James Gunn Has Talked to Marvel & DC About a Crossover Movie

Only a few precious times have the characters from Marvel and DC Comics collided in the pages of [...]

Only a few precious times have the characters from Marvel and DC Comics collided in the pages of their monthly stories with the most recent time being eighteen years ago in JLA/Avengers. In a live-action setting it's very difficult to imagine the likes of Superman and Spider-Man sharing the screen due to the logistical and contractual red tape that are notorious in Hollywood, but according to someone that would know, never say never. James Gunn, director of the Guardians of the Galaxy movies for Marvel and The Suicide Squad for DC, revealed he's spoken to the people in charge at both companies and says it's not an impossibility.

Asked by a fan on Twitter if "there's even a remote chance we ever see a big blockbuster crossover" between the two companies, Gunn replied: "I've casually talked to the powers-that-be at both Marvel & DC about it. I would love for it to happen. I don't think it's likely, but I don't think it's an impossibility either. THAT SAID, just constantly seeing crossovers & mashups is less enchanting to me than a strong story." Will it ever happen? Probably not, but what we're reading here is that James is saying there's a chance. Even if it's a 1% chance, that's still a chance.

In a subsequent tweet though Gunn had a follow-up thoughts, noting the interest in some segments of the audience to only focus on elements like post-credit scenes and crossovers rather than the film they're watching.

"I find it disconcerting at times that many folks seem more interested in crossovers, cameos, references & post-credit scenes than they do the actual story & characters of a specific film," He wrote. "When making a film I spend 99.9% of my time thinking about story & character & .1% the rest."

The idea of Marvel and DC crossing over on the big screen may seem like a pie in the sky dream, but if you think back to even just seven years ago it seemed impossible to consider that Sony and Marvel Studios would be co-producing Spider-Man movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe too.

The first crossovers between DC and Marvel came in 1976 with "Superman vs. The Amazing Spider-Man, a one-shot that would set the stage for other events of the 1980s like Batman vs. the Incredible Hulk, and a meeting between The Uncanny X-Men and The New Teen Titans. In the 1990s would come the actual Marvel vs DC mini-series, written by Peter David and Ron Marz with art by Dan Jurgens and Claudio Castellini and featuring match-ups like Superman vs. Hulk, Spider-Man vs. Superboy, Batman vs. Captain America, Wolverine vs. Lobo, and Storm vs. Wonder Woman.

The two companies would crossover two more times, one with actual combinations in the Amalgam Universe like Princess Ororo of Themiscyra (Wonder Woman & Storm), Dark Claw (Batman & Wolverine), and Ra's a-Pocalypse (Ra's al Ghul & Apocalypse), and Kurt Busiek's JLA/Avengers in 2003/2004. That story, the last time they crossed over official, did feature the kinds of things that fans love to imagine though like Superman wielding Mjolnir and Captain America's shield, both the DC and Marvel versions of "Captain Marvel" appearing in the same panels, and Batman admitting Captain America could probably beat him in a fight.

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