise that James Gunn took a liking to Krypto. After all, Gunn loves his own dog Dr. Wesley Von Spears, giving him cameos in nearly all of his projects. The canine even inspired the behavior and look of both Groot and Rocket Raccoon. Maybe he'll have a hand in bringing Krypto to life in the DC Super Pets movie that will arrive the same year that The Suicide Squad hits theaters. Or maybe he'll end up giving Krypto his own movie at some point.
Even though we won't get to see James Gunn's take on Superman in an official capacity, we'll get a different kind of Man of Steel story from the filmmaker. James Gunn is a producer on the superhuman horror story BrightBurn, which is basically a darker, twisted take on Superman's arrival on Earth as a child. The script hails from his brother Brian Gunn and cousin Mark Gunn while David Yarovesky has directing duties.
Hopefully James Gunn's hiring at Warner Bros. Pictures will help improve the comic book franchises from DC Comics. It's a shame that we won't get to see what he would have done behind the camera with Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. But at the very least, Marvel Studios will still be using his script for the third installment of the franchise. So we'll have to take what we can get.