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James Gunn is one of the biggest names in the world of comic book films. Fresh off the success of his Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy, Gunn is currently launching a new DC Universe which kicks off this summer with Superman. DC Studios recently dropped a teaser trailer for Superman, which took the internet by storm. James Gunn has our attention, and the future of comic book films is currently in his hands.

That’s quite a lot of pressure, but that’s nothing new for Gunn. Years before he became DC Studios co-president, James Gunn was worried that he would be directing Marvel Studios’ first flop. His brother Sean Gunn witnessed this pressure firsthand. Sean played Kraglin in the Guardians trilogy, and he’ll be playing Maxwell Lord in his brother’s Superman film. Speaking to a crowd at Edmonton Expo, Sean Gunn recounted the pressure his brother was facing during the production of the first Guardians of the Galaxy film.

“I know that there was a lot of fear before the first Guardians was made, particularly from my brother, and from Chris [Pratt] as the lead, it being his first lead. If that movie bombed, it was going to be awful for their careers. It was really going to hurt.”

While James was nervous, Sean knew the franchise was in good hands.

“I was never confident that the movie would be as successful as it was, but I was always very confident that the movie was going to be very good at least. My brother was the right person for the job to take those characters and to tell that story. I knew what a maniac he was for detail, and when he throws himself into a project, he is all in, in a way that almost every artist that works with him aspires to. I already knew that he had that kind of work ethic in him.”

Plus, the script was good, and Sean saw how well the movie was coming together on set.

“I knew from reading the script and seeing all that effort that was put into putting this movie together, I knew that it was going to be good, and that it would find an audience that liked it. But I didn’t know if that meant that it was going to be some kind of modest under-the-radar movie people find after a little while. I didn’t know it was going to be some huge blockbuster. That part of it blew my mind.”

“I was always very confident that he was going to do a good job, and that it was going to be cool. And from reading the script, and then being on set, and meeting the other actors, and seeing what we were doing. We shot for about six months, and I would say within about three weeks we knew we were making something special.”

Sean is right about Guardians being special. Now Gunn is facing similar pressure as he launches a new DC Universe. Can he create magic again? We’ll find out when Superman hits theaters on July 11, 2025.

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