1The man responsible for bringing Guardians of the Galaxy to the big screen is reportedly legally not allowed to return to the franchise.
James Gunn – who wrote and directed all three installments of the Marvel Cinematic Universe trilogy – spent just under 10 years working on the MCU, recruiting staples such as Chris Pratt (Starlord), Zoë Saldana (Gamora), Bradley Cooper (Rocket), and Dave Bautista (Drax) to the universe.
Related: Another ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ Member Abandons Marvel for DC
However, Gunn recently revealed that he is legally prohibited from writing another Marvel film after being hired by Warner Bros. Discovery as the co-chairman and co-CEO of rival company DC Studios in 2022.
“So are [you] writing guardian of Galaxy vol 4 and solo movie of Starlord?” a fan asked the director on Threads, to which Gunn responded, “No I’m pure DC.” When probed further on whether he is allowed to write another film for Marvel, he added, “I could not either physically or legally.”
Gunn’s relationship with Marvel Studios (and The Walt Disney Company in general) ran aground in 2018 when he was let go from Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3 (2023) following the emergence of controversial tweets in which he made jokes about pedophilia. The stars of Guardians of the Galaxy rallied around him, releasing a public statement in support of Gunn, and the film lay in limbo for a while until Gunn was rehired by Disney in 2019.
During that time, however, Gunn had already defected to DC and signed on to both write and direct The Suicide Squad (2021). While Gunn returned to Marvel to finish the Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy (which proved popular with both critics and fans upon its release last May), his new permanent position at DC assumedly comes with much tighter restrictions on what he can and can’t do with competitor studios.
Even if Gunn wanted to (and was allowed to) return to the MCU, the writer and director is tough on time at the moment. His next foray into the superhero genre is Superman: Legacy (2025) – a reboot of the Man of Steel, which sees Henry Cavill axed in favor of David Corenswet – which will form the first entry in a brand-new chapter of the DC Universe entitled “Gods and Monsters.”
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