James Gunn movies are more usually typified for their irreverent sense of humor or for having a killer soundtrack, but let’s not overlook that every one of the filmmaker’s MCU and DCU films to date has featured at least one moment (often several) that turned us into emotional wrecks. In fact, Gunn’s storytelling can be so powerful, even the man himself wells up while thinking about it.
The latest Marvel Studios release on Disney Plus is MPower, a new docuseries which highlights the women of the MCU to mark International Women’s Day. Episode four, in particular, focuses on Zoë Saldana’s Gamora of the Guardians of the Galaxy series. During a segment inspecting the evolving sibling bond between Gamora and Nebula, James Gunn outlined one key moment from Guardians Vol. 2 which he thinks is among one of the most significant things he’s ever put to film.
It means so much to him that Gunn even visibly tears up while describing it, needing a moment to pull himself together before he can carry on.
“At the end of Guardians 2, when Gamora hugs Nebula, and Nebula is just sitting there being hugged, not knowing what… [Gets emotional]… So weird… She’s just sitting there being hugged and then Nebula just takes her hand like this and she just hugs her back. [Wipes away tears] And that moment to me is just so important. That moment, which is only in a wide frame that we see it, is as momentous as anything I’ve ever shot. Because that is a person starting to accept love.”
When Marvel fans think of the most emotional Guardians scenes, they probably immediately remember Groot’s sacrifice or Yondu’s death, but the hug between Gamora and Nebula is an underrated and equally important sequence in these films. As Gunn points out, the meaning behind the moment essentially encapsulates what the character development of the entire team is all about: a bunch of misfit loners who are able to heal their hang-ups once they accept the love of their newfound family.
No doubt Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 — the longest of the whole trilogy, don’t you know — will deliver even more moments that’ll make us and James Gunn blub once it’s released this May 5.
