James Gunn, the director of the Guardians of the Galaxy movies, wasn’t consulted by the directors of Avengers: Infinity War regarding big moments for his characters.
With Joe and Anthony Russo directing Infinity War, they in turn took temporary ownership over characters that have been nurtured by other directors during solo movies.
James Gunn had to watch many of the characters that he has grown to love over two movies perish during Infinity War and the Russos have revealed that they didn’t personally consult with Gunn about the big decisions made, such as the death of Gamora.
“Marvel’s very good about allowing every director to have their freedom,” Joe said on the Happy Sad Confused podcast (via ComicBook.com).
“Basically we set out a story we want to tell, and we present that to Marvel,” Anthony explained. “And we got no pushback from that choice. We didn’t have a direct conversation with James about the Gamora choice, but I’m sure, certainly, Kevin did. And there was no pushback on it.”
“For us, I think, again, at the end of the day and part of the reason we made four movies with Marvel is that they’re very good at allowing each movie to be what it needs to be,” said Joe. “Nothing is sacred. They take risks, and they’ve gotten better at taking risks, illustrated by their run of Ragnarok, Homecoming, Black Panther, and now this movie. And I think that there was a change of guard at Marvel quite a few years back that just really allowed for more significant creative freedom and it’s highlighted our time there. They’ve been great about allowing us to make really extreme choices and game changers at the end of each of these films that we’ve worked on with them.”
It must have been hard for Gunn to watch someone takes such drastic decisions with the Guardians, but the ball will be once more in his court during Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.
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An unprecedented cinematic journey ten years in the making and spanning the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe, Marvel Studios’ “Avengers: Infinity War” brings to the screen the ultimate, deadliest showdown of all time. The Avengers and their Super Hero allies must be willing to sacrifice all in an attempt to defeat the powerful Thanos before his blitz of devastation and ruin puts an end to the universe.
Avengers: Infinity War stars Robert Downey Jr. (Iron Man), Chris Evans (Captain America), Mark Ruffalo (Hulk), Chris Hemsworth (Thor), Scarlett Johansson (Black Widow), Chadwick Boseman (Black Panther), Tom Holland (Spider-Man), Sebastian Stan (Winter Soldier), Anthony Mackie (Falcon), Paul Bettany (Vision), Elizabeth Olsen (Scarlet Witch), Don Cheadle (War Machine), Josh Brolin (Thanos), Benedict Cumberbatch (Doctor Strange), Benedict Wong (Wong), Chris Pratt (Star-Lord), Zoe Saldana (Gamora), Dave Bautista (Drax), Bradley Cooper (Rocket), Sean Gunn (Rocket), Vin Diesel (Groot), Karen Gillan (Nebula), Pom Klementieff (Mantis), Tom Hiddleston (Loki), Samuel L. Jackson (Nick Fury), Cobie Smulders (Maria Hill), Benicio Del Toro (The Collector), Danai Gurira (Okoye), Letitia Wright (Shuri), Winston Duke (M’Baku), Terry Notary (Cull Obsidian), Tom Vaughan-Lawlor (Ebony Maw), Carrie Coon (Proxima Midnight), Michael James Shaw (Corvus Glaive) and Peter Dinklage (Eitri).
Originally published May 8, 2018. Updated December 3, 2022.
