The 10 Best James Gunn Movies & TV Shows

Before James Gunn was a producer or a director, he was a screenwriter, and one of his first big projects was adapting Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! into a movie. The end result was 2002’s Scooby-Doo, a film that not only showed respect for the brand but also injected plenty of James Gunn’s unique eccentricities. It’s still a classic Scooby-Doo story, though, with Mystery Inc. traveling to an island resort to solve what the owner believes to be a demonic curse affecting its guests.

The casting for each of the main characters was on point, with Matthew Lillard, in particular, being the perfect live-action Shaggy. A lot of the fun present in the cartoon managed to make its way into the film despite the shift from animation to live-action, much in the same way Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles successfully transitioned to the big screen. Gunn manages to make the script his own, with plenty of meta jokes here and there, as well as the systematic character assassination of Scrappy-Doo, which is okay because Scrappy-Doo is literally the worst. Whether you’re a young child watching Scooby-Doo for the first time or a parent returning to it, there’s something for everyone to appreciate here.

It’s funny hearing fans trying to pit Zack Snyder and James Gunn’s vision of DC Comics against each other when, in reality, the two of them seem to be on good terms. In fact, they worked together on projects like Snyder’s debut film, Dawn of the Dead, a remake of George Romero’s classic zombie film of the same name, which follows the original's plot of watching a group of people attempt to survive the zombie apocalypse, albeit grounded more firmly in reality than the original film.

While there are some issues with bland characters here and there, Dawn of the Dead excels at action, especially with its visceral opening scene that’s still shocking today. The special effects and makeup are also solid, helping to give the zombies a much bloodier aesthetic that is not dissimilar from the zombie effects in 28 Days Later. It’s also a lot more violent than your average zombie thriller, which would help inspire more gruesome zombie films like Train to Busan. In many ways, it's Snyder’s best film, and it would be fantastic watching Snyder reunite with Gunn to create a movie that mixes Gunn’s skills as a writer with Snyder’s eye for cinematography. 

Gunn’s popularity exploded when he directed 2014’s Guardians of the Galaxy, and while the trilogy of films centering on Star-Lord, Gamora, Drax, Rocket, and Groot are all great, the second film, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, is the best of them all.

With the character introductions from the first film out of the way, the sequel focuses on exploring them in more depth and having them develop further as the team visits Star-Lord’s father, Ego. Vol. 2 is all about character drama, giving the film a much greater emotional core than most other Marvel movies. There’s still plenty of humor to be sure, oftentimes feeling like a blend of the profanity-laced Shaun of the Dead and the sci-fi scale of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. There’s so much pathos in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 that even if you aren’t caught up on your Marvel lore, it’s highly accessible and will almost certainly make you cry by the end.

DC Films quickly picked up Gunn following his forced exit from Marvel in 2018, and almost immediately, he began production on a follow-up to Suicide Squad as his DC debut. While it shares a similar title with David Ayer’s 2016 film, The Suicide Squad is a vastly different beast, stylistically and tonally. 

The film earns its R-rating with a whole host of violence, foul language, brutal violence, and a complete disregard for playing it safe. Gunn leaned heavily on non-traditional characters, like Bloodsport, Peacemaker, and Polka-Dot Man, but personalized and elevated them into fan-favorite characters, lending the film a certain charm that Snyder’s DC films couldn’t achieve. The film feels like a more adult take on Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy series with a heaping load of comedy ripped straight out of Deadpool. It was released during the COVID-19 Pandemic, so many people may not have seen it, but it deserves to be on your watchlist.

With Gunn taking creative control of the future of DC Films, now christened DC Studios, following the critical success of The Suicide Squad, Creature Commandos serves as a mission statement of sorts for everything that James Gunn has become. It’s a series that focuses on an oddball and unconventional group of foul-mouthed heroes that are tasked with saving the world—whether they like it or not. 

What helps set Creature Commandos apart from The Suicide Squad and the Guardians of the Galaxy films is the amount of time spent with each character and how dark their stories are. The show runs for seven episodes, and each one tends to focus on a new member of the eponymous group amid their mission to Pokolistan to defeat the sorceress Circe. It’s also far more raucous than any of those films. Leaning heavily into Gunn’s earlier career at Troma Films, Creature Commandos is a pure distillation of everything that James Gunn is as a creative entity. It’s odd, violent, a little bizarre, and great to binge in a single day.

Green Lantern is back and gets another shot at live-action glory with Lanterns. Premiering on HBO in 2026, Lanterns brings the experienced Hal Jordan with newbie John Stewart as the pair investigates a murder in rural America.

The series does something surprising, introducing the Green Lantern's to James Gunn and Peter Safran's DCU with a slower, grounded tone. The contrast between a familiar crime story and the Green Lantern mythos sets Lanterns apart within the wider DCU.

What a worthy beginning for the DCU! James Gunn finally got the chance to put his own spin on one of the most well-known superheroes of all time with 2025’s Superman. The film follows a young Clark Kent as he tries to balance his life as a reporter at the Daily Planet along with his responsibilities as the titular hero. Gunn uses Superman as a platform to introduce other heroes and villains who will become important parts of the new DC universe. 

Superman isn’t exactly new to being portrayed in the media. But what makes Gunn’s version so interesting is how unapologetically optimistic it is. David Corenswet’s Clark is defined by his desire to help people, and thus far, it doesn’t seem as though Gunn wants to take Superman into a darker or more cynical path. However, the film does have Gunn’s trademark humor and eccentric supporting characters in the Justice Gang. Nicholas Hoult’s Lex Luthor is also a particularly entertaining foil, bringing an obsessive hatred towards Superman. All in all, there’s something refreshing about Gunn’s Superman movie, and it deserves a watch before Man of Tomorrow releases in 2027. 

It’s somewhat surprising that one of the earliest films that James Gunn and Peter Safran’s new DC Universe is bringing forth is a horror movie, but that’s exactly what sets Clayface apart. The film centers on Matt Hagan, an actor whose career takes a horrifying turn after he’s left disfigured. An attempt to restore his original face has the side-effect of transforming his body into clay, leaving him seeking revenge. Tom Rhys Harries steps into the tragic supervillain’s shoes, with Gunn and Safran producing, and James Watkins directing from a screenplay developed by Mike Flanagan and Hossein Amini. 

Mike Flanagan’s involvement has been particularly exciting for horror fans, while Watkins has films like Eden Lake and The Woman in Black under his directorial belt. So you know the film has some major horror credentials, making it especially perfect for a movie that’s being positioned as a genuine body-horror story. There’s still plenty we don’t know about Clayface, but the idea of taking one of Batman’s villains and giving him a chance to shine in his own horror film is what makes Gunn’s new DC Universe so intriguing. 

You’ve heard of James Gunn’s recent projects, but have you heard of his extremely weird horror-comedy from 2006, Slither? The film that started Gunn’s career as a director follows Grant Grant (he’s so cool, he has the same name twice), a wealthy man in a South Carolina town who becomes infected by an alien parasite. Before long, his personality changes and his body begins to transform into  monstrosity.

Slither combines alien horror, grotesque practical effects, and absurd comedy, and the result is glorious. Michael Rooker plays a very convincing Grant, and he’s clearly enjoying being the character. Nathan Fillion and Elizabeth Banks join the stacked cast as Police Chief Bill Pardy and Grant’s wife Starla, respectively. The film is a great example of the sensibilities that would make Gunn such a natural fit for Guardians of the Galaxy. Slither may not have the massive scale of his later superhero movies, but you know what? It’s James Gunn doing whatever the hell he wants, and if its cult following is anything to go by, we’re all better off for it. 

James Gunn may be the creative architect of the new DCU, but for Supergirl, Gunn handed the directing reins over to Craig Gillespie. The film was based on the comic storyline Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, and follows Kara Zor-El as she travels through space to retrieve an antidote for a dying Krypto along with Ruthye, a young girl who wants revenge against the man who murdered her family.

Having grown up in Krypton, the film presents Kara as someone who's gone through a harsh life while dealing with the loss of the people and world she knew. Milly Alcock stars as Supergirl, and gives her character a rough around the edges quality. Kara’s relationship with Ruthye also becomes the center of the story. While the film itself received mixed reviews from critics and struggled commercially, they praised Alcock’s performance and the emotional weight she brought to Kara. Sure, Supergirl didn’t make quite the splash that Superman did, but the film’s willingness to make it feel distinct from its predecessor is worth noting, even if the final product proved divisive.