James Gunn has made lots of movies that I like, and he even made a teevee show called Peacemaker that I like, and part of the reason I like it when he gets his filthy mitts all over this comic stuff is that he understands that comics are kind of dumb. If the hairs on your neck are standing up, let me gently pat them back down. I don't mean that they're not worthwhile. I mean that people get bit by spiders and get spider powers. Because anything can happen, some of the things that do happen are silly. But that flexibility means that anything can happen. He is somebody who will take swings. He made Rocket Raccoon work! And now I gotta deal with that shit every day in Rivals.
It's possible to have a variety of opinions on Zach Snyder; I can remember when wanting to see the cut he made of his own movie was considered evidence of incel tendencies. That is the concussed level of pop culture discourse and it has remained firmly idiotic. But his Serious, Connected version of DC has no place for a superdog. The Serious, Connected MCU eventually collapsed under its own weight.
Not Gunn, no way. When he starts namechecking Elseworlds that's how I know we're gonna be getting some cool shit. Not because it represents the freakiest excursions into What If? territory, although I'm not opposed to the occasional freaky excursion. He used it to describe Matt Reeves' "The Batman," which I don't think any of us would consider external to the core of the new DC strategy. But what he means is that there are a lot of different stories to tell and he doesn't see the value in synchronizing absolutely every aspect of the aesthetics. There can be lots of movies of many different kinds, lots of amazing stories, told in different ways, even with different men who are bats.
As a Marvel escapee, first against his will and then apparently with vengeful delight, he's not interesting in created a sophisticated narrative prison for himself before he even gets out the gate. He wants to make cool movies and he wants to have fun. I can't wait.
(CW)TB out.
