Jackson A. Dunn as Brandon, looking intimidating in his costume in Brightburn Image via Screen Gems
Before he took over DC Studios as the co-CEO and directed a Superman reboot that espoused kindness and humanity, James Gunn produced a dark take on the character’s mythos. The movie embodied every cynical idea that one could have about Superman. Instead of portraying the archetype as a beacon of hope, the movie depicted him as a Carrie White-like figure who becomes violent because of childhood alienation and bullying. The movie was released to mixed reviews and mediocre box-office reception in 2019, serving as a bridge between Zack Snyder‘s divisive Man of Steel and Gunn’s own colorful Superman. It’s now streaming on Peacock, but only for a little while longer.
Directed by David Yarovesky, the film was a Gunn family affair. It was written by Gunn’s brother and cousin, with his wife Jennifer Holland in a supporting role. Also featured were his frequent collaborators Michael Rookerand Steve Agee. Only a couple of years later, Gunn would find himself directing an official DC movie — The Suicide Squad. This happened between his firing and rehiring by Disney as the director of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. A lifelong comic book fan, Gunn is now in charge of creating a new universe of DC movies, which will continue next week with the horror film Clayface.
Collider Exclusive · 8 Questions · 2 Minutes Which MCU Villain Do You Align With? Killmonger · Namor · Zemo · Thanos
Eight honest questions about how you actually are: what you do about something unfair, how long you will wait for what you want, who you are really loyal to, how easily you let a thing go. Answer them and we will tell you which one of these four you have more in common with than you would like. Every one of them thinks they are the reasonable person in the room.
🐆Killmonger(Black Panther)
🔱Namor(Wakanda Forever)
🎭Zemo(Civil War)
🧤Thanos(Infinity War)
01
How do you react to something you think is unfair? All four of these men started here.
02
How long will you wait for something you want? Patience separates these four more than anything else.
03
Who are you actually loyal to? Answer for the real one, not the polite one.
04
How do you win an argument? Everybody has one method and uses it every time.
05
How easily do you let something go? This is the question that makes villains out of people.
06
What do you think about breaking the rules? Nobody on this list has ever felt guilty about it.
07
What do people say about you behind your back? You already know which one it is.
08
What would you do with real power? Eight questions in, this is the one that picks your villain.
The Case Is Made You Align With…
Four villains, and four arguments the films were honest enough to
actually let them make. Here is the one you lean towards, the part of it that holds up, and the
exact point where it stops holding up.
Black Panther · Marvel Studios · 2018
Erik Killmonger
You align with the one who was right about the problem and wrong
about the solution. Killmonger is the most persuasive villain Marvel has produced because
the film never pretends his anger came from nowhere.
You notice who was abandoned and you cannot let it go, which is a moral instinct before
it is anything else.
His argument lands because Wakanda really did watch and do nothing, and the film makes
T’Challa admit it out loud.
Where it breaks is the method, since a man who was failed by power decided the answer
was to hold more of it.
Michael B. Jordan plays him as somebody performing certainty over grief, which is why
the last scene of that film still works.
Wakanda Forever · Marvel Studios · 2022
Namor
You align with the protector, which is the most understandable
and most dangerous position on this list. Namor is not chasing power or revenge, he is doing
whatever keeps his people hidden, and he has been doing it for centuries.
Your loyalty has a hard border around it, and everything inside that border matters far
more to you than anything outside it.
Talokan is the best realised world Marvel has built since Wakanda, and the film makes
you understand exactly what he is guarding.
His logic is airtight right up until it requires somebody else’s people to pay for his
people’s safety.
He would rather be feared by the surface world forever than trust it once, and history
has given him reasons.
Captain America: Civil War · 2016
Helmut Zemo
You align with the patient one, the only man on this list with no
powers, no army and no hurry. Zemo lost his family in Sokovia and then spent years working
out that you do not fight the Avengers, you introduce them to each other’s secrets.
You go quiet when you are hurt, and the quiet is where the thinking happens.
Zemo is the only MCU villain who completely won, and he did it with a notebook, a plan
and a great deal of self control.
His grief is real, and the film is careful never to let you forget that he started as an
ordinary man with a family.
Where it fails is the cost, since taking apart the people who hurt him meant hurting a
great many people who did not.
Avengers: Infinity War · 2018
Thanos
You align with the one who decided the answer was arithmetic.
Thanos is not angry and not grieving in any way he will admit to, he simply reached a
conclusion and never once revisited it, which is precisely what makes him frightening.
You are capable of holding a position that costs you everything, and you would call that
conviction rather than stubbornness.
Infinity War works because it is structured as his film, with a goal, a journey and a
sacrifice, and the heroes are the obstacle.
The flaw in the plan is not the cruelty, it is that he never seriously considered a
single alternative to it.
Josh Brolin plays him tired rather than triumphant, which is the choice that turned a
purple giant into a real character.
Here’s How Long You Have Left to Watch the Superhero Horror Movie on Peacock
But we’re talking about Brightburn, starring Elizabeth Banks and David Denman as a couple who adopt an alien child, played as a teenager by Jackson A. Dunn. The movie grossed around $33 million worldwide against a reported budget of $6 million, and is now sitting at a 57% score on Rotten Tomatoes. The aggregator website’s consensus reads, “Although Brightburn doesn’t fully deliver on the pitch-black promise of its setup, it’s still enough to offer a diverting subversion of the superhero genre.” By comparison, the very similar film Chronicle grossed $125 million globally in 2012 and scored an 85% on Rotten Tomatoes. Gunn is now working on a sequel to his Superman movie, titled Man of Tomorrow. You can watch Brightburn on Peacock until November 1, and stay tuned to Collider for more updates.
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