Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 beautifully bucked the trend of what we A.) expect from the closer to a movie trilogy and B.) specifically anticipate when going into any James Gunn movie. Careful, those of you who haven’t seen the film yet, spoilers incoming… Against all the odds, not a single one of the main Guardians team perished by the time of the threequel’s credits. However, it turns out that wasn’t always the case.
Kraglin actor and Rocket Raccoon mo-capper Sean Gunn has admitted that his writer/director brother went back and forth on killing off various members of the group during the development process. By the sounds of it, many of the characters had their heads on the chopping block at one stage or another. Although, in the end, it turned out there was no real reason to drop a death in there and break our hearts for no reason. As Sean Gunn told ComicBook.com:
“I know James toyed with it at various times, so it was like maybe so-and-so would die. And then just, in the course of figuring out the story, it just didn’t make sense for anyone. And I like where everyone lands, and it’s true, it’s a finality of sorts for a lot of the characters without death, which is pretty interesting to me, too.”
After Groot, Yondu, Rick Flag, and others met their maker across Guardians 1, 2, and The Suicide Squad, Gunn is known for turning characters into fan favorites and then killing them off, so in a strange way, keeping everyone alive by Vol. 3‘s end was the biggest surprise the filmmaker could pull off. And, as his brother comments, it was certainly the right thing for the narrative as it only played into the film’s themes of compassion and maturation.
Although we still wouldn’t put it past Gunn to kill off someone in Superman: Legacy. Pa Kent, we’re looking at you.
