Originally published June 14, 2017. Updated April 16, 2018.
Even though Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 was only released a little over a month ago, director James Gunn is already at work for the third volume feauturing Marvel’s rag-tag team of space adventurers. He’s already begun writing the script, but since the film isn’t due for release until 2020, there’s plenty of time for things to change and Gunn has already been struck by a new idea.
At E3’s World Building panel, Gunn opened up about how much of the writing he’s accomplished so far for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. He also revealed that he’s considering breaking the canon he’s established in these films for story purposes because of this new idea. Specifically, Gunn is thinking of retconning something from the very first film.
“I’m writing Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 and I finished the first draft of the treatment yesterday, which I’m excited about it and I feel really great about it. But there’s one little thing that I had in the first movie… Now, Marvel, MCU canon is crazy and I’ll get super geeky for two seconds. There’s the 616 universe which is the Marvel Comics Universe, which people get hung up on that canon, and then there’s the MCU, The Marvel Cinematic Universe, which has a separate canon which is inspired by but not exactly the same as the 616. I did something in the first movie of Guardians where it was in the background but it was distinctly there, and people know that it’s there. And I’m like goddammit because I have a really good storytelling reason for breaking the canon, and I stayed up last night figuring out if I’m gonna do it or not. I still don’t know.”
After being pressed by fellow panelist and famous physicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, Gunn revealed that the detail he is referring to is from the line-up scene in Guardians of the Galaxy. In it, John C. Reilly and Peter Serafinowicz’s Nova Corps characters are going through the rap sheets of the soon-to-be Guardians.
“I’ll actually tell you. In the first movie there is the mugshot sequence where the characters go through and they’re going through the mugshots and having their picture taken and the Nova Corps has information about each of the characters coming up on their little machinery. Now, those things are something that your average viewer doesn’t see at all and doesn’t read, but there’s a lot of background I put into those things about who they’ve worked with, where they’re from, what’s going on. And it’s one of those things that I’m thinking about changing.”
What could Gunn be thinking of changing for the film? We know Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 hinted at Adam Warlock for the next instalment while Gunn may have also teased the appearance of Quasar on his Twitter yesterday. Could one of the Guardians’ former accomplices come into the picture as a “new” character? Or perhaps Gunn is looking to alter the history of one of the Guardians in some way? Let us know your thoughts below…
