GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 3 Director James Gunn Shares His Take On Why MCU Deaths Should Be Permanent

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 3 Director James Gunn Shares His Take On Why MCU Deaths Should Be Permanent

Plenty of villains have died in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but only a handful of heroes have bitten the dust. Now, filmmaker James Gunn has shared his thoughts on why those deaths should be permanent.

By JoshWilding - Feb 10, 2021 01:02 AM EST
Filed Under: Vol. 3

Once upon a time, it was shocking for a comic book character to be killed. When Captain America died shortly after the events of Civil War, it made headlines across the globe (including mainstream media outlets). Unfortunately, in recent years, Marvel Comics has made it so that death is pretty much meaningless, with frequent resurrections robbing any character's apparent demise of drama and believability.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe, however, has taken death a little more seriously. Aside from those who vanished when Thanos snapped his fingers in Avengers: Infinity War, no one has really died and come back, with Gamora the only possible exception (but even then, she's technically a different character). 

James Gunn killed Yondu in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 - breaking all our hearts in the process - and has now taken to Twitter to explain why, to him, death needs to mean something in the MCU. 

"For me there’s a difference between truly meaningful deaths & plot twist deaths where someone seems to die [and] then hasn’t," Gunn explains. "But if you milk that death - like, say, Yondu or Tony Stark - it’s cheap storytelling to bring them back."

He makes a great point, and Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige has made similar comments about death in the MCU in the past. 

The question is, will Gunn kill more characters in his upcoming finale, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3?

For now, check out the filmmaker's full comments below:
 

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MatteMan
MatteMan - 2/10/2021, 1:22 AM
I agree 👍💯
globaltravels
globaltravels - 2/10/2021, 1:29 AM
Problem is, actors sell tickets. To permanently kill of a character is to permanently shut off a revenue stream. It’s the reason comics do the bait and switch all the time.
Spock0Clock
Spock0Clock - 2/10/2021, 1:30 AM
My take is this: What makes death tragic is loss. In fiction exploring loss is much more important than whether a character is technically dead or not (however you slice it).

When Bucky "died" in The First Avenger, it doesn't matter that he didn't literally die because when he returns in Winter Soldier, there is still an immense amount of loss. Lost time, lost freedom, lost identity, lost dignity. Even when Steve does get Bucky back, what was lost is never recovered.

So, you can have fake-out deaths like Bucky's that don't cheapen the stakes in the slightest. (And there is a similar dynamic happening with Gamora and potentially others.)

There absolutely are too many cheap death fake-outs in Marvel (there was a real spate of them around Phase 2 where it seemed like every Marvel movie had one), and I'm not really defending those. But death doesn't have to be "permanent" in a conventional sense, as long as it is accompanied by real loss.
SnideCut
SnideCut - 2/10/2021, 1:39 AM
@Spock0Clock - Honestly, DC is guilty of the death fake-out thing in their movies as well. Gordon and Batman in TDK and TDKR. Superman in BvS.
BrainySleep
BrainySleep - 2/10/2021, 1:34 AM
"The question is, will Gunn kill more characters in his upcoming finale, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3?"

More a question of who rather than if, I would say.
bkmeijer2
bkmeijer2 - 2/10/2021, 1:38 AM
The only thing I can see Iron Man (and Cap) return for is Secret Wars, but even then its only for just one movie. They both said it was time to move on.
dracula
dracula - 2/10/2021, 1:42 AM
I agree, at the very least keep them dead for a long time.
IcePyke
IcePyke - 2/10/2021, 1:44 AM
dracula
dracula - 2/10/2021, 1:48 AM
Now who will he kill in Suicide Squad.

Am over Robbie's take on Harley (She does not have a comedic bone in her body), would be fine if she is killed off. If The Batman continuity goes long enough maybe they could do her origin
tmp3
tmp3 - 2/10/2021, 1:56 AM
@dracula - Robbie was really funny in both Wolf of Wall Street and I, Tonya so I don’t know what you mean
dracula
dracula - 2/10/2021, 2:01 AM
@tmp3 - Well for some reason she doesnt bring any of that to Harley
RokoVII
RokoVII - 2/10/2021, 2:10 AM
soup3161
soup3161 - 2/10/2021, 7:44 AM
@RokoVII - yes. birds of prey was a hot mess and not funny at all.
RokoVII
RokoVII - 2/10/2021, 8:02 AM
@soup3161 - umm sorry did Birds of Prey bring back dead characters? Genuinly asking cant remember
TheClungerine
TheClungerine - 2/10/2021, 2:11 AM
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