Now thatGuardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3has been released to the world, James Gunn’s run with the Marvel Cinematic Universe has officially come to an end. After he first joined the MCU with 2014’sGuardians of the Galaxy, Gunn became an integral part of building out the franchise, especially in the interstellar department. However, after directing a few projects for DC (The Suicide SquadandPeacemaker), Gunn has now dedicated all of his time to the MCU’s chief competition.
He and Peter Safran were hired as co-CEOs of the new DC Studios about six months ago, and now they are in the process of building the foundation for the new DC extended film franchise, titled theDCU.
Back in January, Gunn and Safran unveiled ten upcoming projects that are in development for the DCU. These projects ranged from a newly rebootedSupermanmovie to aBooster Goldseries, a newBatmanmovie titledThe Brave and the Bold, and aGreen Lanternseries inspired by mysteries likeTrue Detective. Gunn himself iswriting and directingSuperman: Legacy, whileLoganandFord v Ferraridirector James Mangold has come aboard the newSwamp Thinghorror movie.
Beyond that, very little of the creative team behind these projects has been made public. Some fans have called upon Gunn to hire Joe and Anthony Russo, the directing duo behind many of the MCU’s biggest hits. However, the Russo Brothers are not a good fit for DC. Here’s why:
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The Russos’ MCU Success
There’s no denying the success that the Russos have had with Marvel. Before entering the MCU withCaptain America: The Winter Soldierin 2014, they were fairly obscure comedy directors. They’d worked on films like 2006’sYou, Me and Dupreeandhit series likeCommunityandArrested Development. Though they’d done good work, they were hardly the kind of directors you would expect to deliver a billion-dollar-grossing movie. However, they leveled up big time withThe Winter Soldier, which is still arguably the best film in the MCU to date.
After their success withThe Winter Soldier, the Russos went on to direct 2016’sCaptain America: Civil War, before being given the reigns to the MCU’s biggest undertaking yet, the two-part finale to the Infinity Saga,Avengers: Infinity WarandAvengers: Endgame. All of these films were massive hits, andEndgamewent on to become the highest-grossing movie of all time (for about a yearuntilAvatarreclaimed the title).
Plus, the Russos did some genuinely great directing throughout these films. The action sequences were inventive, the character work was applaudable, and the utter scale of it all was daunting. They more than delivered upon the job they were hired to do. With all this in mind, it’s easy to see why some people would want them to direct a DC movie. They directed some of the most successful and beloved comic-book movies ever made, that’s a pretty stellar addition to a resume.
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Lack of a Voice Post-MCU
However, the Russo brothers’ career in the years afterAvengers: Endgamehas been anything but outstanding. They’ve directed several films together and produced numerous other projects, but nothing has really stuck the way you’d expect. Their first film to followEndgamewas 2021’sCherry, which starred Tom Holland as a young veteran suffering from PTSD and a crippling drug addiction. While the movie certainly got people talking at the time, it wasn’t entirely in a positive light. There were sometruly baffling directorial decisions withCherry, which really held the movie back from effectively telling the powerful story at its core.
That’s just one movie, though. Everybody has their creative duds; at least the Russos attempted to do something completely different after their success in the superhero action genre. Their follow-up toCherry, on the other hand, casts a lot of doubt on the directing duo. 2022’sThe Gray Man, a Netflix original, is a mess, to say the least. Despite a production budget of $200 million – making it the most expensive movie ever produced by Netflix – and the phenomenal cast that includes the likes of Ryan Gosling, Chris Evans, Ana de Armas, Regé-Jean Page, Alfre Woodard and more,The Gray Mansimply did not work.
It garnered pretty solid viewership numbers, which justified the decision togreen-light a sequel and further expand “theGray Manuniverse,”but the critical response to the movie was pretty lackluster.The Gray Manwas a lifeless actioner that felt as devoid of passion as it did original ideas.
With the disappointments ofCherryandThe Gray Man, in addition to some of their other producing and written work on movies likeExtractionand shows likeCitadel, it’s become clear to see that the Russos might not be the exciting directors they appeared to be only a few years ago. Yes, they were producers onEverything Everywhere All at Once, butthe immense success of that movieshould be (and rightfully is) attributed to its phenomenal cast and directors, Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert.
That’s not to say that the Russo brothers don’t have the ability to make something great. They certainly do; we’ve all seen it happen. However, they’ve been in a bit of a creative slump as of late. Until they show that they can deliver a truly great film outside the Marvel umbrella, it would be best to avoid bringing them into the new DCU.
The DCU, under Gunn and Safran, needs to do everything it can to differentiate itself from both what the DCEU was doing before they came on board and what the MCU has been doing for over a decade now. The DCU needs new creative voices and ideas that can bring excitement and emotion back into the superhero and comic-book movie genre. At this point, the Russo brothers aren’t going to provide that. Plus, if Gunn and Safran were to hire the Russos, it would seem that they are just poaching talent away from the MCU in an attempt to ride that franchise’s coattails.
Gunn and Safran need to be bolder than that if they want to find success. Mangold is a solid first pick, now they just need to continue to hiring directors that can bring something new to the pantheon of superhero cinema.
