The famous Marvel and DC director James Gunn explained in a podcast what the biggest problem with today’s superhero productions is.
James Gunn is a well-known film writer and director. Under his direction, films such as the Guardians of the Galaxy from Marvel and the DC blockbuster The Suicide Squad were released.
In the meantime, James Gunn has been promoted, along with Peter Safran, to the heads of DC Studios.
In a podcast, Gunn talked about superhero movies and explained what problems many of them are facing today.
Here you see a trailer for the latest Guardians of the Galaxy directed by James Gunn:
The problem is not that there are too many superheroes
On June 13, 2023, the famous filmmaker was a guest on the podcast “Inside of You” with Michael Rosenbaum.
James Gunn is asked whether he believes there are currently too many superhero movies and series.
The director confirms this but adds immediately that the biggest problem is a very different one:
People have become very lazy when it comes to their superhero stories, and they have reached a point where they say: ‘Oh, it’s a superhero, let’s make a movie about it.’
And then: ‘Oh, let’s make a sequel because the first (film) worked pretty well.’ And they don’t think about why this story is special, what makes this story different from others.
What is the story at its core? Why is the character important? What makes this story different so that it can meet a need of cinema and TV viewers?
James Gunn via YouTube
James Gunn thus primarily criticizes the originality of today’s superhero films. They do not think enough about what the unique selling point of the hero’s story is and what makes the main character so special.
Here you can see the YouTube clip. Jump to timestamp 0:35 to hear James Gunn’s statement on current superhero films:
The director further explains that he lacks the reason behind many films with poor stories. Also, he often finds the characters completely uninteresting to him. Many superhero productions have become too generic and are very similar in nature.
James Gunn would like to see different genre influences within a film instead of being presented with the same type over and over again.
He concludes from this problem that people are not tired of superheroes, but of the repetitions within the genre.
