James Gunn Finally Speaks Out On Firing From Disney And ‘Guardians Of The Galaxy 3’

When some old tweets of James Gunn resurfaced and began making trouble for the comic book director, things didn’t look good. Sure, they were old and he had already addressed them and apologized for them in the past, but it didn’t matter as Disney fired him anyway. Now, Gunn has broken his silence regarding his firing, his re-hiring, and his future plans for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.

A lot of support was thrown Gunn’s way after Disney fired him and took him off the next Marvel flick in his franchise. He is not making any excuses for the things that led up to his firing, and he has taken full responsibility for his actions as detailed in an interview with Deadline.

Gunn spoke of when Disney came to him to get him back in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

“[Disney’s] Alan [Horn] asked me to come talk to him. I really believe he is a good man and I think he hired me back because he thought that was the right thing to do. I’ve known him a little, going back to the Scooby-Doo movies. I’ve always liked and admired him. I was touched by his compassion.”

When his firing happened, Gunn said that it was like breaking up a marriage. He didn’t want to “look back and feel bitter, upset, or angry.” While there were a lot of emotions attached to his firing, he knew that it was something Disney had to do and he just had to say goodbye.

‘Guardians Of The Galaxy’ Director James Gunn Breaks Silence On High-Profile Disney Firing, & What He Learned From The Career Crisis That Followed — Deadline Disruptors https://t.co/tIJJURbmHa pic.twitter.com/RSSRQX3pUh

— Deadline Hollywood (@DEADLINE) May 15, 2019

Gunn said that he blames no one and he has not been nearly as outspoken on social media as he used to be. He said that his tweets and Disney firing him for them had nothing to do with free speech. Gunn said that he made comments they didn’t like and “they completely had the right to fire me. There was never any argument of that.”

After he was fired by Disney, Gunn took some time and went out to look for work, which he found rather quickly. Oddly enough, Gunn was hired by Warner Bros. to take over the second Suicide Squad movie for the DC Extended Universe, as reported by The Inquisitr.

Upon being re-hired by Disney, Gunn says he had to go meet with Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige and this was right after signing on for Suicide Squad so it made him “very nervous.” Seeing as how Horn and Feige never even met with another director for Guardians of The Galaxy Vol. 3, it was clear that all hoped things would work out.

Now, Gunn will be one of the very few directors who have worked in both the Marvel Cinematic Universe and DC Extended Universe. He isn’t set to start working on the third Guardians movie, though, until his time is finished working on Suicide Squad 2.

As for the third film in the Guardians franchise? Gunn has high hopes for it, and fans may end up seeing a lot more of Rocket Raccoon.

“When you asked me what was saddest for me when I thought it was gone — and anybody at Marvel can tell you — it’s this very strange and attached relationship to Rocket. Rocket is me, he really is, even if that sounds narcissistic. Groot is like my dog. I love Groot in a completely different way. I relate to Rocket and I feel compassion for Rocket, but I also feel like his story has not been completed. He has an arc that started in the first movie, continued into the second and goes through Infinity War and Endgame, and then I was set to really finish that arc in Guardians 3. That was a big loss to me — not being able to finish that story — though I was comforted by the fact that they were still planning to use my script.”