Guardians of the Galaxy: James Gunn Explains Why He Made Changes From The Comics

08/06/2017 02:46 pm EDT

James Gunn considers no text sacred when it comes to making Marvel movies.

Gunn makes that clear in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, where he explains that in the tug-of-war between making a good movie and staying true to the source material, the movie wins every time.

"I always do what's best for the movie. A lot of times that means taking things from the source material, and other times it's changing things," said Gunn. "I've changed a lot already from the comics with the Guardians. Groot's personality in the first Guardians, which people loved, was nothing like his personality in the comics. He didn't have that puppy-dog innocence that we love about Groot. I don't restrain myself in any way when it comes to using stuff from the comics or not using it."

Another major change Gunn made was to the identity of Star-Lord's father, replacing J'Son of Spartax with Ego, a plot point that was at the heart of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. On the other hand, Gunn has hinted that strained and misguided attempts at comics accuracy may be responsible for the worst parts of the original Guardians of the Galaxy, namely the villain Ronan the Accuser.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 currently has an 85.18 ComicBook.com Composite Score, the sixth-highest ComicBook.com Composite Score for a comic book movie of all time. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 also has a 3.99 out of 5 ComicBook.com User Rating, giving it the twelfth-highest ComicBook.com user rating among all comic book movies. Let us know what you thought of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 by giving it your own ComicBook.com user rating below.

Set to the backdrop of 'Awesome Mixtape #2,' Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 continues the team's adventures as they traverse the outer reaches of the cosmos. The Guardians must fight to keep their newfound family together as they unravel the mysteries of Peter Quill's true parentage. Old foes become new allies and fan-favorite characters from the classic comics will come to our heroes' aid as the Marvel cinematic universe continues to expand.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is written and directed by James Gunn and stars Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper, Michael Rooker, Karen Gillan, Pom Klementieff, Elizabeth Debicki, Chris Sullivan, Sean Gunn, Sylvester Stallone and Kurt Russell.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 will be available digitally on Aug. 8 and on other home media on Aug. 22.

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