‘Guardians’ Star Canceled After Propaganda Push, Labeled “Scab”

in Marvel, Movies

Guardians of the Galaxy characters Star-Lord (Chris Pratt), Drax (Dave Bautista), Groot (Vin Diesel), Nebula (Karen Gillan), and Mantis (Pom Klementieff)

Credit: Marvel Studios

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, directed by James Gunn in his final Marvel project and scored by John Murphy, marked the end of the road for the Marvel Studios’ Guardians. Released on May 5, 2023, the film saw some (if not most, or even all) of the team members bidding farewell to the MCU.

It picked up after the Guardians’ latest adventure in The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special, a Marvel Studios Special Presentation on Disney+ (Disney Plus). This followed the team’s appearances in Thor: Love and Thunder (2022) and the Avengers films in the Infinity Saga.

James Gunn and the Guardians of the Galaxy
Credit: Inside the Magic

Related: Marvel Star Opens up About Getting Canceled Online

With the departures of Robert Downey Jr.’s Iron Man and Chris Evans’ Captain America from the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), the franchise has entered a new era known as the Multiverse Saga.

Despite concerns about “superhero fatigue” and the departure of Jonathan Majors, who portrayed Kang the Conqueror, Marvel Studios is set to once again redefine the Marvel movie landscape.

Chris Pratt as Peter Quill/Star-Lord
Credit: Marvel Studios

With Majors out of the picture and Marvel President Kevin Feige likely transitioning from the Multiverse Saga to a new Mutant Saga featuring Fox’s X-Men characters, Avengers: Doomsday (formerly titled Avengers: The Kang Dynasty) and Avengers: Secret Wars (Avengers 6) are in development.

Guardians of the Galaxy Star Receives Backlash

Howard the Duck's Cameo in GotG
Credit: Inside the Magic

Related: Disney Set To Continue With Violent Content Following ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ Success

Seth Green and his company Stoopid Buddy Stoodios, who make Adult Swim’s Robot Chicken, have issued an anti-union plea to stop-motion animator houses — to a storm of backlash from the public.

Green is known for playing Howard the Duck in the Guardians of the Galaxy movies, starring as Oz in the 1990s hit television show Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997–2000), and as the voice of Chris Griffin on the Fox adult animated comedy series Family Guy.

The “anti-union propaganda” from Green’s studio was leaked to r/Fauxmoi on Reddit by an anonymous user, u/Big-Ambitions-8258, with the company’s letter bearing several signatures, including that of Green himself.

Regarding unionization, the studio begs workers not to “come to that.” The letter reads in full as follows:

From the Executive Desks of Harvatine (John Harvatine IV), Towner (Eric Towner), Senreich (Matthew Senreich) & Green (Seth Green)

Buds,
We know there is talk of unionizing, and we want to express our position as the founders of this endeavor: we hope it doesn’t come to that. We believe in this company, the people that work here, and the path we are going down together. It’s been a HUGE source of pride to have a studio in our own backyard, beautiful Burbank California. We would like to keep it that way. Attached you will find a response to a letter that’s been floating around. The response is chock-full of information and hope- fully answers any questions you may have. As always, we are available to discuss anything with each and every one of you!! When issues have been brought to the forefront in the past, we have shown you through our actions that we address them the best we can. We encourage you to keep talking and to keep talking to us. That’s the best way for us to improve life here at the stoodio for all of our Stoopid Family. We believe in this company and its talent, we hope you believe in us back.
Best,

(signed) Harvatine Towner Senreich Green

Seth Green's company Stoopid Buddies Stoodios send anti-union propaganda to stop-motion animators houses
byu/Big-Ambitions-8258 inFauxmoi

It’s not uncommon for major studios in Hollywood to be anti-union or engage in union-busting. Disney and Marvel Studios were not exempt from this.

The 2023 WGA (Writers Guild of America) and SAG-AFTRA (Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists) demonstrated the lengths that studios are willing to go to to maintain lower wages and refuse residuals, especially in yet-to-be-standardized realms like streaming television.

Hollywood studios have also been keen on replacing human jobs with Artificial Intelligence (AI), another spot of contention between creatives and studios.

It is more than ironic that Green, whose job undoubtedly benefited from the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes last year (which secured important rights for actors and writers), would be taking this anti-union position with his own studio. Additionally, he is attempting to prevent animators — already a famously exploited group — from acquiring fair treatment.

Members of the public were quick to condemn the Guardians star, with users like u/EconomistWild7158 criticizing the use of the overly-friendly “Buds” to address the workers — a sentiment garnering a whopping 4.5K upvotes from other users:

Anyone opening a letter with “Buds” is no comrade.

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Meanwhile, u/QuantumLeapLife broke down the letter, reading between the lines:

Lovely, the guy that got rich off of voice acting and animation is against unions that protect others in the same profession. Pretty gross….

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Others like u/CharimaamMeow found the whole thing “gross” — and 2.8K people seem to agree:

Lovely, the guy that got rich off of voice acting and animation is against unions that protect others in the same profession. Pretty gross…. 

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A comment from ImpressiveMeaning217 further condemned Green, highlighting aspects of his lifelong acting career:

Even worse, he’s been acting since he was a child, so he has a lifelong career and more than pretty good knowledge about the industry and why workers in the entertainment industry, specifically creators, want/need to unionize.

HUGE dick move. Honestly wtf Oz. And whoever he was in Can’t Hardly Wait.

He left Buffy bc he felt written into a corner and wanting to make some films. The asshole in charge who shall not be named refused to make room for his other roles in the season, so he scrapped an entire storyline arc just to annihilate everything he had set up about his character.

I had felt some kind of respect for him in that even though AIC did that, he did an additional scene on Angel and then took off for the “never going to see this character again” horizon.

Seriously this is so gross. Especially having worked on a set like Buffy.

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Do you think Seth Green is right to prevent the unionization of animators? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

More on Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, produced by The Walt Disney Company’s Marvel Studios, marked the farewell of former Marvel director James Gunn from the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) — as he’s now transitioned into becoming Marvel Studios’ biggest rival, DC Studios‘ CEO over at Warner Bros. Discovery.

The movie featured a host of familiar characters reprising their roles from the previous Guardians of the Galaxy films, namely Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 1 (2014) and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017).

Fans once again encountered the gun-wielding human (and former part-Celestial), Peter Quill, known as Star-Lord (Chris Pratt), the daughters of Thanos, Gamora (Zoe Saldaña) and Nebula (Karen Gillan), the tree-like alien Groot (Vin Diesel), the adorable yet dangerous Rocket Raccoon (Bradley Cooper), the vengeance-driven Drax the Destroyer (Dave Bautista), the empath Mantis (Pom Klementieff), the Ravager Kraglin Obfonteri (Sean Gunn), Stakar Ogord (Sylvester Stallone), and even the presence of Cosmo the Spacedog (Maria Bakalova).

Confronting a fresh array of challenges, these space-faring heroes encountered the resplendent Adam Warlock, played by newcomer Will Poulter, alongside Elizabeth Debicki’s portrayal of Ayesha. Chukwudi Iwuji assumed the role of the High Evolutionary in the new Marvel movie, accompanied by his confederate Theel (Nico Santos).

At the same time, Daniela Melchior embodied Ura, and Kai Zen played Phyla-Vell. Additionally, Linda Cardellini made her debut as Lylla the Otter, Asim Chaudhry took on the role of Teefs the Walrus, and Mikaela Hoover appeared as Floor the Bunny — all being former cellmates and companions of Rocket.

in Marvel, Movies

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