james francis gunn jr. (born august 5, 1966) is an american director, screenwriter, producer and musician. he is known for directing the marvel cinematic universe movies "guardians of the galaxy" (2014) and its sequel, "guardians of the galaxy vol. 2" (2017) and the dc extended universe movie "the suicide squad" (2021) and the spin-off television series "peacemaker" (2022). he is also known for writing both "scooby-doo" (2002) and "" (2004).