Although there wasn’t really much doubt left in anyone’s mind, today James Gunn officially announced his involvement as the director of Marvel’s upcoming sci-fi film Guardians of the Galaxy. When he was initially rumoured to be at the top of Marvel’s shortlist last month, it seemed like a pretty ballsy and exciting choice — in other words, the perfect match for such a strange comic book movie. Then last week, while he was doing press for TIFF, Joss Whedon essentially confirmed that James Gunn had the job and told MTV that he was 100% behind Gunn’s twisted take on the material. Hit the jump to see what they both had to say about the project.

James Gunn made the following announcement on his Facebook page earlier today:

“For a month or so there’s been a lot of Internet speculation about my involvement with Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy. Until now I haven’t said anything, because I’m trying to be less expulsive about this project than I am about the rest of my life. But last night I got the go-ahead from Kevin Feige to let you all know that, yes, indeed, I am rewriting and directing Guardians of the Galaxy. As a lifelong lover of Marvel comics, space epics, AND raccoons, this is the movie I’ve been waiting to make since I was nine years old. Kevin, Joss, and all the folks at Marvel have been amazing collaborators so far, and we’re committed to bringing you something majestic, beautiful, and unique.”

I think it’s great that Marvel is letting a lot of these writer-directors (ie. Joss Whedon, Shane Black) rework the scripts themselves, as it helps them mold the movie to work with their own personal style. For the record, here is what Joss Whedon said about Guardians of the Galaxy:

“James is what makes me think it will work. I myself was sort of like, ‘Well, I liked Rocket Raccoon as a kid, but I’m not sure how that plays [to a wider audience].’ And then they said, ‘Well, we’re thinking about using James Gunn.’ And I said, ‘Oh, then no, you’re fine.’ He is so off the wall, and so crazy, but so smart, such a craftsman and he builds from his heart. He loves the raccoon. Needs the raccoon… This is the guy who wrote The Specials which is one of the most important movies… People don’t understand how influential that movie was about heroes, about taking heroes and making them mundane. And [he directed] Super… He has a very twisted take on it, but it all comes from a real love of the material so you know he’s going to make the Raccoon… It’s going to be hard for the humans to keep up.”

So now that it’s official, what do you think? Does this make you more or less excited for Guardians of the Galaxy?