When Guardians of the Galaxy writer/director James Gunn was fired from Marvel Studios due to years-old inappropriate jokes found on his Twitter account, an uproar followed from fans and colleagues who wanted to see him reinstated. Although those efforts seem to have been for naught, the consequences of removing him may not have been as far reaching as some initially thought they would be.
In an interview with CinemaBlend, Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige clarified Gunn's role in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, claiming the director's role was primarily related to the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise and its characters.
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"His influence was Guardians," said Feige. "It was Guardians. It was his input on Guardians and the Avengers films, as you've seen in Infinity War, and on the Guardians 3 script, which we’re still using. So you'll see that influence. I think online, sort of the notion of ‘architect across multiple cosmic things’ was slightly blown out of proportion."
Previous remarks from Gunn suggested that Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 was going to be a linchpin of the MCU's Phase 4, and that he himself would be "shepherding the future of the Marvel cosmic universe." Many fans took that to mean that he would be directly involved in such cosmic films as Captain Marvel and/or The Eternals, which is going into production soon.
Although Gunn may never work on a Marvel film again, his two Guardians movies and work on Avengers: Infinity War, and its sequel, Avengers: Endgame, has certainly been influential. Feige's statements also make it clear that the script Gunn wrote for Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 3 will still be used, and the characters and settings that he developed may continue to appear in many more movies to come in the future.
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Gunn is currently slated to write Suicide Squad 2, and he's in talks to direct the movie. Suicide Squad 2 is targeting a release date of August 6, 2021.
(via Screen Rant)