James Gunn Reveals What He Believes Is the Most Important Superhero

While he has said (over and over again, since people keep asking) that he had the opportunity to do a Superman movie and elected not to, Guardians of the Galaxy and The Suicide Squad filmmaker James Gunn acknowledges that the Man of Steel is the most important supehero in comics history. Why? Well, it’s simple: Superman is the guy who set the standard and established the template, so the superhero genre and the comics industry as we know it now. It’s hard to argue the logic but, given that Gunn is a young guy whose sensibilities lean toward more “modern” characters, some fans might be surprised to see his take.

Gunn has remained consistent on this point: he was offered a buffet to choose from, and what he wanted to sit down with was The Suicide Squad, which he has repeatedly said is one of his favorite properties in mainstream comics. The filmmaker has also said that Warner Bros. was not especially concerned with Brightburn, the “evil Superman” movie that he executive produced last year.

You can check out his tweet below.

DC seems to be struggling with what to do with Superman next on film; there are persistent rumors that the character could appear in Shazam! 2, but those are shared side by side with rumors about a Supergirl film being used to keep the Kryptonian legacy alive while the Man of Steel himself vanishes from sight for a while. Meanwhile, The CW’s acclaimed “Arrowverse” introduced the characters of Superman and Lois Lane on the Supergirl TV series and will now spin them off into a show called Superman and Lois. That show, spinning out of the events of the “Crisis on Infinite Earths” crossover event, is slated to debut in the fall, although the pilot was supposed to film in March and had to be delayed due to the novel coronavirus pandemic that has shut down production in Vancouver.

Gunn is currently in post-production on The Suicide Squad, which features Harley Quinn, whose Birds of Prey movie is now available to stream on SVOD platforms. Upcoming DC movies include Wonder Woman 1984 on August 14, 2020, The Batman on June 25, 2021, The Suicide Squad on August 6, 2021, Black Adam on December 22, 2021, Shazam! 2 on April 1, 2022, The Flash on July 1, 2022, and Aquaman 2 on December 16, 2022.