'Guardians of the Galaxy 3' Being Put on Hold Didn't Affect 'Avengers 4'

During a Q&A last night following a screening of Avengers: Infinity War, directors Joe and Anthony [...]

By Russ Burlingame

During a Q&A last night following a screening of Avengers: Infinity War, directors Joe and Anthony Russo assured fans that the delays to Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 did not change anything about their film.

According to Slashfilm's Peter Sciretta, who was live-tweeting the Q&A last night, the Russos had already completed principal photography on Avengers 4 when Marvel Studios made the decision to delay Guardians. The movie leaves the characters in the same place it always intended to, with no changes made as a result of real-world complications.

James Gunn, who co-wrote the first Guardians of the Galaxy and directed it, then wrote and directed the second, was fired by Disney after a series of inappropriate tweets from years past resurfaced. The tweets were brought to Disney's attention by a campaign coordinated by right-wing activists who did not like Gunn's personal politics, and for a while, there was a fan outcry with the hope of putting him back in the director's chair. Ultimately Disney decided that was not going to happen, and put the movie on hiatus.

The Guardians of the Galaxy characters appeared in Avengers: Infinity War and were almost entirely wiped out by Thanos's "snap," although very few fans believe that the changes wrought by Thanos' victory at the end of the movie will remain in place. Even if the end of Infinity War is undone, though, the film killed Gamora in an emotional scene earlier in the film, which seems far less likely to be reversed. That would leave the next filmmaker with the heavy burden of finishing up Gunn's trilogy while also dealing with Gamora's death and its impact on the team.

Gunn had already written a draft of the Vol. 3 script, and while Disney initially said they would not use it, the company's position on that seems to have changed. Dave Bautista, who plays Drax in the films, had said that he would consider asking to be released from his contract if Disney went forward in the franchise without using Gunn's screenplay, and later reports have suggested that use of his plot were part of negotiations for Gunn's separation deal.

Gunn, who had been the odds-on favorite to succeed the Russos as the architect of the Marvel Cinematic Universe in the coming years, has now headed over to Warner Bros., where he will write and possibly direct the next Suicide Squad movie.

Upcoming Marvel Cinematic Universe movies include Captain Marvel on March 8, 2019, the fourth Avengers movie on May 3, 2019, the sequel to Spider-Man: Homecoming on July 5, 2019, and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3...maybe someday.

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