By Chris Snellgrove
| Published
Lately, I’ve been watching all things created by James Gunn, from older stuff like Sliver to the newer episodes of Peacemaker. As I rewatched Superman, the excellent debut film for the DCU, it occurred to me that I was watching more than the Man of Steel defeat Lex Luthor. I was also watching Gunn casually dethroning former Marvel and DC director Joss Whedon as the beloved king of the nerds.
Back in 2012, Joss Whedon directed The Avengers, a critical and commercial smash hit that brought full ensemble storytelling to the MCU. It really felt like Whedon’s life had been leading to this, as he parlayed his fame as the creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer into a new career as a high-power superhero director. He went on to direct The Avengers: Age of Ultron and Justice League, but controversies with that DC film and Whedon’s personal life effectively ended a career that seemed like it had nowhere to go but up.
The Accusations Against Joss Whedon
As for the Avengers director’s personal life, his ex-wife Kai Cole wrote a blog post in 2017 alleging that Whedon had slept with actresses from Buffy and other productions he worked on; she didn’t name names, but her post (along with things like Whedon’s insanely misogynistic Wonder Woman TV pilot script) hurt Whedon’s reputation as a loud, proud, male feminist. After Justice League stars Ray Fisher and Gal Gadot alleged that Whedon mistreated them on set, his former Buffy and Angel star Charisma Carpenter alleged that Whedon was cruel to her on set, calling her fat and questioning whether she’d keep the baby after she got pregnant.
Carpenter was supported by former costars such as Sarah Michelle Gellar, David Boreanaz, and the late Michelle Trachtenberg, who went on to claim there was an on-set rule that Whedon wasn’t allowed to be alone with her (she was only 14 when she joined Buffy). Collectively, all of this sank Whedon’s career even as it doomed his reputation, making the avowed feminist seem like a misogynist. At the same time this was happening, though, Whedon was slowly getting replaced by James Gunn.
The Rise Of James Gunn
When Buffy was wrapping up, Gunn was a rising star in Hollywood, writing the scripts for both the Dawn of the Dead remake and the live-action Scooby-Doo films. He made his directorial debut in 2006 with Sliver, a hit horror film starring Whedon’s golden boy Nathan Fillion. Gunn did some other work, including directing the hilariously dark superhero satire Super, but it’s fair to say he didn’t become a mainstream superstar creator until the success of his MCU debut film Guardians of the Galaxy.
After Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 proved to be another major hit, Gunn was firmly established as one of the coolest figures in geek history. He had become quite a bit like Joss Whedon in that his name was now synonymous with work that was stylish and cool while still being unapologetically nerdy.
But then he faced the same challenge Whedon had faced: about a year after the Buffy creator’s wife wrote her devastating blog post, Gunn was fired by Disney after some of his seriously out-of-pocket old tweets resurfaced.
How James Gunn Recovered From Cancelation
These days, even Gunn is the first to admit that he thought this controversy was going to completely destroy his Hollywood career. But then something happened for the Guardians guru that never really happened for Whedon: his former actors, along with a legion of celebrities, fans, and media outlets, began to publicly support him and criticize Disney for its decision to let the director go.
Gunn came back to direct Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, but not before directing The Suicide Squad for Warner Bros. This laid the groundwork for Gunn to eventually become the co-chair of DC Studios, and his DCU debut film, Superman, proved to be a smash hit. And that success means that his former Marvel bosses now have to worry about a popular rival cinematic universe, even as the MCU is reeling from high-profile failures like The Thunderbolts and The Fantastic Four: First Steps.
James Gunn Has Never Claimed To Be A Champion Of Anything, Except Good Storytelling
In comparing their careers, I can’t help but notice that James Gunn had one thing Joss Whedon seemingly didn’t: the collective support of nearly everyone who previously worked with him. Gunn repeatedly acknowledged the immaturity of his provocative old social media posts and apologized for them, but everyone generally understood that these were just words (albeit childish and offensive words).
Whedon wrote his own narrative and made himself look like a champion of women. Meanwhile, his publicly acceptable persona was allegedly hiding (according to his ex-wife and multiple former actors) a dark history os misogyny, cruelty, and on-set abuse.
That brings us to the present day: Gunn’s career survived an attempted cancellation while Whedon’s entire career quietly faded away. And now, as the architect of the DCU, Gunn is doing for superhero films what even Whedon couldn’t do at the height of his power and influence. Move over, Joss: you’ve been dethroned as the king of the nerds.
And judging from how much fun Gunn seems to be having, one thing remains clear. It’s good to be the king!
