Before spearheading the DC Universe, James Gunn was lauded for making the Guardians of the Galaxy a surprise hit on the big screen, and bringing a surprising amount of pathos to a more obscure group of characters. Since then, Gunn has stated several times that Rocket (Bradley Cooper) is the emotional heart of his Guardians trilogy, and Gunn’s favorite. Now, Gunn is responsible for many more characters in the DCU, and not just as a writer and director, but as a producer and executive as well. At a recent press event for Peacemaker Season 2, ComicBook asked Gunn if there was a single DC character he related to in the same as Rocket. He had a couple of answers, but seemed to lean towards Chris Smith, a.k.a. Peacemaker (John Cena) himself.
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“Well, I certainly connect to Peacemaker, and I certainly connect to Harcourt in certain ways,” Gunn said. “I’m not as good as Superman, but nothing quite feels as autobiographical as Rocket did, but in a way, the Peacemaker story is in some ways more personal, and I really do relate to Chris, you know, I relate to the good and the bad sides of him.”
It’s no surprise that Peacemaker would feel personal to Gunn in a similar way to Rocket after all he and the character have been through together. Gunn was briefly fired by Marvel thanks to a campaign by outspoken, bad-faith critics, and during that time he wrote and directed The Suicide Squad for the DCEU. He was then hired to create Peacemaker as a spinoff series, and at the same time, he was rehired at Marvel to finish his Guardians trilogy. It was in the midst of all this that Gunn was also hired as the new co-CEO of DC Studios, and given the freedom to chart a course for the DCU going forward.
That led Peacemaker to be the only DCEU title that has been carried over into the DCU — so far, at least. To his credit, Gunn didn’t let this daunting new job distract him from finishing his Guardians trilogy strong, with a particular focus on Rocket. Just this summer, in an interview with GQ, he explained how Rocket led him to the emotional heart of the whole team.
“It just came to me that, if it was real, that that raccoon would be the saddest creature in the entire universe, and that he would feel utterly and completely alone, and have a very difficult time in life,” Gunn said. “That to me was the beginning of Guardians… That was the journey of those three movies for me. It was about Rocket, whose character, who I’ve felt closer to more than any other character I’ve ever put on film, without a doubt.”
Judging by the generally positive reviews for Peacemaker, Creature Commandos, and Superman, Gunn has brought that same thoughtful emotion to the DCU so far. Hopefully that continues when Peacemaker Season 2 premieres on HBO Max on Thursday, August 21st.
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Image courtesy of Netflix
