Credit: Inside the Magic, Marvel StudiosPete Davidson was supposed to be in the MCU?
Related: Fans Praise ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3’ For Being “Anti-Woke”
Marvel Studios, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company and the studio behind the Avengers films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), has been facing a recent downturn in popularity. Movies like Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022), Thor: Love and Thunder (2022), and the first film of Phase Five, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023), have not received the same level of acclaim as earlier Marvel releases. Despite the significant amount of controversy surrounding it, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is steadily heading towards becoming a favorite among fans.
The final Guardians of the Galaxy movie
On May 5th, 2023, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023) premiered as director James Gunn’s final project in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, based on the Marvel Comics. John Murphy composed the score for this film, which serves as the conclusion to the story of the original Guardians team. Building upon their appearances in Thor: Love and Thunder (2022), as well as the Avengers: Infinity War (2018) and Avengers: Endgame (2019) (some of the last movies from the Infinity Saga), the movie starts more or less where audiences last saw the beloved band of adventurers. Prior to the release of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, the Marvel Studios’ The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special, a Marvel Studios Special Presentation, also aired on Disney+, to a warm reception by Marvel fans.
Related: ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3’ Post-Credit Scenes Explained
Pete Davidson’s Marvel character
Pete Davidson’s character of Phlektik initially was slated to appear alongside the gun-wielding human, Peter Quill, known as Star-Lord (played by Chris Pratt), as well as the daughters of Thanos Gamora (Zoe Saldaña) and Nebula (Karen Gillan), a tree-like alien Groot (voiced by Vin Diesel), the adorably deadly Rocket Raccoon (voiced by Bradley Cooper), revenge-driven Drax the Destroyer (played by Dave Bautista), empath Mantis (played by Pom Klementieff), Ravagers Kraglin Obfonteri (played by Sean Gunn) and Stakar Ogord (played by Sylvester Stallone), and even Cosmo the Spacedog (played by Maria Bakalova).
However, a decision by Marvel doomed his appearance to barely even a cameo — covered entirely in a mask!
Indeed, the final cut of Guardians 3 sees Pete Davidson with his head entirely covered — but a recent video showing off Davidson’s actual face all made up and in-costume has surfaced.
Twitter user @derMauersegler shared the Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 deleted scene recently, which shows Davidson’s character, Phlektik, a worker at the High Evolutionary’s (Chukwudi Iwuji) Arete Laboratories, trying to “help” Chris Pratt’s Star-Lord/Peter Quill in his seeming attempt to hijack the High Evolutionary’s ship’s shields.
Not unlike his not-so-bright Saturday Night Live (SNL) character, Chad, Davidson’s Phlektik tells a frustrated Quill bluntly, “you just gotta change it from yellow to purple”, whereupon Quill annoyedly answers, “yes, I know!”. When Quill can’t take Phlektik’s blunt responses any more, he angrily asks, “are you always this irritating?!” — and Davidson’s character turns to his two human-looking companions to ask if he is:
a deleted Scene from ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3’ (PEOPLE)
Pete Davidson
#PeteDavidson
a deleted Scene from 'Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3' (PEOPLE)
Pete Davidson#PeteDavidson pic.twitter.com/wChH96OZuB
— Birdie (@derMauersegler) July 6, 2023
With a scene that’s about as funny as any other scene in the film, it’s easy to wonder why Marvel and/or Gunn decided to remove the character entirely from the movie. According to The Direct, Marvel Studios might have deliberately gone over Davidson’s face in post, CGI-erasing his visage from the film entirely, though keeping the scene when he asks the Guardians to “wait” for him.
The big question here is: why. Could it be Pete Davidson’s public perception as Kim Kardashian’s ex? Or perhaps Gunn felt it distracted from the flow of the movie with another celebrity cameo, despite clearly being good friends with Davidson — enough to invite him to have a cameo part to begin with!
Why do you think Marvel Studios cut Pete Davidson’s character, and this scene from the movie? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
The Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 sees the MCU’s favorite space-roving heroes come face-to-face with the all-gold Adam Warlock, played by newcomer Will Poulter, as well as Elizabeth Debicki’s Ayesha. Chukwudi Iwuji plays the High Evolutionary in the new Marvel movie flanked by crony Theel (Nico Santos), while Daniela Melchior plays Ura. Additionally, Linda Cardellini debuts as Lylla the Otter, Asim Chaudhry as Teefs the Walrus and Mikaela Hoover as Floor the Bunny — all ex-cellmates and friends of Rocket Raccoon’s.