If you haven’t seen Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 beware, this post is filled with spoilers and then some. Turn back now, or you may be develop some Rocket-filled rage. You’ve been warned.
In the past two weeks Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 has pulled in over $630 million worldwide. Personally, I’ve seen it twice because I need as much Baby Groot in my life as possible. To show his appreciation for all the Guardians love, James Gunn took to Facebook to answer spoiler-filled questions about Marvel’s most recent cinematic hit.
There are times when Facebook live Q&A’s feel like a bad Comic-Con panel, filled will ill-informed and cringe-worthy questions. James Gunn is a fan’s fan who loves the Marvel universe as much as moviegoers, and he’s always found a way to answer all questions with poise and an ultimate understanding of fan’s incessant curiosity. His Facebook live was open, honest, and gave Marvel loyalists an inside look into movie making. It also put to rest any rumors of the return of the Zune, as if that was going to be a thing.
Groot is a tween, not a teen
One of the stingers at the end of the movie showed a slightly aged Groot—sitting in an unkept bedroom—addicted to video games, aka the basic teenage life. James Gunn was quick to correct anyone that thought this was teen Groot, stressing that it was adolescent Groot—or tween Groot as he lovingly referred to him.
While Tween Groot sounds like a Disney show that’s right up my alley, Gunn put so much emphasis on the tween factor that one could assume that we might spend a lot of time in Guardians Vol. 3 dealing with the trials and tribulations of a teenage tree. Gunn also said Quill’s understanding of Groot’s language is something that may be revealed in the third movie. I am Groot, indeed.
It’s a movie about the love between fathers and sons
While the initial premise of Guardians was about Peter looking for his father, it turned out that it was Yondu who was Peter’s true father-figure all along, going all the way back to the ending of the first Guardians of the Galaxy. Why else would Yondu dare open the most dangerous object in the universe? James Gunn said that he’s received so many heartfelt thank yous from fans who were adopted, had lost their fathers, or had complex relationships with their own parents.
The deaths in these movies are permanent
In the comic books Marvel characters rarely stay dead (except for Jean Grey; what’s up with that?) and fans who can’t let go of their newfound love for Yondu are insistent that he might make his return to the films. Gunn had a hard time killing off Yondu since Michael Rooker is one of his closest friends, and even created several drafts where Yondu’s demise wasn’t permanent. In the end Gunn felt that a character’s death needed to mean something and therefore it’s sad to say, but Yondu is definitely gone.
Rooker kept falling asleep in the funeral scene
Speaking of Yondu’s Ravager funeral, Gunn said Michael Rooker kept falling asleep during the final scene and he has lots of footage of Rooker snoring through the eulogy. Here’s to hoping those scenes make it to the DVD/Blu-Ray release.
The jump scenes were inspired by Large Marge from Pee Wee’s Big Adventure
Eagle eyed fans of 1985’s Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure were quick to point out the similarities between the animation of Large Marge and the space-jump scenes with Yondu, Kraglin, Rocket, and Baby Groot. Gunn confirmed that he indeed was inspired by the 1985 Paul Reubens comedy. I wonder if he had Large Marge nightmares as a kid, like I did.
Adam Warlock will not be in Infinity War
Gunn’s original draft of Guardians Vol. 2 heavily featured Marvel fan-favorite Adam Warlock, but he quickly realized there were already an abundance of strong character stories in the movie and ultimately cut Warlock from the script. He made it very clear that Adam Warlock would not be in Infinity War despite the fan insistence that this was a possibilty.
James Gunn watched Rambo with Sylvester Stallone
James Gunn spoke about a reshoot of Sylvester Stallone’s lines as Stakar, but to me the biggest reveal was that last week Gunn went over to Stallone’s house and watched Rambo. I mean, can you imagine watching Rambo while sitting next to John Rambo? I can’t think of a better way to spend a weekend. The number of questions for Gunn’s Facebook Q&A were enormous, thus sadly as both a Kurt Russell and Stallone fan, I never got to ask about a Stakar and Ego—Tango & Cash type crossover.
James Gunn reads the Marvel fan sites and message boards
Listen up, fans: all your ranting on the message boards wasn’t for naught. James Gunn regularly reads through Marvel fan sites and that’s where he first found the fan theory of Stan Lee actually being The Watcher. He thought it was a fun idea so he took inspiration for the scene from the message boards. Gunn admitted to messing up the MCU timing when referring to Stan Lee’s FedEx cameo, considering that couldn’t have happened timeline-wise. But as with most things in comics, it can easily be explained…somehow. Gunn even came up with an idea of having Stan Lee mention he was once a DJ in strip club, so as to subtly link his Deadpool appearance with the Marvel movies. That scene was obviously cut but would have blown the minds of Marvel fans.
People keep asking about the Zune
Gunn mentioned that one of the funniest requests he gets is to release the Guardians soundtrack via Zune—who exactly is asking this ridiculous request is beyond me. Gunn said they reached out to Microsoft before the movie about the Zune appearance and Microsoft wanted nothing to do with the link to their failed media player. However, Gunn plans to use this newfound Zune interest (again, who are you?) to benefit the Rainforest Trust, by auctioning off an actual screen accurate Zune autographed by the cast.
Mary Poppins was his only choice for Yondu’s funniest line
When writing the scene where Peter suggests Yondu looks like Mary Poppins, James Gunn said he wasn’t taking into consideration that Mary Poppins was even a Disney property, he just immediately visualized Yondu as Mary Poppins-esque flying down from above and felt that pop-culture loving Peter Quill would find it hilarious. Michael Rooker filmed many variations on the scene, including some NSFW endings. Ultimately went with, “I’m Mary Poppins, y’all.†Gunn has high hopes that the DVD/Blu-Ray release will include all the variations on the line.
James Gunn addresses the Baby Groot haters
During the facebook live, a fan dared to comment that Baby Groot was useless. Groot useless? How dare you. Gunn was unfazed by this hurtful question about our beloved twig and answered by simply saying, “He saved the universe, how is he useless?†We agree, we are Groot.
What was your favorite Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 spoiler reveal from James Gunn? Let us know in the comments or tag @nerdist and @justjenn on twitter!
Here is what we know about Guardian of the Galaxy 3:
