Marvel Wants James Gunn For "Guardians"

This. This would be awesome.

THR reports that Marvel/Disney is seeking James Gunn, who most-recently gave the superhero genre a vicious dressing-down in "Super," to try his hand at the real thing as director of "Guardians of The Galaxy." Aside from how cool and "different" a move it would be to hand a big-budget space opera to a guy mostly known for niche genre flicks like "Slither" and some early Troma collaborations (and, yes, the two "Scooby Doo" movies;) I can think of some other reasons for fandom to get excited...

Gunn is simpatico with Joss Whedon, who just signed for "Avengers 2" in 2015 and is also "overseeing" the production of the other related Marvel films leading up to it. Among the things they share are recurring actor-buddies - specifically, one Mr. Nathan Fillion. So... do some math.

All just idle speculation, of course, since Gunn hasn't signed yet (though it would be a VERY in-character move for Marvel to leak this "looking at him" info to gauge fan reaction, as they did the same thing when Chris Evans and Joss Whedon were "on the shortlists"); though it will certianly not be lost of fans that Marvel's pitch for "Guardians" (a misfit crew of aliens having adventures on a starship) feels rather similar to "Firefly."

In fact, I'd say the only question is whether fans will be pleading for Fillion to show up as Star-Lord (team leader, human astronaut who teams up with aliens) or as the voice of Rocket Raccoon (exactly what it sounds like.)