Posted in: Comics, Movies, TV | Tagged: dc studios, james gunn, The Question

James Gunn: No Rights Issue with The Question; "One of My Faves"

During a Peacemaker S02E02 watch-along, writer/director James Gunn confirmed there are no rights issues with DC Studios adapting The Question.

To make sure that viewers can focus on enjoying every new episode of DC Studios, HBO Max, and writer/director James Gunn's John Cena-starring Peacemaker Season 2, Gunn shifted his social media watch-alongs until after the episode airs – which was a great call. Along with getting some insights on the episode and how it came together, the watch-alongs also give Gunn a chance to address some other DCU-related topics. With Peacemaker having huge success on the big and small screens, Gunn was asked about one of his fellow Charlton Comics heroes, The Question. Specifically, if DC Studios had the rights to bring the character to life (live-action or otherwise), alluding to comments that filmmaker Kevin Smith made previously about rights to the character being a stumbling block in the past.

Here's a look at Gunn confirming that DC Studios has the rights to bring The Question to big and small screens:

The reference that the fan is alluding to most likely dates back to Smith's comments from 2015, when he expressed a strong interest in a cinematic take on the character. In a 2021 edition of Smith's Fatman Beyond podcast, Smith discussed a pitch that was turned down for being too dark that sounds like The Question. During the discussion, Smith also alluded to rights issues for the character being an issue. "I had that recently where we pitched a thing, and first I pitched it at like one place and they were like 'holy f**k we love this' and I was like, 'thanks,' and they're like 'we want to do this instantly and we're gonna find out like if the character is spoken for somewhere else in the company,'" Smith shared.

The filmmaker continued, "And then they came back: 'Well, it is spoken for someplace else in the company, but they don't have plans for it and they're very excited to hear your plans.' So I was like right on and they were like 'look, if they say yeah, it's happening.' And you hear that all the time in this business and s**t. And we pitched, and the people that we pitched to were like 'it's dark' and I was like 'well, I mean, you know, but it's also funny' and they're like 'but it's dark' and so they didn't go for it. And it f**ing died there. So rather than it, and it was for another thing that somebody else owned, but I have brought enough to it where I was like 'this will totally work without their f**king thing'."

Created by Steve Ditko, Vic Sage, aka The Question, first appeared in June 1967's Blue Beetle #1 from Charlton Comics, before eventually making the move over to the DC Comics universe (which included some shifting of Sage's original backstory to make Charles Victor Szasz his original name). During the 2006–2007 miniseries 52, Sage's protégé, Detective Renee Montoya, would take on the mantle of The Question.

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