Based on what we’ve heard so far (which admittedly isn’t much), I’ve been somewhat unsure about Marvel’s upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy movie. A fantastical sci-fi story with weird aliens, giant tree men and talking raccoons certainly sounds pretty ballsy and very different from your typical comic book fare, but it also leaves plenty of potential for disaster. Now this week, Marvel has taken an even ballsier step forward with their choice of a potential director for the project. Word on the street is that their top pick is James Gunn, director of such low budget cult classics as Super and Slither. It’s still far from confirmed, but at this point I’d say my interest level has just shot up considerably.

According to THR, Marvel has been hunting for a director for Guardians of the Galaxy for a while, and after narrowing the search down to a few possible candidates, they have now entered into talks exclusively with James Gunn. However, some of the other directors on the shortlist have not been ruled out, including Peyton Reed (Bring It On) and Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden (Half Nelson, Sugar). It seems safe to assume that we’ll probably be hearing an announcement fairly soon.

Marvel execs have apparently been impressed by Gunn’s “ability to mix comedy elements with action and horror”, which they see as being similar to Joss Whedon. He is also well-versed in comic book lore and I’m guessing that he will work for cheap, which is another big Marvel requirement. On the other hand, he got his start with Troma and has always had an affinity for dark humour and violence, which is something that might make Marvel’s parent company Disney a little nervous. Either way, I’d love to see what he could do with this project, and if they do end up hiring him it will be another impressive example of Marvel thinking outside the box. What do you think… is James Gunn the right guy for Guardians of the Galaxy?