In 2000, James Gunn made his first superhero movie. He knew it was doomed from the start

James Gunn’s first superhero film, The Specials, was a low-budget comedy about a group of minor heroes whose rivalries and ambitions keep them from matching their universe’s elite team. Gunn later recalled fearing it would fail before filming began, after clashing with director Craig Mazin over the film’s broad sitcom style.

The 2000 film earned just $13,276 at the box office, and Gunn said he was unhappy with the result. He had written it as an Office-style mockumentary but, then $70,000 in debt, felt unable to direct it himself. The script helped launch his Hollywood career after actor Jamie Kennedy passed it to his manager, Peter Safran, who later became Gunn’s co-leader at DC Studios; Mazin subsequently made acclaimed television dramas including Chernobyl and The Last of Us.