{"id":12783,"date":"2025-07-15T23:17:05","date_gmt":"2025-07-15T23:17:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/12783\/"},"modified":"2025-07-15T23:17:05","modified_gmt":"2025-07-15T23:17:05","slug":"the-1-thing-james-gunn-nailed-about-guy-gardner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/12783\/","title":{"rendered":"The 1 Thing James Gunn Nailed About Guy Gardner"},"content":{"rendered":"

“Written in the Book”<\/a> is a feature that is basically the reverse of another feature of mine called “Follow the Path,”<\/a> where I spotlight changes made to comic book characters that are based on outside media, as well as characters who entirely came from outside media. Nowadays, there are so many comic book films and TV series out there that we can spotlight examples of TV and film adapting specific and less famous comic book stories to other media (so no “Spider-Man lifts up debris” or stuff like that). Today, we look at how the new Superman film nailed the very specific role that Guy Gardner has served in Superman comic books over the years.<\/p>\n

Back when it was first announced that Guy Gardner was going to be appearing in the new Superman movie, I did a newsletter about the history between Superman and Guy Gardner over the years. But even more recently, I read YEARS of Superman comic books for a piece about the first time that anyone called Superman the “Big Blue Boy Scout,”<\/a> and upon reading years of Superman comic books, it is clear that Guy Gardner has been used for a very specific purpose over the years in the comics.<\/p>\n

Guy’s role has been the guy who is dismissive of Superman in a way that other superheroes would never DREAM of doing, but by having Guy act that way to Superman, it both sets Guy Gardner apart from other superheroes, but also makes Superman seem more down to Earth, as well, as even the great Man of Steel has to deal with being needled by a co-worker. That is the exact relationship that James Gunn NAILS in the new Superman film between Guy Gardner (Nathan Fillion) and Superman (David Corenswet). Here we’ll take a look at how that relationship developed over the years.<\/p>\n

\t\t<\/p>\n

\"David<\/p>\n

\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

Related<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\tThis 35-Year-Old Superman Story Actually Clears Up a Problem Some Fans Have With James Gunn’s Movie
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A controversial plot twist in the new Superman movie draws from an interesting 1990 Superman storyline<\/p>\n

How was Guy Gardner used before Superman joined the Justice League?<\/p>\n

As I noted in the “Big Blue Boy Scout” piece<\/a>, Guy and Superman first met during the Legends crossover (by Len Wein, John Ostrander, John Byrne, and Karl Kesel), and right off the bat, he was calling Superman “Big Blue”…<\/p>\n

\"Guy<\/p>\n

Image via DC<\/p>\n

During the Invasion! crossover event, in Invasion! #3 (by Keith Giffen, Bill Mantlo, Bart Sears, Joe Rubinstein, Dick Giordano, and Pablo Marcos), Guy is extremely dismissive of Superman when all of the metahumans on Earth are incapicitated, and so only aliens and humans with weapons (like the Green Lanterns) are free to take the fight to the Alien Alliance to find the cure for the Gene Bomb that the aliens left when their invasion was foiled by Earth…<\/p>\n

Later, Guy outright calls him a sap…<\/p>\n

\"Guy<\/p>\n

Image via DC<\/p>\n

In Adventure of Superman #473 (by Dan Jurgens and Art Thibert), Hal Jordan goes missing, and Guy Gardner and Superman team up to find him. Superman is clearly not thrilled to even SPEAK to Guy, and Guy then grabs his cape, threatening to hit him, and that leads to Jurgens’ attempt to address the line from the famous song, “You Don’t Mess Around With Jim” by Jim Croce, where Croce notes, “You don’t tug on Superman’s cape…” Here, we see why…<\/p>\n

\"Superman<\/p>\n

Image via DC<\/p>\n

Superman is forced to work with Guy to find Hal, but Superman is constantly annoyed by Guy throughout the issue. <\/p>\n

In 1991, DC had a crossover event where there was a possibility that some of DC’s heroes might become the villainous Monarch, and so Waverider, a being from the future where Monarch (a former superhero turned tyrant) has total control over the world, travels to the past to see which superhero will be the one who turns into Monarch in the future. Waverider tests a few heroes, and some of the major ones, like Superman, he tests MULTIPLE times (because, well, you know, those heroes all had multiple titles, so they HAD to be tested multiple times). <\/p>\n

In one of the annuals, Superman turns evil (just not into Monarch). In THAT one, he DOESN’T Guy Gardner. However, in Action Comics Annual #3 (by Roger Stern, Tom Grummett, and a host of inkers), Superman becomes the President of the United States, and there, he DOES fight Guy Gardner!<\/p>\n

The implication is clear: if there is a superhero who is going to mess with Superman, it’s GOING to be Guy Gardner. That became a bigger deal when they actually became official teammates!<\/p>\n

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\"Superman<\/p>\n

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Related<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\tWhen Was Superman First Called a ‘Big Blue Boy Scout’?
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Superman is often referred to as a “Big Blue Boy Scout,” but when did it happen first? <\/p>\n

How was Guy Gardner used when Superman became his Justice League teammate?<\/p>\n

As I noted in the “Big Blue Boy Scout” piece<\/a>, Dan Jurgens, by then a Superman writer for a number of years (first on Adventures of Superman, and then Superman) took over Justice League America, and he had Superman and Guy now become teammates for the first time, and Guy hated having Superman around, especially as Guy’s girlfriend, Ice, seemed to swoon over the Man of Steel. <\/p>\n

It came to a head in Justice League America #63 (by Jurgens and Rick Burchett), when Guy forces his teammates to choose between him and Superman while on a mission, and, of course, they all pick Superman…<\/p>\n

\"Guy<\/p>\n

Image via DC<\/p>\n

Guy would then return to the team a few issues later, now with a new power ring that he got from Sinestro, and he instantly attacked Superman!<\/p>\n

\"Guy<\/p>\n

Image via DC<\/p>\n

Now, over the years, Superman and Guy Gardner obviously came to an understanding with each other. During Beau Smith’s run on Guy Gardner: Warrior, Guy learned that he was part-alien himself, and that he was the last of his race, and that gave him and Superman something to bond over. After that point, outside of a few conflicts here and there (especially after Guy was seemingly killed in Our Worlds at War), Guy and Superman really don’t have that same antagonistic relationship anymore. <\/p>\n

However, for many years in the late 1980s\/early 1990s, Guy would be the one superhero who would always seek to put Superman in his place, and that was captured beautifully in the new Superman movie, with Fillion’s Guy Gardner constantly doing that to Corenswet’s Superman, as well. <\/p>\n

If you have any suggestions for future Written in the Book installments, drop me a line at brianc@cbr.com!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"“Written in the Book” is a feature that is basically the reverse of another feature of mine called…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":12784,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[88,206],"class_list":["post-12783","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-entertainment","tag-movies"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12783","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12783"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12783\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12784"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12783"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12783"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12783"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}