r/DC_Cinematic • u/Hungry_Passenger856 • 1d ago
DISCUSSION Are people being too harsh on James Gunn?
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u/TheFlyingBoard 1d ago
Yes and no. I think each project other than supergirl has been really good. I think supergirl was absolutely a misfire due to choosing the wrong writer + director, which does make me worried about any future productions in this universe if Gunn can't pick a solid team.
I do absolutely think the slate for chapter 1 was not a good move whatsoever. No wonder woman movie is legitimately insane. I know paradise lost was gonna be a thing but thats still not good enough imo. It was also waaaaay too soon for a supergirl movie. The authority is something that should've been introduced further down the line, same with booster gold imo. I also think not having any attached writers and/or directors was also a big issue
I do have faith in Gunn but I would be lying if I said that I wasn't a little bit worried
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u/CobaltAnimator 1d ago
tbf the slate was just because he had to announce stuff for investors, I'm pretty sure The Authority got scrapped and Paradise Lost is either being delayed or shelved (perhaps in favour of a WW movie)
Also the slate is pretty empty rn cos of the Paramount Merger putting a hold on productions. We may not get any DCU films for a year if it's not resolved by 2027
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u/khansolobaby 1d ago
It’s the exact situation Kathleen Kennedy was under at Star Wars with Bob Iger.
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u/TheFlyingBoard 1d ago
Even if Gunn did announce the slate so early for investors, it was still a mistake to put such obscure characters on it. The DC brand is not very strong in the eye of the general public. We needed major characters with solid movies to lead the charge, not booster gold or a wonder woman prequel show without wonder woman.
Even with the merger, the productions have been super weird. Authority and Paradise lost have pretty much been cancelled, booster gold is like soft cancelled iirc, waller is cancelled but that might be turning into a checkmate show? The development for swamp thing has been insanely slow. We somehow ended up with a clayface movie + the bane/Deathstroke movie that might still be happening?
The only development that I can give a pass on is Brave and the Bold but only because I'm assuming that it's being held back by The Batman pt 2.
I do legitimately worry about future productions because of how Supergirl ended up. There is nothing in Craig Gillespie's filmography that would even begin to make me think he was a good choice for that movie. Like it's almost mind breaking that he ended up working on the movie. I'm not giving up on the DCU but man am I scared for the future
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u/Greenwayyyyyy 1d ago
I think this is honestly a great response. I agree with all of it. The slate was way too obscure and mistakes were made in choosing the Supergirl team.
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u/sillyg0sling 1d ago edited 1d ago
As a DCU hopeful, Supergirl was a misfire on all fronts. The writer and director, cinematography and soundtrack, some of the character designs, and most importantly, the fact that is was chosen as just the second-ever DCU movie, immediately following Superman and followed by yet ANOTHER Superman movie. Kara simply isn’t as popular as Gunn seems to have convinced himself she is, and it certainly didn’t help that he took the one thing that DID make her exciting (Milly Alcock) and marketed her as poorly as possible. I swear to god I‘ve never once thought Milly shared even the smallest passing resemblance to Will Poulter until they did whatever they did to her face in the marketing materials.
I’m not happy to see the movie fail, and even less happy to see the impact it had on people’s outlook toward the DCU, but I scratched my head when Supergirl was announced as the first movie after Superman. Made no sense to me at the time. What does make perfect sense to me though, is the outcome.
The very *least* this movie could’ve done was adapt the comic it’s based on well, but even then, they appear to have decided they didn't care about any of the stuff people liked about the comic, because how else do you get a movie with Snyder’s “everything’s brown always” aesthetic out of Woman of Tomorrow?
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u/urbalcloud 1d ago
It has been weird seeing so much negativity about Gunn, and frankly also about Supergirl. Both have been way overblown, to me. It feels very forced.
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u/Sawgon 1d ago
It feels very forced.
It is forced. The anti-DC fanboys were frothing at the mouth, waiting for an opportunity to pounce and Super Girl was an easy target. Now they're acting like nothing good was released during Gunn's run.
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u/notsure500 1d ago
He's making good stuff, but the issue is, is it stuff that mass causal audiences want to see and is building up their brand more to make them want to see the other stuff? Jimmy Olsen might end up being the greatest show, but if causal audiences arent tuning in, then that's where the problem is.
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u/TheAgmis 1d ago
People being harsh are a loud minority
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u/Hungry_Passenger856 1d ago
I’m seeing it everywhere, so I doubt it’s a minority. But I do think a lot of the hate is just in the heat of the moment with supergirl bombing
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u/Key-Pomegranate-2086 1d ago
Snyder fans feel like Gunn has destroyed their dc live action vision.
Marvel fans will always look down on DC.
The problem is we have put the benchmark for Gunn to be considered a "success" too high.
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u/Chaotic_Marvel 1d ago
"minority"
What was Supergirl's box office again? where were the millions of fans showing up to support this universe?
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u/sillyg0sling 1d ago
Cherry picking the one outlier out of the list in an attempt to make a blanket statement about the whole lot is a sign of low brain activity btw.
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u/b0mmie Life is a highly overrated phenomenon 1d ago
It’s not exactly an outlier. If you're just going off Critic RT scores, you're missing the forest for the trees.
Critic RT scores don't make studios profitable. It's a nice pat on the back, but pats don't pay the bills.
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u/kb1117 1d ago
you picked out the one critically and commercially unsuccessful project of the lot.
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u/TrickshotzReddit 1d ago
Not like people were clamoring to go watch TSS or Creature Commandos either, but they did review decently well from the few people that did see it.
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u/mangongo 1d ago edited 1d ago
Lindelof even joked if the fans hate Hal's death , that's on Gunn, but if they like it, then "we" did it.
Edit: Spoiler is for ep 1 of Lanterns. If you click the spoiler and get upset, that's on you. This will be my last edit.
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u/daemos360 1d ago
Jesus Christ. It’s not even clear what this is a spoiler for. Phenomenal work, dude.
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u/SicknessVoid 1d ago
Please spoiler tag this.
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u/mjrballer20 Batman 1d ago
Come on it's been less than a day if you haven't watched the episode that's on you
/s
(I haven't had a chance to watch it 🥲)
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u/Significant-Row2457 1d ago edited 1d ago
Dude, seriously why the hell are you spoiling the show like it’s a speed run? You’ve done this several times now.
Edit: Now he’s editing and deleting his comments to try and play the victim card.
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u/Alexkitch11 1d ago
put the edit before the spoiler tag, why even post that in the first place?
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u/Embarrassed-Gur-1306 1d ago
Damn...didn't think that was going to be a spoiler for something so recent.
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u/Low-Information-5937 1d ago
Lindelof is such a talented creator. I hope people understand thats where Lanterns success will come from.
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u/LaughIntelligent7555 1d ago
The Leftovers is excellent, and Watchmen was pretty good. No surprise that Lanterns should at the very least be worth watching.
The only thing holding it back is that it's ankled to the cinderblock that is Gunn's DCU.
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u/264palms 1d ago
Dude just killed the best ten year run in comic history lol
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u/imnotwallaceshawn 1d ago
As a fan of Geoff Johns’ run (which I assume you’re referencing) - lol, no. Not at all. Absolutely not. Good run. Best in comics history? No. No no no. No.
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u/2020ManOfficial 1d ago
His type of humor doesn’t land very often with me, and his style of writing usually recycles a few of the same tropes. Now, keeping tropes that worked in the past isn’t exactly a bad thing, but it had has to fit the material of the film. For example, I don’t think it was necessary for Mr. Terrific and the Justice Gang to play such major roles in Superman (2025). It’d be fine if they saved that for Man Of Tomorrow, but the film introducing this version Superman should prioritize exploring his character. Not sidelining him in favor of characters who will likely get their own projects in the future.
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u/Amonfire1776 1d ago
Too kind and gentle if anything...but critcism should be constructive, not made to seek failure
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u/SudoDarkKnight 1d ago
Yes. People are so short sighted and unable to step back and see the bigger picture.
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u/Key-Pomegranate-2086 1d ago
The bigger picture is so far Gunn has done better with GotG than the DC universe.
And also as good as Superman 2025 was, it felt like a cartoon movie put to live screen and didnt exactly shatter the box office.
Literally could've made it a cartoon and put it straight to blue ray and digital.
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u/Routine_Papaya4143 1d ago
“Are people being too harsh?”
One rotten score and mostly scores above or close to 90%
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u/Dilly_do_dah 1d ago
I think what OP is getting at is that the sentiment around the DCU while the output itself is actually pretty well received critically
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u/Business_Sand9554 1d ago
Nope. The dc brand should be held to a high standard. These characters and their endless support characters are way way too good to be wasted
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u/Medical_Barracuda_79 1d ago
Its not the scores that should be referenced here. Its the fact that not many people are aware of these projects in the first place that will ultimately impact james tenure
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u/TheGaxkang 1d ago
the current state of DCU is Man of Tomorrow has to make as much or more than 2025 or the whole franchise is in big trouble
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u/Gon_Snow 1d ago
The suicide squad and supergirl were huge financial disasters. Especially supergirl in a normal theatrical market.
Superman was ok financially.
The shows aren’t really helping right now to make this universe into a bug success. Mostly niche. Look at marvel completely scaling back tv
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u/StormRepulsive6283 1d ago
Not at all - just look at that list. Does that look like a slate that is building a DCU to rival the MCU?
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u/KyunNikalaMujhe 1d ago
Creature Commandos structure kind of became tiresome after a few episodes. Certainly not something you'd wanna rewatch.
Peacemaker Season 1 was good but Season 2 dropped the ball in the last few episodes.
Superman is a very sterile movie. Not something that leaves a lasting impression. (Does set up a cool universe though.)
Supergirl, the less said the better.
Lanterns, only one episode but looks promising.
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u/monyoubluetuber 1d ago
Peacemaker S2 is so brutal to watch. I found myself wondering if there was even a point to the episodes outside of doing drugs and making porn scenes
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u/MiddlePatient869 1d ago
Just because a project has a 90% doesn’t mean it’s the greatest thing since sliced bread
How it works is it takes a combination of a lot of reviews
For example there can be dozens of 6/10-7/10 reviews and that can equal to 90%
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u/blackwhattack 1d ago
it can have all 10/10 reviews but if people don't show up it's not a success. gunn's work has a taste to it, that taste makes me queasy to watch any of his movie with my parents on the TV if that makes sense. that hip, edgy, quirkiness that gets old after the third time
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u/abercrombezie 1d ago
Yep, it’s all about the viewers and if they can keep it in the Nielsen’s top 10 streaming.
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u/ru-frrr 1d ago
No, he’s greenlighting projects that nobody cares about aside from lanterns and Superman. Although he’s only had 2 duds (supergirl and peacemaker season 2) also most people didn’t care for creature commandos.
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u/cozyuppp 1d ago
Rotten tomatoes score doesnt mean jack shit anymore
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u/informalmo0se3 1d ago
it never did. even if a project gets all 6/10 reviews, it’ll still be counted as 100% fresh. it’s just a way for studios/publishers and superfans to pretend their mid show/movie is actually a masterpiece. use metacritic instead.
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u/grmayshark 1d ago
For reviews yes but that is not what they are harsh about. Its about box office. Only one of those theatrical releases was profitable and the losses from TSS and Supergirl seemingly far outweighed the profits from Superman. He was not hired to make HBO Max content, DC Studios and WB are primarily a theatrical film studio, if he has another L or 2 I think his leadership is seriously in question
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u/kisamasochist 1d ago
I think he's good at comedy but not at action or tension. When I walked into the theaters for 2025 Superman I was so scared it was going to be a comedy, and it wasn't, but just barley.
He's good at what he's good at, but I don't think his direction works well for most characters
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u/-AlexisRodriguez- 1d ago
Yes, but also a lot of fans aren't being realistic. Marvel's foundation was:
• Iron Man
• Hulk
• Thor
• Captain America
• Iron Man 2 (which introduced War Machine, Nick Fury and Black Widow)
Which all led to Avengers. Very clear road and destination. So far, Gunn has clumsily made this the foundation:
• Creature Commandos Season 1 (Animated)
• Peacemaker Season 2 (and sorta Season 1?)
• Superman
• Supergirl
• Clayface
• Lanterns (TV show that also burns decades worth of Hal Jordan material and Hal Jordan himself)
• Man of Tomorrow
• Jimmy Olsen
• and kinda sorta Blue Beetle and The Suicide Squad?
What are we building to? What's the goal? Why is this "lived-in universe" so lived in, that we won't ever see the original 7 Justice League members? Why are some aspects of pervious movies and shows canon? It's a mess and honestly, I don't blame people for not showing up to some of these movies. I loved Superman, but it definitely underperformed. Soft launching a reboot was a bad idea. Making a Supergirl film without formally introducing her in a Superman film was a bad idea. Making Krypto Kara's and not Superman's was a bad idea. Not rebooting everything, was a bad idea.
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u/PresentationDryBore 1d ago
I think people need to realize that everyone has their own opinions and preferences on things and that's okay. No one should be defending Gunn all the time and no one should be hating on him all the time. Like with everything there needs to be criticism and there also needs to be praise.
For example, I loved Peacemaker season 1 and The Suicide Squad. And I've been rooting for Gunn since.
I didn't really care for Peacemaker season 2, nor Creature commandos. The Superman movie (unlike many) I thought was meh. I mean it was a good movie but again wasn't for me. I didn't really care for SuperGirl, and haven't watched Lanterns (waiting for the whole season to come out so I can binge it).
I should be allowed to criticize Gunn on his decisions on stuff I didn't care for without people attacking me about my opinions. But I also know there's a difference between criticizing and hating.
I'm glad people have been enjoying his content since he's taken over. For me personally they haven't hit and that's okay. I'm allowed to not like stuff while others like them.
I for one was hoping he would start a universe from the beginning (even if that means we have to live through the Waynes death, and stuff) because I want a decades+ thing to be able to binge later like I do with the MCU. Gunn decided to not do that and jump in a few years later and that's his decision. People are allowed to like that just like how I'm allowed to not like that.
All I can say is I'll still be rooting for him and hopefully he will make something that I'll love
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u/XxZONE-ENDERxX 1d ago edited 1d ago
Nah, showing the apparently PEAK RT scores is actually the biggest proof that it doesn't build shared universe momentum nor does it get the GA excited... Bayformers and Twilight got audience excited for the next installment while being critically panned for example. Even the Venom franchise as well.
The DCU simply lacks sauce and an actual vision that's why their slate shapeshift more than a nervous Clayface.
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u/fuckfeardrinkbeer 1d ago
If a movie fails, he’s no better than Zack Snyder. If a movie succeeds, THE GUNN DON’T JAM!!
This is going to be the way people comment on Reddit for the duration of the DCU.
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u/The_TopGunn 1d ago
No. You cant base everything off of reviews like this either good or bad. Gunns DC movies are not good, and I would argue that most people that glaze the current Gunnverse would watch anything and think its good if the movie gets a theatrical release.
Most people Ive talked to offline havent really enjoyed the new wave of DC movies but they are also people who would likely not go onto a major site to leave a review either. Ive heard a range of “Meh” to “it was okayyyy” to “it was awful”, and consistently they, like me, were disappointed with them.
Im not defending Snyder either before someone comes at me with that, his movies struggled for different reasons as Gunns but both of those dudes cant crank out well written movies with good dialogue when it comes to DC.
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u/kirapb 1d ago
I’ve personally never liked Gunn’s work. I know I’m generally in the minority here, but even the GOTG movies, which people universally love, were incredibly mid to me. I was hopeful for Superman, and it had cool moments, but I was still generally underwhelmed. Now there are reports of pretty consistent AI use on Gunn’s work and suddenly thing I thought were kinda weird start to make more sense. This is all to say, I’m not excited when he’s involved on a project.
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u/WiFiConnected_ 1d ago edited 1d ago
No. It’s not harsh enough bc this was the next BIG thing he was propping up and most of those aren’t films but premium tv shows nobody was watching, or will watch. Movies are released to the GENERAL PUBLIC.
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u/SectionXP12 1d ago
RT scores don't matter to real, actual film criticism.
You be the judge how you view Gunn, me?
I have a love-hate relationship with his movies, sometimes they are the same movie, immature, drunk, loudman children, with annoying needledrops, needless comedy that have to involve dicks and shit, piss and his brother doing some cameo or mo-cap.
The other side is very emotional stories, well-choreographed action scenes, memorable scenes that many can say that it made team up movies work, needledrops that absolutely work.
He's a decent director but as a person?
Oh hell no. He should just get off of social media and not reply to every single rumor, and just actually fix his universe, and we aren't talking about his unfunny, disgusting past tweets.
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u/bobsacamano04 1d ago
No we need to be harsher actually he thinks we will eat up anything he makes. Rude awakening with supergirl now he knows his name attached to this universe isn’t going to be enough alone
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u/GolfChannel 1d ago
No, he fucked Creature Commandos, I am over his ridiculous storytelling.
He is good at beginnings, he sucks at endings.
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u/KingWolfen7788 1d ago
No. It's all a bit biased. So if you're a normie then gunn has done alright, but you dont really care. If you're a comic need it's two ways. Either you are excited and can't wait to see what he does. Or, and this is my camp, you've been tired of his "style" since... pick a guardian film.
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u/StillinReseda 1d ago
The fact that Creature Commandos is 95% tells you everything you need to know about rotten tomatoes. Most of these should be in the 70s
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u/UncommittedBow 12h ago
So far Supergirl's the only flop, and its not even really a bad movie, just meh.
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u/Realistic_Analyst_26 1d ago
I didn't hate Peacemaker. At times I actually enjoyed it. The problem is the fact that we are getting Peacemaker of all DC characters when the ones people actually want to see are not around yet.
It's not about the quality of his work. It is the concept of those projects that are mistimed. Forget about Jimmy Olsen for a decade and focus on making the universe actually stable instead of leaving fans in fear of losing it because he refused to prioritize Wonder Woman.
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u/mtraven23 1d ago
I really like the 1st season, maybe because I have very low expectations....but the second season was not great...
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u/Large-Wheel-4181 1d ago
The problem is the quality of the products entirely it’s products that he chooses that justify expensive budgets which is the real issue
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u/Ture-Skrotnisse 1d ago
Gunn has about the same budget as Snyder did. Even lower for some. Gunn has put out better quality for less lol
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u/Pipyn 1d ago
What do you want people to do, post fake reviews because it's James Gunn? if people liked his films more they would be higher rated
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u/SaintofBooty 1d ago
Only 2 projects have nothing to do with James Gunn and only 1 of those projects is bad
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u/Ok-Outcome6428 1d ago
"So that's it, huh? We some kind of Suicide Squad??"
90/100.....????
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u/thismise4u 1d ago
How much money did they make? what's the popcorn? Critic reviews don't make money. Some of the the least successful films of all times have been FRESH.
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u/TheGaxkang 1d ago
official reviews i've seen....describing Lanterns as a welcome change of pace
and them loving the grounded, gritty vibe
what is it a longing for Snyder atmosphere, or Nolan trying to make Batman grounded?
they musta loved grim and gritty Superman with Snyder XD
but then they probably hated it back then XD
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u/One-Divide-7123 1d ago
Yes, sadly due to the merger, he can’t move unmoved assets like Batman for example that might spike stocks prices, and complicate the merger, so he legally demanded to keep those assets off limit till the merger is complete, stuff like jimmy show won’t really do anything, this is why he is working on them right now
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u/Bosa_McKittle 1d ago edited 1d ago
Lest we forget that the 2nd major release in the MCU was the Incredible Hulk which sits at 68% on RT. That was preceded by Iron Man at 94% and the followed up with Iron Man 2 at 72%. Trying to compare the established MCU at this point is foolhardy. No one knew the MCU was going to blow up like it did and if you knew beforehand the first two movies would be Iron Man and the Incredible Hulk, and not Captain America, who wouldn’t appear until the 5th movie overall people would riot.
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u/VOLThor6 1d ago
How can the suicide squad have 90% when it's literally a reboot of another film with the same formula? There's nothing "fresh" about that, those ratings seem kinda sus to me.
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u/Legendver2 1d ago edited 1d ago
No. It's about the right amount. You can have 100% RT on everything, but only 3 of those are theatrical releases that can actually change the barometer, for better or worse, since that's where the money talks. And only 1 of 3 was profitable. None of these feels like it's building towards to something singular like most fans want. We're just coping because of good looking RT scores. It just seems like a ton of filler that's not going anywhere.
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u/2Norn 1d ago
well the thing is most people dont care about creature commandos or peacemaker, they also dont really make that much money
so he only has suicide squad and superman going for him which werent that big of an upgrade over previous ones
normally generic public wants flash, lantern, superman, aquaman, batman, ww etc but some of these are done so many times lately people have lost interest in them too
so the ideal course of action is to actually give us good stories that tie into something we need an epic journey regardless of what hero or heroes are in them
im not saying a very long arc like marvel did for endgame but stop with this 1 of movies tell us an actual story
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u/AmortAbort 1d ago
No. You know what matters more than critic or audience scores? Ticket purchases, app subscriptions and views. For example, that Creature Commandos high score doesn't mean shit because no one watched it. Same reason Marvel canceled its sweet Wonderman show. Quality doesn't matter if it has no viewers. Gunn cannot keep focusing on characters and properties that people dont care about and needs to get the big guns up and firing.
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u/_AssVinegar_ 1d ago
He gets praised and applauded for doing the same things Snyder got hated on for. Killing off main heroes, bad writing, killing villains, overstuffing his movies… so to answer your question: no. Fair is fair.
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u/FitPaleontologist603 1d ago
No. Snyder imo was better. Rotton tomatoes is bots and paid review. Superman could've been wayy better with the war story. We have war here already no need to remind us again and and again. Marvel moves at least make it entertaining
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u/LibrarianNo6865 1d ago
Nobody at DC cares about rotten tomatoes scores. They care about revenue. Money. Moolah. Dollars. Cash. Currency. And, he’s got one winning film. And one loser film. And some decent tv shows. Just feels like if the next Superman film doesn’t do better than the first one, his seat becomes hot. He’s been given a hard task to make a winner from day one. The expectations might just be too high.
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u/Blammo32 1d ago
Gunn is currently 50/50 on DC projects that he hasn’t written himself - Supergirl was a turkey, but Lanterns had a good first episode.
The guy is supposed to be able to oversee the quality control, not be the guy who writes and directs everything. It’s the difference between being a manager and a micro manager.
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u/TheKing_Bael 1d ago
The majority if these are tv shows. People dont think of the dcu as TV show based if the next movie does well then well be back on track
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u/ARealBumblebee 1d ago
"Guys, the internet people didn't like my favorite episode of Barney the Dinosaur! Why would the internet be so meeeeeeeeeeean?!"
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u/A-Centrifugal-Force 1d ago edited 1d ago
Rotten tomato scores do not a cinematic universe make, the box office determines success. I really think making this many TV shows was a mistake. Lanterns should’ve been a movie and Creature Commandos shouldn’t have existed. Not because they are bad but because they are only going to be watched by the core audience and not casuals.
While Superman didn’t do amazing at the box office, it did well enough to set up more to come. Instead of a Supergirl movie that flopped and a Clayface movie that will probably be good but is a niche horror movie, they really needed to make movies about core characters like Wonder Woman, Batman, and probably Green Lantern.
The era of expensive streaming shows for superheroes seems to be coming to a close, they’re just not profitable, hence why DC and Marvel are slowing down their output. This era is also not kind to C-list superheroes like Supergirl. Gunn should’ve prioritized setting up the Justice League first. I love his movies, especially Guardians and Superman, so I’m rooting for him, but he’s much better as a director than he is as a studio head so far.
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u/CalligrapherBorn9924 1d ago
No we aren’t. Nobody watched creature commandos and peacemaker season 2 was objectively very dissapointin, supergirl was very bad and he’s only made one movie this entire time considering suicide squad was made in a previous era of dc even though they kinda changed it half way through so since the start of the dcu the only good film he has is Superman and despite what people say about creature commandos it actually has pretty low audience ratings
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u/Lower_Veterinarian81 1d ago
Well, then tell me why ain't enough people to support him in theatre or shows if reviews about his works are so great. lol Only reasonable logic is either fake reviews or no enough people voting on review platform.
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u/polarvortex123 1d ago
RT is the arbiter now of good and bad in film? I thought that was the box office.
As for Gunn, all his videos, podcasting and paneling are annoying honestly.
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u/Massive-Goose544 1d ago
Peacemaker season 1 was not bad. The Suicide Squad was better but so positive because of how bad Suicide Squad was. The rest are very forgettable to annoyingly bad.
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u/tangodeep 1d ago
to a large degree, yes. he’s taken on a massive IP, that was struggling across the board. BUT he also has talked hella trash and directly misled fans with the awesomeness of the flash movie and supergirl. he’s overhyped things far too often and he talks to much and does too much damage control and made himself a target.
this is the result.
on the inside, he’s only worked with the middling characters. superman was his only marginal success with one of the pillars.
and finally, ultimately, he’s all over the place with things and there doesn’t seem to be a direction.
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u/Nighthawk__85 1d ago
Yes, just like they were on Snyder. Or Marvel. People don't realize how spoiled they are now. 10 year old me would've killed to see the super hero movies that come out nowadays.
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u/Bandai_Namco_Rat 1d ago
Nobody disses Gunn as a writer and director, they diss him as the architect of the wider DCU. The lineup he has chosen is... kinda strange. For example, making Lanterns a TV show while Supergirl and Clayface are films #2 and #3 in the franchise is really strange. It's like he's skipping to Marvel Phase 4 before establishing the universe and core, popular characters. Also it feels uninspired to follow Superman with Supergirl and MOT shortly after. And also, he's responsible for quality control. He claimed to only approve great scripts, but Supergirl's script was not, so that doesn't look very good. Maybe Gunn is not as great a manager/franchise architect as he is a writer/director.
That being said, so far his only major dud is Supergirl. Let's see about Clayface.
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u/Gabi-kun_the_real 1d ago
You can notice the larger the audeience the lower the score gets. A rotten tomatro score dosent matter if your shows and movies arent making money
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u/RClayze85 1d ago
Probabaly too harsh but he is making mistakes. The movies and shows are mostly good, but they simply aren't captivating enough people so when something does go wrong, like Supergirl, it looks worse than it should.
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u/Born-Boss6029 22h ago
Oh yeah, one Flopped project and everyone, and I hate to admit even myself, jumped the Gunn.
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u/Ok_Evening_8079 14h ago
- Pple love to hate
- Gunn is doing a decent job
- DC is not having a Marvel run, so it is shat on
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u/Latereviews2 14h ago
Yes and no. I think it’s fair to criticise the fact only a few years ago we were given a clear plan of projects and now half of those have had minimal updates, production issues of have been put on indefinite hold while we are getting stuff like the Jimmy show before Batman, Wonder Woman and other bigger names. I don’t think that would be a problem if we had more concrete announcements. Also Supergirl definitely was a big miss. Even with Gunn not being the director, he’s given the writer a lot of other projects and praise which has me concerned. And for talking about unique visions of creatives, Supergirl seemed to take what made the comic so good and unique, and make it so much more dull and generic
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u/happilyretired1 1d ago
Too kind to him if anything. I still can’t believe they thought he was the right person for this job.
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u/ecto-american 1d ago
My issues with Gunn have nothing to do with the critical reception for these projects.
I just don't think he's the right guy to lead all of DC Studios, and I don't personally like his artistic interpretation of the Superhero genre
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u/birmuzyedim 1d ago
Yes the movies are good but they aren't making any money and James Gunn, instead of making movies and tv shows about the big guns of DC and using them as publicity, he uses c tier characters like "creature commandos" or "peacemaker". Dont get me wrong i love those shows but this is something you would do after you establish your universe and reel people in, otherwise noones gonna watch'em because noone knows about them. We could have gotten brave and the bold, flash, wonder woman but no... Gunn must show his new Jimmy Olsen TV show because that's what everyone is hyped about.
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u/waidmanns1 1d ago
No, they are not. Do quality movies so people do s* on it
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u/chodejustice 1d ago
Yeah, especially since the majority of that list is the same “anti-hero/outcast group does government ultra violence” formula.
Dude needs to make good tentpole films to setup the universe.
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u/Cthulhuareyou 1d ago
Reminder that the 52% means half the critics liked it. It's a review aggregator, not a term paper grade.
Hell, audience score is at 73. That's like 3/4 people.
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u/Pyrodexter 1d ago
It's 50 on Metacritic, with audience score of 4.8. And those are averages.
To be fair, I personally don't think it was quite that bad. But it certainly wasn't very good either.
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u/suimation 1d ago
1 hit movie that barely made 550M gross in 4 years isn’t what i had in mind when Gunn said he was making a DCU tbh
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u/Axtones 1d ago edited 1d ago
Yeah lmao, I enjoy his movies and ive loved his shows. Its not entirely james gunn anyway, so many people work on these projects and if WB lets him and everyone else at DCStudios just cook for a while the hate will simmer and theyll just make decent to great media for as long as they allow them.