James Gunn is known for delivering incredible work in the form of Guardians of the Galaxy and its sequel, but did you know he did an earlier superhero film starring Rainn Wilson? Did you also know that his cousin, Mark and brother, Brian, recently release Brightburn, a superhero/horror movie hybrid? Well, it turns out that these two flicks may be connected, as Brightburn may be looking to expand into its own superhero/horror universe.
Back in 2010, James Gunn released Super, a movie starring Rainn Wilson as a sort of goofy vigilante who, for better or worse, probably should have stuck to his day job rather than take on a life of fighting crime. Fast-forward to 2019, and James Gunn produced Brightburn, a dark, horrific parallel to Superman that focused on an alien boy who crash-landed in a small farm town in Kansas, and grew up to have superpowers. Only difference, the kid in Brightburn became a horrible sociopathic monster with gruesome tendencies and an affinity for murder and mass destruction rather than saving people a la Clark Kent.
If you have not seen the movie, avoid reading any further. Brightburn spoilers ahead.
In MCU-like fashion, Brightburn features a post-credit scene where a conspiracy theorist (played by Michael Rooker), covers the news and events on Brightburn where the kid continues killing and reeking havoc, destroying cities and burning down forests and basically just having a field day dominating the planet with his super powers. Rooker’s character continues on talking about a man in the sea who is destroying ships and other oceanic life like an evil Aquaman and another meta human female who is torturing people with a rope and forcing them to tell the truth like a, you guessed it, evil Wonder Woman. Among his coverage of these horrible evil villains, a quick shot of Rainn Wilson’s Crimson Bolt from Super can also be seen.
The future of a Brightburn franchise is not confirmed to exist at all, as this depends on the financial success of the first one and if there are other stories worth telling.
The idea of an evil Superman is awesome, in our opinion, but reviews of the movie have been rather mediocre, so its hard to say if it will happen. However, director David Yarovesky did state Recently while talking with Collider that he is open to the idea considering the end of credits scene, and the possibility of exploring the evils of these characters. Plus, there is also consideration for possible crossover with Crimson Bolt, so who knows what direction this franchise may take.
We are so tired of the good guys always having all the fun
Yarovesky also added that should he want to do sequels, he would like to keep things as more of a secret and then surprise fans with a surprise trailer of some kind, rather than announce the film ahead of time.
The future is open-ended for Brightburn, but we can only speak for ourselves when we say we would love to see more of this dark horror universe. We are so tired of the good guys always having all the fun.
