With Superman, James Gunn can’t seem to miss: it’s been Certified Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, continuing the director’s winning streak. However, there are two movies in his past that weren’t so well-reviewed.
There’s a lot riding on Superman. Yes, it’d be nice for Warner Bros if it made $1 billion and became one of the highest-grossing movies of all time. However, after the DCEU’s polarizing run with Henry Cavill, it needs to be one thing above all else: good.
Thankfully, it is. “This is a Superman movie unlike any you’ve seen before… by the end, you’ll believe that James Gunn’s DCU can fly. Look up, and look forward to what’s next,” Dexerto wrote in its four-star review.
Other critics agree, with its Rotten Tomatoes score sitting at 85% from over 150 reviews. Gunn has a perfect record with comic book adaptations, but there are two green splats in his overall filmography.
James Gunn movies ranked by Rotten Tomatoes scores
Below, you’ll find a ranking of every movie James Gunn has directed based on their Rotten Tomatoes scores. To be clear, this doesn’t include films he produced, like Brightburn and The Belko Experiment, nor does it include his work with Troma, because they don’t have critic scores.
One last thing: The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special is a made-for-streaming film that lasts 42 minutes, so that hasn’t been included either.
- Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) – 92%
- The Suicide Squad (2021) – 90%
- Slither (2006) – 87%
- Superman (2025) – 85%
- Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017) – 85%
- Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023) – 82%
- Super (2010) – 50%
- Movie 43 (2013) – 5%
Super and Movie 43 are the two unfortunate standouts. The former, starring Rainn Wilson and Elliot Page, follows a wannabe, crazed vigilante called the Crimson Bolt as he beats people up with a wrench and tries to rescue his wife from a drug dealer.
It’s a dark, grim, and underrated film, but it was released around the same time as Kick-Ass and was slapped with (unjust) comparisons and allegations of ripping it off, even though they are completely different movies.
In Gunn’s defence, Movie 43 wasn’t solely his doing. He directed one segment: Beezel, starring Elizabeth Banks as a woman who’s paranoid about her boyfriend’s animated cat. It is not good.
During a Facebook Q&A, Gunn joked that he blamed Banks for convincing him to do it. “I didn’t even get to edit that stupid thing,” he said, adding that he’s never seen it.
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