How Disney and Marvel can save face after firing James Gunn from ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3’

Maybe Walt Disney made the right move to remove James Gunn as writer/director of Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (along with, presumably, his roles in shaping Phase Four and behind of the MCU) following old jokes about (among other things) pedophilia being unearthed. Or maybe not. Regardless, they still should have waited a few days, if only to not create the impression that they were reacting to a somewhat manufactured controversy organized by right-wing political operatives as punishment for speaking out against our current administration.

But what’s done is done. Even with that “re-hire James Gunn” petition topping 311,000 signatures in six days, I doubt that Disney is going to walk back, hat-in-hand, and bring Gunn back to into the fold. So what now? Assuming “re-hire James Gunn” is not on the table, there are a few options.