James Gunn loves working with his friends. It seems like he subscribes to the adage, “If you love what you do, you’ll never work a day in your life.” Gunn is all about spreading the wealth, handing out juicy roles to buddies who have been with him since the beginning, such as Michael Rooker. No Gunn project is complete without the actor, who has a major role in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and a couple in the DC Universe. But the filmmaker doesn’t want to be the only one having fun; he wants the characters in his stories to feel the same sense of community he does.
Videos by ComicBook.com
How Gunn achieves this is by first fleshing out his colorful characters, ensuring that they can stand on their own if the situation arises. After that, it’s time to bring them all together and give them a common goal that keeps them from knocking each other’s teeth out. Gunn has famously used this model on four separate occasions to create anti-hero teams with plenty of potential. Well, a fifth group has joined the fray, and it has what it takes to become the best of the bunch.
James Gunn Keeps Going Back to the Anti-Hero Well
Gunn’s love for anti-heroes is evident in his first superhero film, Guardians of the Galaxy. As soon as Peter Quill shows up on screen, it’s clear that he’s not a typical comic book film protagonist. He lies, cheats, and steals, but he looks real cool doing it. Once the rest of the Guardians show up, however, Peter’s layers start to peel back, revealing a scared boy who’s been searching for a family for years. Well, he finds it with Gamora, Drax, Groot, Rocket, and Mantis, who all have faults of their own but try to rise above them.
The DC Extended Universe allows Gunn to reuse the formula in The Suicide Squad. Task Force X rides again and bonds even harder the second time around, trusting each other enough to go against orders and save Corto Maltese from Starro. However, one character doesn’t sing “Kumbaya” and ride off into the sunset. Peacemaker decides to be a company man and takes a bullet for it. That opens the door for him to return home in his solo show and learn the error of his ways. Helping him in his journey are the 11th Street Kids, the A.R.G.U.S. task force that becomes so much more by the end of Season 1.
Before showing what becomes of Peacemaker and Co., Gunn pivots with Creature Commandos, which is effectively the Suicide Squad with monsters. The group doesn’t get along as well as the other teams, but they complete their mission and feel pretty good about themselves. Their leader, Rick Flag Sr., doesn’t stick around for the party, though, because he has bigger fish to fry as the new head of A.R.G.U.S. Unfortunately, he lets the powers go to his head and accidentally plays a major role in creating Gunn’s fifth anti-hero team.
Checkmate Comes Together Because It Wants to, Not Because It Has to
Peacemaker Season 2 sees Flag Sr. use his vast resources to hunt down Peacemaker, who, of course, killed his son. But the general starts to lose the plot at a certain point, using the Quantum Unfolding Chamber that he confiscates from Peacemaker to find a habitable planet to send dangerous metahumans to. A.R.G.U.S. agents die during the mission, which forces John Economos, Emilia Harcourt, and Sasha Bordeaux to reconsider their place there. They all decide to leave and help Leota Adebayo start “Checkmate,” a new kind of organization that aims to do more good than harm.
What makes Checkmate so special is that everyone joins willingly and believes it’s a place they can learn and grow. The same can’t be said about Gunn’s other teams, who only get together because they’re forced to or there’s a big enough threat that no one can beat it alone. Attacking the world with a positive attitude will give Checkmate a leg-up as it kicks off its first mission: locating and rescuing Peacemaker.
Peacemaker Season 2 is streaming on HBO Max.
Which of James Gunn’s anti-hero teams is your favorite? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!
Most Viewed
-
Image courtesy of Lucasfilm. -
Courtesy of Pathea Games
