Warning: This article contains a major spoiler for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.
James Gunn‘s filmmaking career has taken some wild turns over the decades. Who would’ve guessed that someone who got their first credited writing gig on schlocky Shakespeare spoof Tromeo and Juliet (1996) would end up the co-CEO of DC Studios? In a weird way, the writer/director/producer probably has the live-action Scooby-Doo movies of the early 2000s to thank for his rise through the ranks, as his scripts for those fondly remembered films were his first experiences on major Hollywood productions.
These days, Gunn is practically ruling Hollywood himself, as seen by Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3‘s meteoric rise to the top of the international box office. So, a certain moment in the Marvel threequel that appears to be a callback to his days writing about Mystery Inc. unmasking monstrous bad guys must be a deliberate nod to his past, especially — not despite — it being the most gruesome moment in the movie, maybe even MCU history.
Spoilers incoming!
Once Rocket Raccoon defeats his evil creator, the High Evolutionary, in combat, the Guardian removes the villain’s face, with it noted that he’s wearing “a mask.” Underneath his fake face, the twisted scientist is revealed to have a grisly mass of muscles and sinew, a rare squeam-inducing moment of gore in the MCU that calls back to Gunn’s origins in multiple ways. For starters, it’s the kind of body horror he put to good use in his directorial debut, Slither (2006).
What’s more, all the signs point to this being a deliberate hark-back to an eerily similar, if much more sanitized, moment in the denouement of 2002’s Scooby-Doo. When Rowan Atkinson’s bad guy is beaten, Fred is shocked to discover he’s “a man in a mask.” After his human-like face is peeled away, it’s revealed the character is a robot, with his bulging eyes and lipless mechanical mouth evoking the far more visceral sight of the High Evolutionary’s skinless features.
Before he heads into the next exciting and unexpected chapter in his career, it’s only right that Gunn should echo where it all began for him in Guardians 3. It’s just a shame he didn’t go the whole hog and reveal that the High Evolutionary was being controlled by Scrappy-Doo.
