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...

News
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. 

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Drucifer
Drucifer - 3/16/2019, 2:16 AM
Can't blame them for letting the heat die down, outrage culture is an unfortunate normality in our current social climate (this may be a sign of it losing it's grip though)

I'm just glad cooler heads, common sense and sanity prevailed in the long run. People shouldn't have their lives ruined because they run their mouths like idiots. I paid my way through college as a bartender, I could get numerous teachers, doctors,lawyers and other respectable people fired from their jobs if people had heard the things that flew out their mouths after a couple rum and cokes. Everybody has said something reckless and stupid in their day, you should judge people by their actions.
Vigor
Vigor - 3/16/2019, 2:26 AM
@Drucifer - I think you make a strong point. But I cant help but feel that dooesnt always apply. Take the New Zealand shooter. He had a 77 page journal about all the [frick]ed up things in his head. If I came across someone with these hateful views, I wouldn't bat an eye if someone else doxed them out … resulting in their loss of a job. I agree we shouldn't be all minority report and jail people before they do something. But do we also ignore it when they say hateful, homophobic, racist, or pedophiliac shit? The words a person says, is a clear window into who they are as a person. Shouldn't we hold each other accountable?

This Gunn situation is less serious obviously and even more grey, because he was just "joking" as he alleges. I grew up on some raunchy humor so I've heard it all. But I'd give myself a stroke trying to find how Gunn found those tweets funny. I'm giving him benefit of the doubt. Some people are strange when they're younger. Truth be told though- I am keeping a sideeye on Gunn. Tweets like that, to me, are a sign that he may be one of those [frick]ed up Hollywood types that we hear about every...single... week it seems
Drucifer
Drucifer - 3/16/2019, 2:40 AM
@Vigor - When I read those tweets from Gunn, all I see is a fool with a sick sense of humor. I've heard worse honestly. People like to see how many jaws they can drop by saying the most twisted things they can come up with, especially 10 years ago before outrage culture became a thing. You name it - movies, song lyrics, books, etc. all contain worse then what he tweeted. This dude use to work at an exploitation horror movie studio called Troma, I'm sure trying to gross each other out was a way they passed the time over there, having seen how gross their movies are.

I'm not saying he shouldn't have been held accountable to some extent, don't get me wrong, but considering how long ago it was, and the fact that he isn't one of these Hollywood types like Bryan Singer and Harvey Weinstein who have actual accusations hanging over them, I thought the apology was enough. It only went as far as it did because politcal hacks were using it to fuel a culture war.

You should always look into things when you hear people stay stuff that disturbing, but do it with a rational view - it's pretty easy to see this guy was joking, which is a far cry from the NZ shooters manifesto.
Origame
Origame - 3/16/2019, 2:51 AM
@Drucifer - honestly this choice seems to be damage control. Gunn clearly thought he was done this whole time. Why else even bother with making a deal with wb? Or the bautista situation. Neither of those make sense if they planned to bring him in the whole time. Why not just say "look, you're definitely gonna do guardians 3. We just need to save face and let the heat die down. You have a job, so no worries.
Drucifer
Drucifer - 3/16/2019, 2:57 AM
@Origame - Yeah, I agree. I don't buy that this was a master plan from the Disney brass at all

My hot take on it??

I think that the firing was real but that Kevin Feige never stopped fighting for him behind the scenes. Once the hype died down, he was able to convince the Disney brass that it was all a political circus to begin with and that ousting Gunn from the franchise was not going over well with the fans and likely to kill the GOTG franchise. After enough time passed, the powers that be agreed with him.

I can't prove any of that, but it's what my gut tells me.
Vigor
Vigor - 3/16/2019, 3:07 AM
@Drucifer - Agreed
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