Marvel Studios generally likes to keep things family-friendly in The MCU, but there have been a couple of occasions when a scene or line of dialogue pushed the boundaries a little. James Gunn, in particular, seems to have been given a bit more leeway with his Guardians of the Galaxy movies, but there was one joke that the studio asked the director to remove from the first film.
Gunn has referenced this before, but when asked to elaborate during a recent Twitter Q&A, the filmmaker revealed the line in question.
It turns out the scene with Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) and Drax (Dave Bautista) discussing the former's home planet of Earth was originally supposed to end with another zinger from the Kylosian Destroyer.
The line really doesn't seem that controversial - especially when you consider this movie also contained Quill's Jackson Pollack joke - but it seems even a comedic allusion to mass murder was simply a bit much for the Disney-owned studio.
Gunn says he didn't want to alter the gag, but relented as “a way to compromise, because the studios had been so good at letting me ‘get my way.'” The scene still works as more of a bonding moment for the two characters, but we reckon that final line would have taken it to an hilarious new level.