When it comes to the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s take on the Guardians of the Galaxy, James Gunn has written and directed all their “solo” adventures, including the upcoming Marvel movie Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. However, because of the shared universe nature of this franchise, it eventually became necessary for other filmmakers to leave their stamp on these characters, starting with Avengers: Infinity War. While Gunn did contribute to that Marvel movie by writing some dialogue for the Guardians and suggesting the song “Rubberband Man” for their first scene, but he’s shared that he does have one specific issue with Infinity War that’s tied with Chris Pratt’s Peter Quill, a.k.a. Star-Lord.
To be clear, it’s not like James Gunn dislikes Avengers: Infinity War; quite the contrary, as he said in 2021 that his “favorite scene” in the movie was when Gamora died by Thanos’ hand. However, while speaking with THR, the writer/director did acknowledge that directors Joe and Anthony Russo "did some things that I wouldn’t have wanted” in Infinity War, specially noting that Star-Lord would have killed Gamora if she asked him to, and he also wouldn’t have “punched Thanos and doomed the universe.”
As those who’ve seen Infinity War while going through the Marvel movies in order will remember, Peter hesitated to honor Gamora’s wish to kill her when Thanos arrived on Knowhere to collect his “daughter” so he could learn from her where the Soul Stone was located. By the time Peter did pull the trigger, the Mad Titan used the Reality Stone to turn the blasts into harmless bubbles, then promptly skedaddled using the Space Stone. Later on, when Peter learned that Thanos killed Gamora on Knowhere as a sacrifice to obtain the Soul Stone, he lost his cool and started punching the powerful baddie in the face, allowing him to break free of Mantis’ hypnotism, lay a beating down on the heroes and ultimately acquire the Time Stone from Doctor Strange.
In the five years since Avengers: Infinity War came out, there’s been a lot of discussion of Star-Lord’s big mistake, and while Chris Pratt has repeatedly defender his character’s actions, James Gunn doesn’t think he would have ever let things get that out of hand. So if Gunn had been the one making Infinity War rather than the Russos, it’s safe to say that Peter Quill’s personal journey would have looked a lot different. Alas, those filmmakers had the freedom to do something different with that hero, which put Peter on a path to being snapped away during The Blip, and then being reconstituted with everyone else five years later, only to meet a past version of Gamora who didn’t know who he was and wanted nothing to do with him.
James Gunn’s thoughts on that aspect of Avengers: Infinity War come not long after he recalled dropping an f-bomb when he saw Thor joined the Guardians of the Galaxy at the end of Avengers: Endgame, as the story he crafted for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 didn’t involve the God of Thunder. Fortunately for him, Marvel Studios ended up releasing Thor: Love and Thunder beforehand, resulting in Take Waititi coming up with a reason for why Thor isn’t hanging out with that team anymore. Gunn also recently admitted that The Blip has made it “really hard” for Marvel to make good movies, though this isn’t as much an issue for him with the Guardians movies since they’re “they’re set outside of that a little bit.”
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 hits theaters on May 5, and while it’s possible some of these characters could continue appearing in MCU projects, this will be the last hurrah for the team in its current form. Revisit their past adventures, including The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special, with your Disney+ subscription.
