Thanos Creator Says Disney Got Played in Firing ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ Director James Gunn

Last week, Disney fired director James Gunn from work on Marvel Studios’ Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 when years-old tweets in which Gunn made jokes about pedophilia were brought back to the surface by an alt-right media personality. Several celebrities, both directly connected to Gunn and those more detached, have commented on the situation and now Jim Starlin, the former Marvel Comics artist and writer whose creations include Drax, Gamora, and the villain Thanos, has chimed in.

After giving the situation some thought, Starlin says he believes Disney got suckered.

“After giving it a couple days to think over this James Gunn/Disney controversy, I’ve come to the conclusion that the Mouse got played,” Starlin wrote in a Facebook post. “Yes, Gunn’s decade-old tweets were distasteful and stupid, but clearly meant to be foolishly provocative rather than taken as advocacy. The whole uproar over them was plainly ginned up by two Breitbart hatchet men, John Nolte and Mike Cernovich, in response to Rosanne Barr’s firing for her repeated hate-filled and racist tweets. I have to agree with Dave Bautista on this one. Disney accepted a ridiculous apple and oranges argument and made one hell of a bad call.”

Bautista, who has played Starlin’s Drax in two Gunn-directed Guardians of the Galaxy movies so far, has been outspoken about his feelings that Disney made a bad call in firing Gunn.

“I will have more to say but for right now all I will say is this.. [James Gunn] is one of the most loving, caring, good natured people I have ever met. He’s gentle and kind and cares deeply for people and animals. He’s made mistakes. We all have. I’m NOT ok with what’s happening to him,” Bautista wrote on social media.

And he did have more to say, later adding, “What will you do when the #cybernazis attack you? Who will stand by you? Who will cowardly distance themselves from you? Who will punish you for horrible JOKES in the past instead of defending you for INSPIRING millions? MILLIONS!!!

“What happened here is so much bigger than [Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3], James Gunn, myself, Disney, etc. This was a #cybernazi attack that succeeded,” the actor continued. “Unless we start to unite together against this crap, whether people are offended are not! …it’s going to get much worse. And it can happen to anyone.”

What do you think of Starlin’s take on the Gunn’s firing? Let us know in the comments.