17 Times James Gunn Had to Correct People on Twitter About ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’
It’s not easy directing a Marvel movie. You’ve got to manage hundreds of creative people, appease your bosses at the studio, and deliver something that is fun for casual fans and hardcore comics nerds alike. If you’re James Gunn, in between doing all of that you also have to constantly correct the inaccurate speculation about your film.
For a while now, ScreenCrush has made a habit of verifying the accuracy of the many rumors about big-time blockbusters that circulate around the internet. Our piece about false Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 rumors was a little bit different than the rest though, because in that case Gunn was the one actively debunking many of the biggest rumors about his own franchise.
In fact, Gunn’s Twitter debunks date back to the days of the original Guardians. Here he is in October of 2013, many months before the first GotG hit theaters:
And here’s one from 2014, clarifying that Nathan Fillion was not playing Nova.
(Later, Gunn would be called upon to explain that, no, he didn’t hate Nova just because he hadn’t shown up in the franchise yet.)
Although Gunn has been a very straight shooter with fans, they still don’t believe him from time to time:
That was especially true of the mystery around Star-Lord’s father. Fans had been trying determine his identity since the end of Guardians 1, and some wouldn’t take no for an answer:
Sometimes sites would post reports, Gunn would refute them, and then they would challenge him directly, seemingly arguing that they knew Gunn’s movie better than he did.
Pretty much any time a strange news story popped up online, he would have to clarify it, like when one site posted a story claiming that Guardians Vol. 2 was being made under the title Guardians 3000.
As Guardians 2 went into production, the frequency of the rumors increased:
Gunn remained remarkably patient through this whole process, though he did get occasionally (and understandably) exasperated:
If the Marvel work ever dries up, Gunn could have pretty solid career as an internet fact-checker.
Not even the release of the movie stopped the flow of questions:
Gunn’s been at this so long he’s starting to get old questions again. It’s like Groundhog Day, except in this version, every day someone wants to know if he’s hidden Nathan Fillion in a movie:
James Gunn has even debunked non-Guardians Marvel rumors.
For the love of Ego, please leave the man alone for a few months so he can write the script for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.