Angry DC Fans Attempt To Fire James Gunn With Tweets

DC Twitter is an absolute mess in the aftermath of an explosive article from The Hollywood Reporter. The exclusive (which dropped Wednesday evening with no warning) shared the information of sources alleging baffling developments and behind-the-scenes drama currently occurring within DC Films.

This included supposed tension between the studio and "Black Adam" star Dwayne Johnson, the recasting of "Aquaman" star Jason Mamoa as Lobo, Henry Cavill's second retirement from Superman, and the rejection of Patty Jenkins' third "Wonder Woman" film. That last development is particularly odd, as leading woman Gal Gadot announced less than 24 hours prior that she was excited to share updates about the character's future.

For his part, DC Films co-CEO James Gunn used his own Twitter account to pour water on the rumors flying around. Without confirming or denying any specific allegation, he wrote "some of it is true, some of it is half-true, some of it is not true, & some of it we haven't decided yet whether it's true or not." Though the writer-director seems to be cautioning those jumping to any rash conclusions, that didn't stop an ever-vocal group online from sending out thousands of tweets with the hashtag #FireJamesGunn.

And, yes, most of them predictably came from Zack Snyder fan accounts. Strap in, folks.

"'Gunn is a friend of Zack, he will do him justice' my a**," wrote @sameerj2003. We were unable to find any promises made by the "Guardians of the Galaxy" director that implied he would save a franchise nearly ten years in the water at this point. "This is BS!" exclaimed @TheNuGeekz. "THEY BETTER NOT REBOOT! ZASLAV, ABDY AND DE LUCA WANT THE SNYDER VERSE!" While The Hollywood Reporter did suggest that some Warner Bros. execs had considered one final outing for the 2016 "Justice League" cast, it doesn't appear to align with James Gunn's supposed vision for the future.

Several users, including @restoreZSJL, shared edited photos of old cast members holding up buttons that say "I Believe In Zack Snyder" — ironically borrowing the iconography of a more successful and entirely unrelated DC franchise. Many users were heartbroken over the loss of former franchise leads Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, and Gal Gadot, the latter two of whom may have prematurely whipped their fans up into a frenzy over sequels that may never be. "DC needs it's Trinity [sic]. Always," urged @SnyderQueen_, tweeting the hashtag directly at the Warner Bros. Twitter account.

Multiple tweets shared the same photo of Gunn with disgraced "Avengers" and "Justice League" director Joss Whedon, seemingly a bizarre attempt at proving some sort of moral connection between the two. @JustAnotherLiv2, for instance, captioned the picture with a rather dramatic quote from J.R.R. Tolkien: "Evil cannot create anything new, they can only corrupt and ruin what good forces have invented or made." 

In fairness, there were some users less obviously loyal to Zack Snyder that simply seemed to hate James Gunn's perceived vision. "He was the wrong person to do a Suicide Squad movie, he was the wrong person to head DC Studios," proclaimed @KidFate. "And his so called plan is going to tank one of the most valuable IPs in the world in favor of farts, dick jokes, and D list characters."

Many critics seem deeply disturbed by their own assumptions that Gunn will be focusing primarily on little-known characters. "If y'all think Black Adam didn't hit profits.. wait till James Gunns Batmite movie, Gorilla Grod movie, Lobo movie... [sic]" wrote @Jorge00624816. "Pretty d*** telling that Jimmy "no leaks" Gunn hasn't shut down any of the stuff that came out tonight," warned @SupesBatsy, "almost like this is all legit and he was hired to reboot the DCEU into an MCU-copycat filled with his misguided Z list characters." Admittedly, Gunn has a horrible track record for turning obscure characters into beloved household names, having merely coasted on the dynamite name recognition of Rocket Raccoon and Groot in 2014. 

Beyond toilet humor and unknown heroes, a few suspect something more nefarious is at play. @KidFate offered a piece of insight about ol' "No Leaks," writing "Honestly, Gunn being an insider double agent for Disney sent to destroy their competition makes more sense than the plan he's putting together..." Sounds completely reasonable, right?

If there's one truth to be held in Hollywood, it's that studios do their best work when they cede creative decisions to a mob of extremely online comic book fans. James Gunn's days at DC are surely numbered, according to these fans.