Widescreen: Who should direct 'Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3'?

Last Friday, Disney and Marvel Studios parted ways with James Gunn, the writer/director of the “Guardians of the Galaxy” films. He will no longer direct the third movie in the series, slated for release in 2020. Why? Because some truly shocking tweets he made years ago were put back in the spotlight by conservative provocateur Mike Cernovich, tweets containing jokes about pedophilia and rape that would make Gilbert Gottfried blush. (Well, maybe not.)

Gunn apologized on his own Twitter feed, ending a string of tweets with this: “I used to make a lot of offensive jokes. I don't anymore. I don't blame my past self for this, but I like myself more and feel like a more full human being and creator today.”

Disney officials, still reeling from allegations of improper behavior against one of their head honchos, John Lasseter, dropped the ax on Gunn just as the annual celebration of pop culture that is Comic Con International was getting underway in San Diego.

So who should direct “Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3”? I have a few suggestions:

• Taika Waititi: The “What We Do in the Shadows” director who brought his unique brand of humor to Marvel's “Thor: Ragnarok” is definitely the front-runner among fans. He's probably headed for a bit of controversy himself, though — he's currently helming “Jojo Rabbit,” a satirical film starring Scarlett Johansson, in which Waititi himself plays a young boy's imaginary friend, Adolf Hitler. Yes. You read that correctly. Waititi explained on Instagram: “What better way to insult Hitler than having him portrayed by a Polynesian Jew?”

• Karen Gillan: She stole the show from Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson in “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle” and broke our hearts as Thanos' daughter Nebula in the previous “Guardians” movies and “Avengers: Infinity War.” This year, she also delivered her first feature film as director: “The Party's Just Beginning,” a drama in which Gillan's protagonist copes with the suicide of her closest friend. That might not sound like Marvel material, but the “Guardians” films' emotions run deep, and the studio has made its share of unorthodox hires.

• Ron Howard: Lucasfilm boss Kathleen Kennedy brought him in to save “Solo: A Star Wars Story” when original directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller strayed too far from the script. The box office numbers don't suggest he was successful — a sub-$400 million global gross is akin to disaster for the “Star Wars” brand — but when you catch up with it on home video in September, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised by how much you enjoy it. (It's definitely more fun than the dead-serious “Rogue One.”)

• James Gunn: The best choice, really, considering he wrote all three films and has an obvious enthusiasm for the material. Maybe Disney can go back to overlooking his execrable statements, just as they did six years ago when they first hired him — and just as they overlooked allegations of domestic violence against the star of their pirate movies.

'Cheers, love! The cavalry's here!'

This weekend, professional sports teams from two nations will face off in the Barclays Center, the 19,000-seat arena that the NBA's Brooklyn Nets and the NHL's New York Islanders call home. Their two-day, best-of-three tournament will be televised on ABC, ESPN and Disney XD.

The sport: “Overwatch.” Yep, that colorful, team-based, first-person shooter video game you read me gush about earlier this year.

Back in February, our Bob Susnjara wrote about how a growing number of suburban high schoolers are competing in esports, or organized video-game teams — enough that the IHSA considers video gaming an emerging sport that could, one day, join major scholastic athletics as a sanctioned event. About 50 colleges or universities offer scholarships in esports, according to Susnjara's story.

So it's possible that your high school student who spends too much time on the dang PlayStation could parlay it into real money — in the case of this weekend's Overwatch League Grand Finals, that's $1 million in prize money to the winning squad.

The Philadelphia Fusion and London Spitfire sit atop the 12-team Overwatch League (OWL) backed by Blizzard Entertainment, the developer and publisher of the game. Their first match airs at 6 p.m. Friday on ESPN and Disney XD; the second and third (if necessary) matches air beginning at 3 p.m. Saturday on Disney XD and online at ESPN3. All matches will stream online via Twitch, overwatchleague.com and mlg.com, and a highlights package will air at 2 p.m. Sunday on ABC.

• Sean Stangland is a Daily Herald multiplatform editor who looks forward to watching “Infinity War” again on Tuesday when it hits digital platforms. Follow him on Twitter at @SeanStanglandDH.