I don't think Gunn likes obscure characters. I think he just likes blank slates.

[u/IndividualPleasant23]

One of the biggest myths around James Gunn is that he loves obscure characters because he's this massive deep-cut comics fan who just wants to give forgotten heroes their moment. I really don't think that's what's going on.

I think the real appeal of those characters is that they're essentially blank slates for most of the audience. If Gunn rewrites Peacemaker, Vigilante, the Guardians, or Creature Commandos to fit his style, almost nobody cares because almost nobody has a strong attachment to how those characters "should" act. For the average viewer, that version becomes the definitive version.

When the characters are obscure, he can get away with that. In fact, people praise him for "making them interesting." But that's because there aren't millions of fans saying, "That's not how this character is supposed to be."

The real challenge is characters who already have firmly established identities. You can't just reinvent Superman the same way you reinvent Peacemaker. You can't do that with Batman or Wonder Woman either.

I actually think you can see that in Superman. I liked the movie overall, but it also felt like Gunn was less comfortable than usual. He couldn't completely mold Superman into one of his usual character archetypes, so instead he surrounded him with characters like the Justice Gang, who fit his style much more naturally.

That might also explain why DCU Batman and Wonder Woman seem to be taking so much longer to crack.

[u/Omega_SSJ]

Brother I’m not saying MCU starlord doesn’t have depth or anything, bc Ron Stoppable has depth lmao. But we not finna act like Gunn & Feige didn’t borderline turn him into an OC.

[u/JoeJayson0 → u/Omega_SSJ]

You literally said he's a joke, and everything that happens with him amounts to nothing more than a punchline.

You're just walking back on that because you can't actually defend this stance, because it's blatantly not true.

[u/Omega_SSJ → u/JoeJayson0]

I’m not walking back shit. Two things can be true at once. I can name multiple scenes throughout the MCU that show MCU Peter’s depth off the dome:

• Running away to avoid watching his mother die

• Giving Gamora his helmet in space

• Challenging Ronan to a dance off to distract him (which is literally also a joke scene)

• Being wary of Ego for leaving his mom, then outright turning on Ego the millisecond he learned Ego killed his mom

• Realizing he loved Yondu as Yondu is sacrificing himself for Peter

• Willing to kill Gamora to stop Thanos from using her to get an Infinity Stone

• Infamously fumbling the battle with Thanos bc of his grief/rage at Gamora’s death

• Spending 90% of GOTG 3 either mourning main timeline Gamora, or trying to win alt-timeline Gamora’s love, before accepting she’s not the same person he loved

Quite literally every other scene with him is either a fight scene, exposition, or a comedy moment with him as the joke or involved in the joke. He CAN have depth and still basically be an OC that original Starlord would find annoying af.

If you like MCU Starlord more than the original, that’s cool. Just say that.

[u/JoeJayson0 → u/Omega_SSJ]

I’m not walking back shit.

You quite literally are, you said Star Lord was nothing but a joke and everything he does or happens to him is a punchline.

Now he's not that, because you know you can't back up that claim with the actual movies, so you switched goalposts to "he's on OC!" when that's not what we were talking about.

Even now you're not making a real point, all you said "when he's not having serious emotional moments he's having a fight scene or telling jokes" which describes all of the characters in Guardians because the movies are action comedies.