James Gunn Reveals How Marvel Studios Selects New Directors

After over 10 years of box office success, Marvel Studios has created a reputation of securing talented up-and-coming filmmakers and helping turn them into household names, with directors like Taika Waititi, Joe and Anthony Russo, and Ryan Coogler being launched as powerful forces in the industry. Even director James Gunn, who had been working in Hollywood writing for other franchises and directing his own films for years, became a star with the release of Guardians of the Galaxy and its sequel. But some fans might be wondering how these movies come together, and if Marvel is recruiting talent or if these filmmakers are pitching their ideas.

Gunn opened up for some fan questions on his Instagram Story and revealed the process Marvel goes through when they bring in a filmmaker.

One user asked Gunn, "Do directors approach Marvel Studios with their ideas and stories or is it vice versa?" To which Gunn offered a simple response: "It's vice versa."

This is also similar to what Warner Bros. Pictures did when they recruited James Gunn to make a DC Comics movie, but they allowed the filmmaker to choose a project from a wide range of possibilities.

"I was basically offered whatever I wanted," Gunn explained. "I most wanted to do [The Suicide Squad]."

Gunn will return to the Marvel Cinematic Universe when he's finished working on his DC Comics movie, but he revealed to fans that he hasn't yet decided what his next project will be when that one wraps up.

So fans will have to wait a while before he begins working on the final film in his Marvel trilogy with Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, as Gunn explained that they're still in the process of working out all the finer details.

"We're kind of figuring that out now," Gunn explained. "I think it's going to be a little bit, but I'm definitely looking forward to it. It's going to be fun. But I don't know for sure when that's going to be, but it's definitely coming."

The Suicide Squad is set to premiere on August 6, 2021.

Other upcoming Marvel Studios projects include Black Widow on May 1, 2020, The Falcon and The Winter Soldier in fall 2020, The Eternals on November 6, 2020, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings on February 12, 2021, WandaVision in spring 2021, Loki in spring 2021, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness on May 7, 2021, What If? in summer 2021, Hawkeye in fall 2021, Thor: Love and Thunder on November 5, 2021, and Black Panther 2 on May 6, 2022.