Superman Director James Gunn Reveals How DC Will Treat VFX Artists Better Than Other Studios

James Gunn plans to treat VFX artists better than other studios when it comes to crafting the movies in his new DC Universe. The filmmaker has revealed the reason why Superman wrapped so long before its release is to give the VFX teams the proper amount of time to create the visuals, and thus not leave them overworked. In the years since Terminator 2: Judgement Day and Jurassic Park kicked off a new era of CGI in blockbuster filmmaking, there have been incredible leaps forward. While there are still plenty of great CGI characters and mind-blowing work being done by incredible VFX artists, the sheer amount of VFX shorts and short turnaround time between films being handed over to the team prior to a movie’s release have led to some notably rushed CGI shots and terrible working conditions, with Marvel Studios films like Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and Thor: Love and Thunder being some notable recent examples.

Gunn, who previously worked on Marvel Studios’ Guardians of the Galaxy franchise and is now overseeing DC Studios and the upcoming Superman reboot, took to Threads to answer a fan question about how he is approaching CGI and VFX work for the DC films. Gunn responded that Superman finished filming a year before it was set for release because they wanted to give the VFX artists time to work on the project without needing to feel the crunch.

While Gunn is not directing other DC films aside from Superman at this stage, he did assure fans that this mentality would inform future DC films like the upcoming Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow. You can read Gunn’s response below:

“If you do some research you’ll see my films have always taken a different approach and I’ve always given my VFX artist-collaborators time to do their jobs properly, and the respect they deserve. And the quality of the VFX in those films is uniformly great because of it (and because my friends at Weta and Framestore and ILM and more are amazingly talented).

This is why we wrapped on Superman a year before release and why they’ve been hard at work on many shots for months before that. This is why we start heartily editing during the shoot. It’s why I prepare so vigorously and why we only shoot finished screenplays. And Supergirl, which I’m not directing, is being handled the same way. I can’t praise the VFX artists that help us create magic enough.”

DC Studios Is Taking a Different Approach to Marvel

Gunn’s work on the Guardians of the Galaxy films features some of the best CGI in the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe, particularly related to characters like Rocket and Groot. Part of the reason Gunn has both such respect for the art form and also knows how to plan around heavy CGI characters is early in his career, he observed the hard work on the set of 2002’s Scooby-Doo, which he wrote. Scooby-Doo was an entirely CGI character, and Gunn has said that director Raja Gosnell gave him a first-hand look at handling it, giving him the necessary skill set early on and teaching him how to prepare work on CGI-heavy films like Guardians of the Galaxy, The Suicide Squad, and now Superman.

The use of CGI in film has become a hot topic. While certain movies like Top Gun: Maverick and Alien: Romulus put such an emphasis on highlighting practical effects and saying “no CGI was involved,” it sometimes comes at the cost of writing off CGI entirely and ignoring all the hard work that VFX artists put into those films.

Meanwhile, the discussion about the poor treatment of VFX workers has become more public. Many big-budget films are guilty of treating VFX workers poorly, with Marvel Studios getting a particularly awful reputation after multiple artists spoke out about the dreadful working conditions that come with working on an MCU movie. Directors and studio heads not knowing what they want often result in last-minute changes with quick turnarounds that leave artists tired, heartbroken, and turning in subpar work because they are not given the time or resources to do their jobs.

It certainly will be interesting to see how The Fantastic Four: First Steps VFX works compared to Superman. Both movies are set for release in July next year, but while the latter wrapped filming shortly after San Diego Comic-Con, the MCU Fantastic Four reboot didn’t even start filming until a week later. So, while Superman is wrapped and VFX work has begun, The Fantastic Four: First Steps is just getting started.

Superman
opens in theaters on July 11, 2025.