Long before he brought Superman back to life with his new blockbuster, James Gunn thought of himself as a hero. Back in 2010, the filmmaker — not then as powerful as he is now — directed low-budget dark comedy Super. It starred Rainn Wilson from the US version of The Office as Frank, a loner convinced God wants him to be a superhero. Laughs came from Frank’s homemade costume but they grew uneasy in a film with an oddly violent flavour. “Frank is me, in many ways,” Gunn said then. It didn’t make the comedy any more comfortable.
But Hollywood will always have a place for the kind of good guy who delivers what Gunn, 58, can at the box office. Starting in 2014, he made three hugely popular films in the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise. Together, they earned $2.5bn. Now the chance has come for Gunn to put his stamp on Superman — the most super of all heroes.
Gunn’s story has not been without controversy. In 2018, his career derailed after crass historic tweets were uncovered. But his exile was brief and his ensuing success has enabled him to ascended to the C-suite. As well as writing and directing Superman, Gunn is now his own producer, as co-chairman and co-chief executive of DC Studios, the comic book arm of Warner Bros Discovery. The appointment was made in 2022 by Warner CEO David Zaslav. Despite the weirdness of some of his earlier work, Gunn is known as a genial figure. Zaslav has a reputation for being hard-headed. Yet his regard for Gunn is such that he has let him make a very personal Superman film for a reported $225mn.