James Gunn talks Guardians Vol. 2, DC movies and working in the MCU

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

Production on James Gunn's GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 2 wrapped up two months ago but it still feels like a long wait until we're reunited with Peter Quill and his gang of galactic misfits. Gunn took some time out from post-production on the Marvel sequel to answer a few questions on Facebook, and we've compiled a few of the more interesting responses below.

On how much collaboration exists between the other Marvel directors:

I honestly just go into my little hole and create my story, so there isn't a lot of collaboration at the story-building end. That said, I did give the script to the Russo brothers and Marcus and McFeely to read, so they knew what I was doing in case it affected anything they were doing (which comes after me), but they didn't have any notes. I've also read a lot of the recent Marvel scripts and given them my notes.

On if he would return to the Marvel Cinematic Universe to helm another film:

Probably not, no. I'm not sure what's going on next but IF I chose to stay in the MCU I'd be playing solely with cosmic characters related to the Guardians-verse.

On whether there were any major character's who got cut out of the script:

Yes. In my initial treatment I had a whole other Guardian involved. I loved the character and loved including him/her, and thought my take was fun. But I started to feel that there were two many characters in the story and for all of the characters to get their due, I needed to remove one. So this character left, and Mantis stayed.

On what he thinks of the DCEU movies and whch DC character's he'd be interested in tackling:

I thought there was some amazing action sequences in Man of Steel, but I haven't seen the other two films. I've had opportunities to make DC films, but I haven't said yes to anything, and not sure I would at this time. I've talked before about which projects appeal to me the most IF I was into making one, and it's always Shazam and Metal Men and Swamp Thing and Johan Hex and a few other DC IPs I've enjoyed for a great deal of my life.

On whether GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 2 will be better than the first:

I don't really think in terms of competing with myself, but I think it is a richer, more complex, and more graceful film.

As to when we might see our first trailer for GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 2, Gunn said "not too long. Also not too soon." Shucks. GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 2 will hit theaters on May 5, 2017.