James Gunn on the Marvel Approach vs DC
James Gunn recently spoke about the biggest differences between the Marvel approach to films and the DC/ Warners one. Although vastly different, their closer than you think.
Recently, Gunn sat down with The New York Times and focused for a minute on one of the biggest debates between fanboys in existence, Marvel vs. DC.
With the release of his upcoming DC film The Suicide Squad, Gunn officially becomes the first director to make live-action films for both Marvel and DC. Although the role comes with a bit of stigma, Gunn says that both studios have basically the same approach.
James Gunn on Marvel:
This gives him a unique perspective on what it’s like to work for both and where the strengths of each lie. He explains there aren’t as many differences as people think between Disney and Warners’ approaches to their respective franchises. On the Marvel front:
“There’s no doubt [Marvel chief] Kevin Feige is way more involved with editing than people are at Warner Bros. He gives more notes. You don’t have to take them and I don’t always take them.
Then again, I had more problems. If you saw the first cut of “Guardians” 1, it had more problems, because that was my first time making something so gigantic and there’s some learning to what works and what doesn’t, carving away the excess stuff.
The truth is, as Marvel goes on and Kevin Feige starts to amass ownership of half of all film in general, he’s more spread out.”
James Gunn goes on to talk about how he thinks DC has a unique situation in that each film has the ability to be completely different from its respected counterparts. This is very different from the Disney/Marvel model that follows a formula very closely.
Gunn says that this approach allows the DC films to change things drastically from film-to-film to keep it fresh, even if it produces uneven results.
He was asked if it felt strange to him that some of the DC film are super-rated R (The Suicide Squad) while others are extremely family friendly (Shazam!), he says:
“I think it’s great. That is the one of the ways in which DC can distinguish itself from Marvel. What I do is very different from what Peyton Reed does, it’s very different from what Jon Favreau did, it’s different from Taika Waititi.
But not as different as Shazam! and Suicide Squad however. I think the current batch of folks over at Warner Bros. are really interested in building out a world and creating something that’s unique to the filmmakers. We’re in a strange time, so anything can happen.
I do find, because of the ability to do different stuff in the DC multiverse, it’s fun. They’re starting to really resemble their comic books.
The Marvel Universe has always been a little more cohesive, and DC has always had more great single runs. They had The Dark Knight Returns, Watchmen, The Killing Joke. They had Alan Moore’s Swamp Thing.
The fact that they did Joker, which is a totally different type of movie, that to me is cool. I’m very excited about Matt’s movie [The Batman, from Matt Reeves].
They’re getting some really good filmmakers involved. They’re always going to be hit or miss – I just don’t want them to get boring.”
James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad dropped in theaters and on HBO Max this past weekend, and it was a breath of fresh air for a studio that’s been failing to meet audience expectation.
The Suicide Squad was incredibly different from the rest of the DC films, but still retained James Gunn’s unique signature. It wasn’t trying too hard to be something its not, and still found a way to stand firmly on its own.
