Marvel and DC Movie Star Sean Gunn: Feuding Fans Should Be “Rooting for Both to Be Great”

Marvel Cinematic Universe star Sean Gunn, who joins the DC Extended Universe alongside filmmaker brother James Gunn with The Suicide Squad, believes fans of Marvel and DC should be "rooting for both to be great." After portraying Kraglin and providing the motion-capture performance for Rocket Raccoon in two of Marvel's biggest franchises, the actor next plays Weasel — another anthropomorphized furry creature — in the Suicide Squad revamp that reunites him with Guardians co-star Michael Rooker. Like his older brother, who will return to the Marvel universe to direct his third Guardians of the Galaxy movie, Gunn argues that the "Marvel versus DC" feud is one drummed up by a faction of the fanbase.

"Everybody wants to see good movies, right? So even if you're firmly in the Marvel camp, or firmly in the DC camp, that doesn't mean that you want the other movies to suck," Gunn told The Movie Dweeb when asked about Marvel vs. DC. "Why would you be rooting for any movie to fail? So I feel a little outside of it."

Gunn regularly attends conventions where he sees fans engaging in "little spats," he said, "and insofar as it's fun for them to argue and fight about it, then I'm all in favor of it. Go to town arguing which is better."

It's not until "people start to get legitimately upset or legitimately angry" over Marvel versus DC that it becomes problematic. "I don't get it. I don't understand," he added. "It sounds to me like something children would do, not something adults should be doing."

"There's no reason why we don't have a robust enough fanbase for both that we shouldn't be rooting for both to be great," Gunn said. "Shouldn't all the Marvel movies be great, and all the DC movies be great? And then extend from there, shouldn't there be more film franchises that we root for to be great?"

"As far as the fighting between them, God bless them, but it's not fun," he added.

Asked about the fan-stoked rivalry between the two companies in January, James Gunn wrote in a tweet, "I can't remember anyone at either Marvel or DC ever condemning the other company. I think there's probably slightly less competition between Marvel & DC than between Marvel or DC & all other movies." The filmmaker added both companies are "in very similar boats, relatively speaking."

Most recently, Gunn said Marvel chief Kevin Feige was "very cool and supportive" when he learned about Gunn's offer from Warner Bros. to write and direct The Suicide Squad.

"He just wanted me to make a good movie. He and [Marvel Studios Co-President Louis] D'Esposito even came to visit the set and watched us shoot," Gunn wrote on Instagram earlier this month. "There isn't the enmity behind the scenes like there is in the fan community."

The filmmaker expressed similar beliefs in a Twitter thread last year, writing, "My partners at both Marvel & DC believe what's good for one studio is generally good for all: spurring each other on daily with heartfelt, spectacular & innovative entertainment that keeps audiences around the world loving movies based on or inspired by sequential art."

The Suicide Squad opens in theaters on August 6, 2021.