James Gunn FIRED: Marvel fans call dismissal ‘RIDICULOUS and stupid’ as petitions launch

Yesterday the man who directed the first two Guardians of the Galaxy movies, with the third instalment ready to shoot this autumn, was fired by Disney.

Political conservatives who disagreed with Gunn on Trump resurfaced controversial tweets containing jokes the filmmaker made about rape and paedophilia a decade ago.

While the director has apologised – and even did so for similar content back in 2012 when he was hired on the first Guardians movie – Marvel Studios’ owner Disney have dismissed him.

However many Marvel fans have taken to Twitter calling the firing “ridiculous” with at least three online petitions having been started calling for his reinstatement as director on Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3.

One fan wrote: “And with that, Marvel has just killed their best movie series, for the sake of political correctness. The guy made some bad jokes that were trying too hard to be edgy and funny, a DECADE ago. Please tell me you all realize how stupid that is. #JamesGunn #JamesGunnDidNothingWrong.”

Another said: “Imagine firing one of the best directors in the MCU because of tweets he made 10 YEARS AGO. Huge loss on Disney’s part and suddenly lost a lot of interest in GOTG 3… #JamesGunn.”

A fan added: “I’m with @JamesGunn. This is ridiculous. Ok, those are very hard jokes .But you can’t fire a director just [because] of someone fishing tweets [that are] 10 years old. Disney was aware and people can change. Politically correct and social media will kill us all. I’m so sad.. #JamesGunn #GOTG3.”

One tweeted: “The fact that #JamesGunn has been fired from #GuardiansOfTheGalaxy 3, has proven to me that the vocal minority of people online have way too much power. And they can’t take a joke!”

While one said: “O.K. hear me out… I think people overreacted and blew this whole James Gunn thing out of proportion. And now it led to him being fired. I consider that ridiculous. There are other ways to carry out “sentence for his sins”. But it´s 2018, more ridiculous s*** happened. #JamesGunn.”

Meanwhile Gunn also has the backing of Guardians of the Galaxy’s Drax star Dave Bautista, who called the firing “NOT okay.”

Writing on Twitter, Bautista said: “I will have more to say but for right now all I will say is this.

“@JamesGunn is one of the most loving, caring, good natured people I have ever met.

“He’s gentle and kind and cares deeply for people and animals.

“He’s made mistakes. We all have. I’m NOT ok with what’s happening to him.”