James Gunn is a Marvel veteran. He famously directed and wrote Guardians of the Galaxy including the two sequel movies as well as the Special Presentation Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special. Even though his time at Marvel had its ups and downs, he was fired at one point but also made the company loads of money, he’s in full support of his former brethren.
Superman, Gunn’s first movie over at DC, is getting closer and closer to its release date of July 11 of this year. Just two weeks after on July 25, Marvel will be releasing Fantastic Four: First Steps. The box office will mimic the heat the of the summer with these two releases alone, but there are several more big movies coming out.
The competition is on between Marvel and DC. There’s no shortage of discussion online about whether the Man of Steel, Marvel’s First Family, or both are going to be triumphant at the box office. Gunn, however, is in favor of both. He says there’s room for both Superman and Fantastic Four to thrive this summer and wants fans to keep the positivity front and center for both movies.
“They come out 2 weeks after us - there's room for us both! I love my friends at Marvel. You can find whatever discussions you'd want to find online. I'd focus on all the positivity around the films instead of getting sucked up in online fan wars.”
Fans and critics have been comparing everything about the two movies, something that’s hard to avoid when they’re releasing so close to each other. There’s been debate about which movie has the better costumes, which has bigger implications for the larger cinematic universe surrounding it, which has the more interesting villain, and, of course, which will be the better movie all together. But Gunn doesn’t want virtual war between fans over the movies. He wants fans to enjoy them both and be excited for both.
Marvel and DC are both feeling the pressure. While Marvel generally sees pretty impressive success from their movies, they cinematic giant has had some failures as of late. Out of the last four Marvel movies, Thunderbolts* seems to be set to lose one hundred million dollars, Captain America: Brave New World didn’t even break $300 million, Deadpool and Wolverine was a huge success, and The Marvels was an infamous flop. DC is just starting up a brand new universe after the commercial failure of the DCEU, so all eyes are on Superman for this new universe’s success.
Which summer blockbuster are you most excited for? Let us know in the comments!