At this point, it’s not surprising when Marvel picks a left field director for their movies. They’ve practically made a formula of choosing filmmakers that the public would scratch their head over. In that grand tradition, Marvel is reportedly looking at James Gunn (Slither, Super) to handle their forthcoming Guardians of the Galaxy.
This is awesome. A protege of the Troma School of Movie Mayhem is going to graduate to Marvel. Repeat: the dude who made PG Porn is a few negotiations away from getting a big budget and bunch of superheroes to play with. Can’t beat that.
Of course, Gunn was also the writer behind Scooby-Doo and the 2004 Dawn of the Dead remake, so he’s not exactly a stranger to the mainstream, but the bulk of his work is not the kind that would inspire non-ironic action figures. That’s part of what makes this a genius idea. The other part is Gunn’s sense of humor and clear love of genre work. This choice may be from beyond the bleachers, but it’s inspired, and it could lead to a hell of a movie. Plus, it probably means at least one of the heroes gets to use a wrench on his enemies.