At the end of
Avengers: Infinity War, Thanos succeeded in acquiring all of the infinity stones and snapped his fingers, erasing half of life in the universe. The Guardians of the Galaxy, outside of Rocket and Gamora (who had died earlier in the film when Thanos traded her for the soul stone), were part of this massive wave of death that the gauntlet caused.
The Russo brothers, speaking on the
Happy Sad Confused podcast, noted that they never actually consulted with
Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn about the death of his characters, instead leaving that to Kevin Feige. However, Anthony Russo said that there was no pushback from Gunn after he had learned of the fate of the Guardians in the film:
Basically we set out a story we want to tell, and we present that to Marvel. And we got no pushback from that choice. We didn't have a direct conversation with James about the Gamora choice, but I'm sure, certainly, Kevin did. And there was no pushback on it.
James Gunn is certainly no stranger to killing off fan-favorite characters if it is necessary for the storyline, as seen with Yondu in
GOTG Vol. 2, so it's no surprise that he didn't take issue with this. Joe also stressed that it really comes down to Marvel allowing every director to have the necessary freedom with characters and being very supportive of taking risks in their films to create the best possible story:
For us, I think, again, at the end of the day and part of the reason we made four movies with Marvel is that they're very good at allowing each movie to be what it needs to be. Nothing is sacred. They take risks, and they've gotten better at taking risks, illustrated by their run of Ragnarok, Homecoming, Black Panther, and now this movie. And I think that there was a change of guard at Marvel quite a few years back that just really allowed for more significant creative freedom and it's highlighted our time there. They've been great about allowing us to make really extreme choices and game changers at the end of each of these films that we've worked on with them.
Russo is clearly talking about how Kevin Feige taking more control over Marvel Studios and getting rid of the creative committe have greatly benefited both the directors and the films that have come sinse.
What do you think about what the Russos had to say here? Share your thoughts in the usual spot below!
ComicBookMovie.com, and/or the user who contributed this post, may earn commissions or revenue through clicks or purchases made through any third-party links contained within the content above.