James Gunn talks ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3’, new ‘Superman’ film and “superhero fatigue”

As both the director of the Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy for Marvel Studios and the new co-CEO of DC Studios, James Gunn has a unique perspective on the superhero universe.

Gunn spoke to Rolling Stone about his new gig with Warner Bros., which he’s also writing and directing Superman: Legacy for, versus his time with Disney-owned Marvel Studios.

“I learned so much from making these movies,” he says. “But it’s not like Superman is going to have exactly the same vibe as a Guardians movie. It’s actually quite different.”

He also disagrees with presumed competition between the two studios. “To be frank, I think the better Marvel movies do, it’s better for DC, and the better DC movies do, it’s better for Marvel,” he expresses.

Gunn is mounting promotion of Guardians Vol. 3 and a 10-year plan for DC Studios just as box office returns for both DC’s Shazam: Fury of the Gods and Marvel’s Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania suggest superhero fatigue.

Gunn agrees, to a point. “I think there is such a thing as superhero fatigue,” he says. “I think it doesn’t have anything to do with superheroes. It has to do with … if you lose your eye on the ball, which is character.”

He explains, “We love Superman. We love Batman. We love Iron Man. Because they’re these incredible characters … And if it becomes just a bunch of nonsense onscreen, it gets really boring. … It doesn’t have anything to do with whether they’re superhero movies or not. If [you’re] … just watching things bash each other, no matter how clever those bashing moments are … it just gets fatiguing, and I think that’s very, very real.”

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 opens May 5.

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