James Gunn is an accomplished filmmaker—his Guardians of the Galaxy movies ran among Marvel Studios' best—but when it comes to running a studio, being DC's answer to Kevin Feige is proving harder than he likely anticipated.
Between bouts of squabbling with fans on social media—that, or confusing them with big promises or contradictory information—the Superman helmer has waxed lyrical about only greenlighting "finished" scripts. He's also talked a lot about ensuring they meet a certain standard of "quality."
The first reviews for Supergirl have been mixed-to-negative, with the recurring complaint being that the script is not good or downright bad.
While harsh, Variety's verdict sums up how many critics seem to feel about Ana Nogueira's screenplay:
"James Gunn, along with Peter Safran, knew that he was launching DC Studios right into the teeth of superhero fatigue. Gunn got asked a lot about how he was going to avoid that, and the key thing he said was: We’re not going into production on any movie until the script we have is rock-solid. For that was the overriding problem with the superhero overkill era: The films had lousy scripts, which were used as grids on which to layer the visual effects. Gunn was right to want to take the comic-book genre back to well-structured screenwriting basics. So what has he done in his second DC outing? He’s given us a comic-book movie with the worst script I can remember."
Criticism like this lands particularly hard because Gunn has repeatedly positioned strong screenwriting as the foundation of his DCU strategy. As a result, his words are coming back to haunt him in a big way on social media, as, after just one not-great movie, DC fans start questioning whether he's the right person to be in charge of the DCU.
It's important to remember that Creature Commandos, Superman, and Peacemaker Season 2 all received glowing reviews. Elements of the latter two didn't sit right with some fans, but for the most part, those were all well-received. Supergirl is the first movie that Gunn has neither written nor directed, but he's heaped praise on Nogueira's work and hired her to write Teen Titans and Wonder Woman.
Gunn has called Supergirl's script "incredible," and said it was "above and beyond anything I hoped it would be." In fact, he described Supergirl as a "beautiful, star-spanning tale." Of course, the DC Studios co-CEO also called The Flash "one of the greatest movies ever made" (and, yes, that is a direct quote). It's not surprising then that many fans are starting to lose faith in his vision.
Man of Tomorrow will almost certainly be a fantastic blockbuster next summer. However, Gunn's tastes seemingly don't align with those of fans or critics. He loved The Flash so much that he hired director Andy Muschietti and writer Christina Hodson to develop The Brave and the Bold. One of the most important movies in the DCU slate is now in the hands of a duo that delivered one of the worst movies ever made.
As noted, Nogueira is currently writing the Wonder Woman reboot, despite Supergirl's script being eviscerated by critics. We can't discount the possibility that Supergirl was ruined in the editing room, but Gunn is calling the shots at DC Studios and gave it his approval to be released in its current state.
Next up is Clayface, a movie that was described as Mike Flanagan's passion project, only for Gunn to hand it to writer Hossein Amini and filmmaker James Watkins. That was all so DC Studios would have a low-budget title in theaters this year after Sgt. Rock fell apart shortly before shooting started. Fortunately, Gunn does have an eye for casting, as Milly Alcock's performance is being praised in all reviews.
One disappointing film isn't enough to call for Gunn's head. However, the response to Supergirl suggests Gunn may need to reassess how closely his creative instincts align with broader audiences and fans if he hopes to sustain long-term confidence in his leadership.