James Gunn seemed to have a pretty good handle on the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise, but it seems that even he had some moments that were not as set in stone as it might seem. The writer/director recently revealed that one of those moments came when deciding whether to include Gamora in the final chapter of the Guardians trilogy or not.
Over the first two Guardians movies, the collective that became the Guardians of the Galaxy was formed, and the third movie was always going to end their story one way or the other. However, thanks to Infinity War and Endgame, things were made a little more complicated when Gamora was sacrificed by Thanos, only to return as an earlier version of herself thanks to the time traveling shenanigans of the Avengers in Endgame. While this left her romance with Star-Lord in an unknown place, James Gunn did consider not including her in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. Speaking to The New York Times, Gunn explained:
“That was a possibility, yes. [Peter] would be dealing with her loss, but she wouldn’t come back and confront him in this different way. I toyed with it a lot as I was writing the script. It’s something we do a lot in relationships anyway: We expect someone who reminds us of somebody from the past to be that somebody from the past. Especially with women, Peter Quill defines people around him to suit his own needs as opposed to really looking and seeing who they actually are as human beings. And Gamora is just not the same Gamora. She’s a different person.”
Guardians of The Galaxy Vol. 3 Brings James Gunn’s MCU Journey To a Close
Although at one point it seemed unlikely that James Gunn would get to complete his story with the Guardians, it is clear to see that he needed to come back in order to tell the tale he always set out to tell. Having now brought the trilogy to a full close, but with plenty of options open for future writers and directors to take a lead from, Gunn is done with the MCU and has a much bigger task ahead of him.
Gunn recently revealed that he has started storyboarding work on Superman: Legacy, the first movie of the new DCU slate that he and Peter Safran will be masterminding over at DC Studios for the next decade. Gunn has written the script for the film, and while there has been no official work on casting of the new Man of Steel, there are not many actors who have not been “linked” to the role by one report or another.
After leaving the Marvel Cinematic Universe on a high, Gunn will be hoping that he can get off to a similar start with DC. However, the spectre of Henry Cavill’s Superman departure still haunts the franchise and the new iteration will have to go some way to completely satisfy everyone. If there is anyone who can pull that off though, Gunn is one of the most likely candidates.
This story originally appeared on Movieweb
