Marvel Studios ALWAYS Planned On Bringing James Gunn Back For GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 3

Marvel Studios ALWAYS Planned On Bringing James Gunn Back For GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 3

Despite rumblings that Marvel Studios had been looking for someone to replace James Gunn as Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3's director, a new report reveals that the plan was always for him to return...

By JoshWilding - Mar 16, 2019 01:03 AM EST
Filed Under: Vol. 3
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
Following James Gunn's firing by Disney last year, speculation immediately started running rampant about who could replace the filmmaker as Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3's director. Adam McKay and Taikia Waititi were two names frequently thrown around but The Hollywood Reporter has now revealed that it was never the plan to replace Gunn. 


While agents started lining up clients, any signs that Marvel Studios might be seeking a replacement died away by mid-Fall and that left most thinking that the threequel was on the backburner. 

Well, the reality was that Marvel and Disney never started searching for someone new; instead, they went back to Gunn and made a deal in secret. It seems as if they simply wanted to let the dust settle before announcing that he will helm Vol. 3 and that's why we only heard about it yesterday (and why Kevin Feige remained so vague during Captain Marvel's press tour). 

The movie was originally set to be released next year but Gunn will start shooting The Suicide Squad next so we probably won't see the next Guardians movie for at least a couple of years. 

His return has been welcomed by fans, though, and is the best move for the franchise. 

Check out some crazy Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
concept art by hitting the "View List" button below.

Stakar



Played by Sylvester Stallone, Marvel ended up giving this character a much more grounded look in James Gunn's sequel but here we see a version whose powers are on full display at all times. 
 


This powered down version of Stakar once again shows a very different take on the character and it seems as if Marvel wanted to look at few different ways his abilities could be portrayed on screen.
 


Known as Starhawk in the comic books, he's a key character within the classic Guardians roster and the Guardians 3000 run and was granted his powers by the Hawk God (it's as weird as it sounds).


Here, we see a far more grounded take on the character as Stallone's face is put on full display. Given his A-List status, it makes sense for Marvel to show that in order to promote his involvement.
 

Martinex



Played by Smallville alum Michael Rosenbaum, Martinex was very visually distinctive and this piece of artwork provides some insight into how Marvel's talented concept artists dreamed up his look. 
 


Well, this is different! A slightly more out of control look for the character, this actually works a little better and it will be interesting seeing if Marvel finds a way to use this when he shows off his powers.
 


The character has been portrayed in a lot of different ways over the years and so Marvel had a lot of freedom when it comes to how best to show him on screen. This one would have been very cool.
 


A silicon-based life form composed of silicon crystal, Martinex is able to control both extreme heat and cold making him a very powerful and formidable member of this team of Guardians/Ravagers.
 

Charlie-27


 


Two very different takes on the character played by Ving Rhames, he's from the 31st Century and is actually the last survivor of a race who were genetically engineered to live on Jupiter.
 

Aleta Ogord


 


Marvel appears to have settled on Aleta's look fairly early on as Michelle Yeoh looked pretty much exactly like this on screen. She was born in a radioactive wasteland with the power to manipulate light.
 

Mainframe



Mainframe - voiced by Miley Cyrus of all people - was just a head in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 but Marvel clearly had some much bigger ideas for the character at an earlier point in production.
 


With any luck, we'll see the character get a body so she can kick some ass in the third instalment but here we get to see some very different takes on that head design clearly influenced by the comics. 
 

 

 


These two are my personal favourites! In the source material, Mainframe was actually The Vision who transformed into this A.I. in the 31st Century. Clearly, James Gunn is looking to simplify things here.
 

Krugarr



This rather unique looking creature is a worm-like alien from the race known as the Lem and if you're wondering about his magical abilities, he was actually trained by Doctor Strange in the comics! 
 


Chances are that won't be the case by the time Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 rolls around but linking Krugarr to The Ancient One would be an amazing Easter Egg for fans of the MCU.
 


The Doctor Strange influence is even more apparent here given the style of the cloak he's wearing and the fact he has what appears to be the Eye of Agamotte hanging around his alien neck. 
 

 


Marvel came up with a lot of incredible designs for this sequel but it's fair to say this guy is one of the best. Are you excited to see more of the original Guardians? Share your thoughts down below. 

About The Author:
JoshWilding
Member Since 3/13/2009
Comic Book Reader. Film Lover. WWE and F1 Fan. Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic and ComicBookMovie.com's #1 contributor.
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