Credit: FlickrJames Gunn and the Guardians of the Galaxy are set to have their final adventure, and up to this point, the characters have mostly been under his creation and direction. There have only been two instances where the Guardians have been under someone else’s direction, which were during Infinity War and Endgame. Gunn has revealed that he disagreed with how Star-Lord was painted in that massive MCU movie.
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Anthony Russo and Joe Russo are arguably the most prominent directors that Marvel has seen, apart from James Gunn. Collectively, the Russo Brothers directed Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War, and Avengers: Endgame. Honestly, these three movies were some of the most pivotal in the grand scheme of Phase 4 of the MCU.
It would be a tall task to get so many dynamic personalities together, along with their characters, and combine them into something as successful as Infinity War. Alas, they were up to the challenge. The only issue is that most of the characters already had various movies and appearances that other filmmakers had directed.
Enter the Guardians of the Galaxy. Only James Gunn had cultivated the story for everyone’s favorite ragtag group of superheroes. With the success of the first and second movies, Marvel wanted the man to stay behind the camera and make creative choices for these characters.
However, when the culmination of the Infinity Saga approached, a decision had to be made. The story would be written to include the Guardians of the Galaxy team, but it wouldn’t be James Gunn calling the shots.
Therein lies the issue, as Gunn has now admitted the decisions made in Infinity War were not what he would have wanted. When speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, he admitted that the decisions made by Star-Lord/Peter Quill were not what he would have chosen.
James Gunn states, “They did some things that I wouldn’t have wanted.” Those “things” that Gunn is referring to are two monumental moments that happen in the MCU film.
The first is when the Guardians of the Galaxy try and stop Thanos from taking the Reality Stone from The Collector. However, before that, Gamora made Peter promise to kill her should Thanos take her because she is the only person who knows the location of the Soul Stone. During a tense moment, Peter hesitates to kill Gamora, and Thanos fills his blaster with bubbles. Gunn believes that Peter would have done what was necessary at that moment.
The second moment that the director agrees with is at the end of Infinity War, and arguably the moment that nearly made everyone hate Peter. During the final fight, where everyone almost takes off the Infinity Gauntlet, Peter discovers that Thanos sacrificed Gamora to obtain the Soul Stone. In a fit of rage, Peter punches Thanos, knocking him out of the trance that Mantis was enacting.
James Gunn also believes that the moment would have never happened with Peter. Though we are unsure how Gunn would have written out those moments, it made for more compelling drama. No one will say that the Russo Brothers ruined the Guardians of the Galaxy in the Avengers movies, but we could have seen a much different movie had Gunn had creative control over his characters.
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Despite Gunn disliking how Star-Lord behaved in Infinity War, he can now end the saga of the Guardians of the Galaxy as he intended. We will see the final chapter of everyone’s favorite team when Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 hits theaters on May 5.
Do you agree with James Gunn about Infinity War? Let Inside the Magic know in the comments down below!