Fans of comic books are currently living in the golden age of comic book movies. The genre has had a steady dose of releases since the turn of the century, but 2008 is seemingly when the genre changed. Marvel Studios released Iron Man, the first film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and Christopher Nolan and Warner Bros. released The Dark Knight, which is widely considered one of the best comic book films of all time. The last eight years have brought about further exploration of the genre, with Marvel branching into lesser known comics, such as Guardians of the Galaxy, and Warner Bros. just starting their own shared universe, the DCEU.
With so many comic book movies being released every year by these two major studios, a rivalry has started to manifest between the fans of both properties. This “rivalry” is just among fans and not the studios themselves, with people involved usually downplaying the rivalry. Now, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 director James Gunn is giving his opinion on the matter.
While speaking to Variety to promote The Belko Experiment, he was asked what he thought about the Marvel vs. DC debate that so many people are interested in. It should come as no surprise that Gunn is not promoting the thought process that one film or brand is superior to the others. Instead, he is focused on making Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 the best movie it can be, and is hoping for the best results from all comic book movies.
“I just don’t find any room in my headspace for thinking my movies are superior or inferior to someone else’s. I really just think about how can I make, for instance right now, how can I make ‘Guardians Vol. 2’ the greatest spectacle film of all time? That’s all I care about so that’s what I concentrate on. I don’t really think about Marvel versus DC. And also any time a Marvel movie comes out that isn’t as good as I wished it was or anytime a DC movie comes out that isn’t as I wished it was, I’m disappointed because I love these characters. I grew up reading Marvel and DC comics. I want them all to be good.”
Gunn reiterated his desire for fans to get along in a tweet earlier today as well:
Whoever did this, awesome. Haha. #Marvel #DC pic.twitter.com/U0Txl6WVYk— James Gunn (@JamesGunn) September 18, 2016
This is the mindset that all fans of comic book movies should have, regardless of which brand is their favorite. People will always have a preference to which movies they like more than the others, but that does not mean they have to hate any film not made in their universe. Screen Rant’s own Ben Kendrick wrote about this bitter rivalry among fans ruining this golden age of films that is currently happening earlier this year.
Competition is one thing, but it’s hard to believe that Marvel Studios, DC Films, Fox, or any other studio is hoping for the opposing studios film to be a disaster. At the end of the day, the better the films are as a whole, the better it will be for fans and future comic-based films.
Doctor Strange opens November 4, 2016; Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 – May 5, 2017; Spider-Man: Homecoming– July 7, 2017; Thor: Ragnarok – November 3, 2017; Black Panther – February 16, 2018; Avengers: Infinity War – May 4, 2018; Ant-Man and the Wasp – July 6, 2018; Captain Marvel– March 8, 2019; Avengers 4 – May 3, 2019; and as-yet untitled Marvel movies on July 12, 2019, and on May 1, July 10, and November 6 in 2020.
Source: Variety
