James Gunn claims Marvel gave him “all the slack” on who survives in Guardians of the Galaxy 3

Director James Gunn has admitted he was given much more freedom during the creative process for Guardians of the Galaxy 3 and that Marvel had little pushback on the fate of the characters.

James Gunn has slowly but surely become one of the most sought-after directors in the TV and movie space in recent years. From the success of the Guardians of the Galaxy series to now being the big boss of DC, Gunn has made a career for himself through his unique and gutsy movies.

And while the director has been allowed to follow his own creative voice with the Guardians of the Galaxy movies, Gunn revealed that Marvel gave him almost total creative control for the final film in his trilogy. 

In a recent interview with Gizmodo, Gunn and Marvel head Kevin Feige discussed the upcoming Guardians 3 film and how the final chapter for the beloved heroes was developed,

“I think he gets all the slack,” Feige said. “As much slack as there is to give, he is given.” Gunn then agreed with Feige, reiterating, “I get all the slack, especially on this one.”

“On previous movies, we had some discussions about that but not on this one,” Feige added. “This one really was about seeing it through because it always was designed as a trilogy capper.”

Gamora was originally going to die in Guardians of the Galaxy 2

During a separate interview with ComicBook, Gunn admitted that he had originally planned to have Gamora die at the end of Guardians 2 and that, after chatting with Marvel executives, the decision was changed to then have the character of Yondu sacrifice himself.

“Gamora almost died in ‘Vol. 2,’” Gunn revealed. “I knew from the beginning Zoe only wanted to play the character for so many years, and she’s been very honest saying that she’s done [after this]. And so I was going to have her die. I thought she was the one that was going to sacrifice herself.

The director then added, “I kind of talked out of it by Kevin [Feige] and Louis [D’Esposito] and then it just didn’t work that well. It didn’t feel right. It felt much more right to go where we go in that movie. That seemed what was correct for the story.”

Time will tell who lives and dies in Guardians of the Galaxy 3. However, early reviews for the film have called it an emotional outing so Marvel fans, be sure to bring the tissues along.

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