The first season of Peacemaker proved to be a great success for HBO Max And Warner Bros. so much so that the second season has been confirmed (all the details in our article). Director James Gunn, in a recent interview, revealed that he does not consider superheroes as gods and it was this very perspective that influenced Peacemaker’s comic tone.
James Gunn’s original vision of superheroes
Peacemaker represents a moment of transition in James Gunn’s relationship with the superhero genre, which he has so far plumbed mainly for comic and satirical purposes, starting with Tromeo and Juliet 1997. While Gunn defines his two (soon three) episodes of the series Guardians of the Galaxy as pure science fiction, his approach to Suicide Squad (get the Blue-Ray on Amazon!) was more like a satirical action thriller with a sci-fi overlay than a superhero movie. Peacemakerwith all its action scenes and gory, silly jokes, it’s the most sincere, direct, and anguished work I’ve done in the genre.
In an interview with Vulture the director sincerely revealed how he sees superheroes, certainly not about divinity, but rather stupid people actuallybut that’s exactly why we appreciate them so much:
“I love superheroes. I also think they are the stupidest things that have ever existed. The happiest moments of my life are the ones I spent lying in my bed when I was 12 reading comics. The fact that we take these things seriously as adults is ridiculous because people would really look at you the way they look at Peacemaker when he walks into Fennel Fields wearing a costume: -What’s wrong with you? Do you think it’s cool? You’re a maniac.- The idea that superheroes are maniacs is something I really like. Guardians is very different because it really is a science fiction story. They are not superheroes, they don’t wear masks, which is one of the reasons I think I had a better time working on them. But in The Suicide Squad, there are guys wearing yellow costumes and all this stuff. Treating these people like gods is ridiculous. I have a hard time imagining a guy who is really serious and wants to take revenge by making a costume for himself and putting black around his eyes so his skin doesn’t show when you look him in the face. It’s really funny. And I’m not kidding him. Simply it is this stupidity that makes the personage real.”
James Gunn’s vision of superheroes has been a staple of his work for years. In 2000, she wrote and starred in The Specials, which revolves around a group of unappreciated criminals and the interpersonal problems that arise when they are not fighting the forces of evil. Gunn’s second feature film, which he has worked on as both a screenwriter and director, Super of 2010, it featured Rainn Wilson as a short-lived cook who becomes a wrench-wielding vigilante to save his wife from her ex-boyfriend. James Gunn was also a producer on Brightburn of 2019, written by his cousin Mark and brother Brian, who gave a new horror film look to the story of a young Superman.
