Disney Once Gave Guardians Of The Galaxy Director James Gunn A Joker Mask

You’re joking, right?As funny as it seems, Disney once provided Guardians of the Galaxy […]

September 6, 2017, 11:09am

You’re joking, right?

As funny as it seems, Disney once provided Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn with a Joker mask, so he could walk around San Diego Comic-Con 2013 incognito. But as any comic book fan worth their salt knows, this was a big faux-pas on Disney’s part. The Joker is a DC Comics character, which Warner Bros. owns the rights to. Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy, on the other hand, belongs to Marvel Comics, DC’s chief comic rival. What’s more, Marvel is owned by Disney, which also competes with Warner Bros. Basically, it was like giving a Whopper to Ronald McDonald.

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But as Gunn explains in the below post, the Disney aide tasked with giving Gunn the mask apparently wasn’t up to speed with such intellectual property details, and saw no humor in the crossover of a lifetime.

#tbt While in the middle of shooting Guardians the cast and I flew out to San Diego for a secret surprise panel at Comicon. The Disney folks asked us not to leave our rooms so we wouldn’t tip off the fans about the appearance – but there was no way I was going to stay in my room for a full day. Rooker and I asked for masks so we could go to the con incognito, so Disney brought each of us one. This is the one they brought me. A Joker mask. “Uh, you guys realize Joker’s not Marvel, right?” I said. “Um, well, I just kind of bought what was right there,” Disney person said. I didn’t care. I like Joker. So this is what I wore around SDCC for the day. It was uncomfortable as hell. NOTE: Sylvia, in the photo, was my guest and not the Disney person.

A photo posted by James Gunn (@jamesgunn) on Aug 27, 2015 at 10:11am PDT

Why so serious, James Gunn?

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 hits theaters on May 6, 2017.