James Gunn has got to be the luckiest director in Hollywood right now. He made Disney some big bucks by contributing his Guardians of the Galaxy movie to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Not only that, but it received some serious critical acclaim from fans and critics, as it brought a hilariously unique blend of comedy and science fiction to the MCU. The success of the first Guardians allowed Gunn to make a sequel, and it unsurprisingly made it big at the box office. Once again, this allowed him to pursue a third installment, but then his past came back to haunt him.
James Gunn took to his Twitter a while ago and spewed out some pretty inappropriate jokes. He realized his mistake and apologized at the time, but this didn’t stop him from getting fired by Disney. The MCU lost James Gunn and the future of the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise became one big question mark. Who was going to replace him to direct the third movie? Was the third movie even going to happen? Would Disney ever change their minds and rehire Gunn? Well, Warner Bros. seized the chance to snatch Gunn and now he’s currently directing The Suicide Squad for them. Marvel’s loss was DC’s gain. Was it some kind of poetic justice? Possibly, but real justice did prevail eventually.
Not too long after Gunn was fired, Disney made the decision to rehire him. This was good news to hear, especially since the story of Guardians has yet to be completed. The third Guardians movie will be in the MCU as we hoped, but later than we expected. Gunn is currently filming The Suicide Squad, but confirmed he will be jumping right to Guardians three once filming is done. Fans of the MCU got their wish and Gunn will return.
However, James Gunn returning to the MCU is not the main topic here. Recently, Gunn had a friendly Twitter exchange with a fan regarding the safety of the characters in Guardians three. The fan basically asked Gunn to not kill off any main characters and keep them alive. Gunn’s response disagreed with the fan, but it was more than just him saying no. The response he gave was not only perfectly detailed, but seemed like a philosophy representing his point of view on films. This is what James Gunn had to say to the fan on his Twitter:
“So you don’t think any characters in films should die? I can’t agree. I think films help us to deal with our own mortality and the mortality of those we love, and seeing that through the lens of story/fable/myth is of benefit to people… In addition, the death of some characters makes the survival of others more meaningful.”
Well said, Mr. Gunn, well said. Let’s not forget, he’s directing a film about the Suicide Squad, so this statement he made will carry over. After all, what kind of Suicide Squad movie doesn’t kill off it’s squad members? Yeah, I know, the one we got, but let’s forget about that.
Back to the main topic now. James Gunn couldn’t of said it better when it comes to the power of killing off main characters. Is it sad? Very much so, but that means the characters actually meant something to us. Having compelling and relatable characters stick around for a while makes us care about them and when they die, we feel bad. It’s as simple as that, but this all falls back on the MCU. It’s the main reason why I very much agree with Gunn’s philosophy and it’s something the MCU actually needs to improve on.
The MCU has been delivering movies for over ten years now, and yes, almost all of them have been awesome. If there is one fundamental flaw I can point out for the franchise, it’s their reluctance to kill off main characters. Their history of fake-out deaths has been a recurring thing and it only got more frustrating overtime. One of the most prime examples I can think of is Agent Phil Coulson. His death at Loki’s hands in The Avengers was a crucial moment for the heroes in the movie. Yes, it was sad, but more importantly, it gave them the push they needed to band together and put a stop to Loki’s scheme. Coulson’s death meant something and had some serious weight to it.
Then there came the Agents of Shield show, and he was back in the saddle. That’s right, he was resurrected in typical comic book fashion. Coulson has yet to make his return public with the heroes in the movies, but he is a leader to the agents in the show. In my opinion, this took away the impact his death had in The Avengers. He was around long enough to care about and when he died, we felt like we lost someone important. After all, he is the guy who introduced Iron Man and Thor to SHIELD.
Marvel didn’t stop there with its fake-outs. The trailers for Age of Ultron and Captain America: Civil War heavily implied that major characters were going to meet their demise. What did we actually get? The death of Quicksilver and a crippled War Machine. Quicksilver was killed off almost as fast as he could run. When his death came, it was a shock, but he didn’t get enough screen time for us to really care about him. For an MCU film that featured Ultron, I just expected more traumatic deaths.
As for Civil War, The Avengers were divided and broke apart because of the Sokovia Accords, leaving Earth even more vulnerable for the imminent threat of Thanos. War Machine was crippled, Tony and Cap nearly killed each other, and the team was basically dead. It was sad, but everyone was still alive, even Rhodey, who was still able to be War Machine, despite his injuries. Still a really good MCU movie, but didn’t leave enough of an emotional impact because of the lack of character deaths.
Lastly, there is Infinity War and Endgame, where major characters actually died. Characters who were killed before the snap, like Loki and Gamora, had little chance of returning. Those who died because of the snap, of course we knew they were coming back, but the sight of them reducing to ashes struck us. By the time Endgame rolled around, the snap victims did return, but we lost Black Widow and Iron Man in return. Now I know I criticized the MCU for holding back, but these deaths were seriously tragic.
This is exactly the kind of thing Gunn was referring to in his Twitter post and the formula the MCU needs to follow. I threw a lot of criticism their way for not killing off main characters. Once I watched Infinity War and Endgame, my tone changed. Those two movies proved they’re capable of delivering heart-wrenching deaths and we need more of that in future movies. I seriously hope Marvel listens to Gunn’s wise philosophy, because he knows what he’s talking about.
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