Critical Details Revealed After Marvel Scrubs 'Guardians of the Galaxy' Projects From MCU

Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3 (2023) was a milestone for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, closing significant chapters for beloved characters and marking the end of an era in more ways than one.

The film not only served as the swansong for several actors but also marked the departure of its writer-director, James Gunn. Gunn exited Marvel to take the helm at DC Studios as its new creative head, with his upcoming project, Superman (2025), slated for a July release.

In the months surrounding the film’s release, actors such as Dave Bautista (Drax), Bradley Cooper (Rocket), and Zoe Saldaña (Gamora) confirmed they were stepping away from their Marvel roles. Saldaña, in particular, has made it pretty clear that she wants to move on, encouraging Marvel to find a new actress to step up and take her place.

Yet, the sentiment hasn’t been universal among the cast. Chris Pratt (Peter Quill/Star-Lord) has voiced his openness to reprising his role, even expressing interest in working across both Marvel and DC. The film’s closing credits further teased fans with the promise that “The Legendary Star-Lord Will Return.”

Behind the scenes, however, it turns out that a solo Star-Lord project was already under discussion.

‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ Projects Axed By Marvel

During an appearance on Josh Horowitz’s Happy Sad Confused podcast, Gunn addressed the current state of the Guardians in the MCU.

While he noted that he “would love them to take those characters and see more stories with them” and that he’s given Pratt his blessing to continue on in the role, he revealed that there were three Guardians of the Galaxy projects in the works while he was at Marvel that were ultimately axed.

These included a TV show based on the Ravagers – the group previously led by Yondu (Michael Rooker), who raised Quill – as well as a Legendary Star-Lord project for which they already had “a whole idea.”

Another project called Rocket & Groot was also shelved. However, Gunn noted that “Rocket & Groot is what Guardians 3 was.” While the original plan was to do Rocket & Groot first, he was allegedly talked into prioritizing the threequel instead.

While there’s no saying that Marvel will never come back to these ideas in the future, the studio has significantly slimmed down its release plans lately. After a rough few years that saw the MCU’s fair share of duds – such as Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania (2023) and Secret Invasion on Disney+ – the studio has reoriented its focus on quality over quantity.

This has led to a much emptier slate of theatrical releases, as well as fewer shows on Disney+. In 2024, we received just the one Marvel movie, Deadpool & Wolverine (2024) (although admittedly, this had just as much to do with the SAG-AFTRA and Writers Strikes as it did Marvel’s strategic release plans).

Marvel has also gone back to the drawing board with several projects, such as scrapping already filmed episodes of Daredevil: Born Again to start from scratch.

Would you like to see the Guardians of the Galaxy return to the MCU?