Disney stars, family members and fans have passionately stood up for Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn after he was ousted from the franchise.

Gunn was sacked when offensive tweets he posted a decade ago about pedophilia and rape were uncovered by the Daily Caller.

The 51-year-old had apologized for his past behavior long before the tweets were found, and did so again on Friday, telling fans he was now 'very different than I was a few years ago'.

And as the backlash continues, his colleagues are now gathering around him, encouraging people to sign a petition urging Marvel to reinstate him, telling stories about his positive attributes and in one case, sharing a bible verse about judging people too quickly.

Perhaps the most moving defense came from Gunn's brother Sean, who plays Kraglin in the franchise.

James Gunn has enjoyed support from Disney stars Selma Blair, Chris Pratt and Sean Gunn over the weekend after he was sacked from his role as director of Guardians in the Galaxy over tweets he made 10 years ago joking about rape and pedophilia

Praising his brother as 'kind, generous and compassionate' with friends, family colleagues, fans, and even strangers, he said James had always wanted to tell stories - and used many formats to find his voice.

'The struggle to find that voice was sometimes clunky, misguided, or downright stupid, and sometimes wonderful, moving, and hilarious,' he said.

'Since devoting his entire life to the Guardians movies and MCU six years ago, I've seen him channel that voice into his work on those movies and seen him transform from the guy who made up things to shock people.

'I saw firsthand as he went from worrying about "softening his edge" for a larger audience to realizing that his "edge" wasn't as useful of a tool as he thought it was. That his gift for storytelling was something better.

'In many respects this change in my brother was reflected in the change that the Guardians go through. I've heard my brother say many times that when Quill rallies the team with "this is our chance to give a s***" - to care - that it's the pep talk he himself needed to hear.

Sean said his brother had spoken about how the movies had changed him as a person in dozens of interviews, and said working on the films had not just made his brother, but also himself, a better person.

Selma Blair, a Disney star who is not part of the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise, also spoke out, sharing a link on her Twitter to the petition that would see him reinstated.

After she was flooded with angry messages from fans that believed James Gunn should have been and should stay sacked, she deleted the tweet and wrote: 'We change. We grow. Sometimes I am so forlorn people can’t see it'.

Gunn has apologized and owned up to the comments during interviews in the past, but when they were uncovered by the Daily Caller,

In addition, she shared a link to a story discussing how the director's firing went against the message of the films themselves.

Chris Pratt was more subtle in his approach, and opted simply to share a bible verse on his account, capitalizing James, the book the verse was from.

'Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters. Let every person be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger. JAMES 1:19,' he wrote.

'The offensive attitudes and statements discovered on James' Twitter feed are indefensible and inconsistent with our studio's values, and we have severed our business relationship with him,' Disney chairman Alan Horn in a statement after Gunn was sacked.

Since then, the director and writer has enjoyed masses of support, with a petition demanding he be reinstated as director hitting nearly 300,000 in just four days.

Former television star Roseanne Barr is one person who has not joined the bandwagon, sharing her 'disgust' at people supporting Gunn while they fought for her to lose her eponymous show.

'I’m disgusted to read all of the support for James Gunn’s pedophile jokes - as the same people supported blacklisting me for a joke they didn’t even understand,' she wrote.