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Forget the origin: James Gunn reveals what Marvel Studios did right with Spider-Man, and what he doesn't want in a Batman movie
"There are three things I don’t ever need to see again in a superhero movie," says the Superman director. Ooooh, do tell us, James
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It sure looks like we're not going to get the famous 'Crime Alley' scene in the DCU. At least, not the way James Gunn is talking about superhero origin stories.
Gunn recently sat down with The Times for a wide-ranging interview regarding both his take on Superman and the status of superhero movies in general. During their chat, Gunn expressed that, at this point in the genre's history, audiences no longer need to be reminded of the origin stories of what Gunn calls "the Big Three" money-making superheroes. That is: Superman, Spider-Man, and Batman.
"There are three things I don’t ever need to see again in a superhero movie," says the Guardians of the Galaxy director. "I don’t need to see pearls in a back alley when Batman’s parents are killed. I don’t need to see the radioactive spider biting Spider-Man. And I don’t need to see baby Kal coming from Krypton in a little baby rocket."
Somewhere over at Marvel Studios, a satisfied creative exec is nodding their head. As you'll recall, the latest batch of Spider-Man movies skipped right into Peter Parker's already active life as the MCU's wall-crawler, and eschewed completely the idea of losing Uncle Ben in favor of the shocking death of Aunt May in Spider-Man: No Way Home.
(Er, spoilers?)
"We have watched a million movies with characters who don’t have their upbringing explained," Gunn continued, "Like when we see Good Night, and Good Luck we don’t need to know the early life of Edward R Murrow to explain how he became a journalist. Who cares?"
That's a fair point, James, and it's good to know that we won't have to watch a young Bruce Wayne see his parents gunned down while you're in charge of the DCU. But I'd be interested to hear when Gunn does feel that an origin story is appropriate - after all, there are plenty of lesser known comic book characters heading to Warner Bros' connected cinematic universe. Maybe we won't watch the Waynes die, but will we watch Basil Karlo use the chemicals that turn him into Clayface?
And will we ever see young Lex Luthor lose his hair?
Superman is in theaters July 11. Marvel Studios' Spider-Man movies are streaming on Disney+.
Consider this a meta post-credits scene for Marvel fans - the four key articles you need to read next to continue the thrills:
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