It's a little baffling that James Gunn is currently the mastermind of an upcoming wave of superhero movies over at Warner Bros. He's the writer/director of the upcoming "Superman," due in theaters on July 11, which will be the flagship of the freshly-rebooted DC Universe. Before being hired by Warner Bros. as the co-ceo of DC Studios (alongside producer Peter Safran), Gunn gained a great deal of fame writing and directing the hit "Guardians of the Galaxy" movies for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and those films are widely beloved for their mix of jokey humor and weepy sentimentality. 

But prior to all that, Gunn made two superhero movies that seemed to mock the very idea of superheroes. Gunn's more recent fare has been bright and earnest, but his early superhero works are bitter, filthy, cynical, and even tragic. His 2011 film "Super" posited that costumed vigilantism is a form of unchecked...