James Gunn speaks out on the current state of superhero movies: 'People have gotten really lazy'
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James Gunn knows the superhero genre is flailing. Now, as a co-CEO of DC Studios alongside Peter Safran, he wants to shake up the status quo.
In a recent interview on Michael Rosenbaum's Inside of You podcast, Gunn shared what he sees as some of the flaws with modern superhero movies.
"People have gotten really lazy with their superhero stories," Gunn said. "And they have gotten to the place where, 'Oh, it's a superhero, let's make a movie about it.' And then, 'Oh, let's make a sequel, because the first one did pretty well,' and they aren't thinking about, 'Why is this story special? What makes this story stand apart from other stories? What is the story at the heart of it all? Why is this character important? What makes this story different that it fills a need for people in theaters to go see?'"
Jessica Miglio/Warner Bros./Courtesy Everett Collection James Gunn directing Idris Elba on the set of 'The Suicide Squad'
It's no secret that this year's superhero outings haven't been the box office juggernauts that the genre has steadily supplied over the past decade. Gunn's Marvel swan song Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3 is the second-biggest box office success of the year so far, but would-be blockbusters like Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and DC's own The Flash have struggled with audiences.
"People have gotten a little lazy and there's a lot of biff-pow-bam stuff happening in movies and I'm watching third acts of superhero films where I really just don't feel like there's a rhyme or reason to what's happening," Gunn said. "I don't care about the characters. And they've gotten too generic."
Gunn, who doesn't name any titles specifically, has been vocally supportive of the films he inherited after taking over DC Studios. Still, one could easily apply his criticism to the studio's recent output. For instance, his note about sequels that fail to focus on "what makes this story stand apart from other stories" feels relevant to Shazam! Fury of the Gods, which mostly eschewed the superheroes-meet-Big energy of the first Shazam! film in favor of over-the-top violence and fantasy characters that had little connection to the character's comic-book source material. Third acts with no rhyme or reason? That could certainly apply to The Flash.
Gunn has some ideas about how to refresh the genre. One is to make fewer superhero movies and not "overextend" — although the new DC regime has already announced several projects, including Gunn's Superman: Legacy film. Another is to vary up the subgenres.
"I like very serious superhero movies, and I like very comedic superhero movies," Gunn said. "I like ones that are a murder mystery but it's with superheroes. I like to see these different types of stories, as opposed to seeing the same story told over and over again."
That could explain some of the movies on DC's new slate, such as Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow (based on the comic series by Tom King and Bilquis Evely that takes place almost entirely on alien planets) and Batman: The Brave and the Bold (which will exist alongside Robert Pattinson's The Batman franchise and presumably aim for a lighter tone).
Watch the full interview above.
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