'Guardians Of The Galaxy' Director Clarifies What Stripes On Prison Outfits Mean

Filmmaker James Gunn might be one of the most detail-oriented directors currently involved with the Marvel Cinematic Universe, as he regularly goes to great lengths to flesh out every element of his movies, knowing every detail about every frame of both of his films. The Guardians of the Galaxy director recently took to Facebook to both confirm and deny details relating to stripes on prison uniforms that were seen in his 2014 film.

The idea behind the meaning of the stripes debuted on a Reddit thread which, shockingly, wasn't the correct interpretation.

"New thread on Reddit claims that each of the stripes on the Guardians' legs in prison represents a crime," Gunn's post read. "This IS true, The color of each stripe is a category (murder, arson, burglary, grievous bodily harm). The pattern of each stripe explains a bit more exactly about the crime and its severity (a sort of criminal law morse code)."

"However, it also claims the gray line on Rocket is indecent exposure, and this is NOT true," Gunn clarified.

The gang's time in the Kyln proved to be the inspiration behind them uniting, initially due to necessity. This fateful escape set them on a path to becoming some of the greatest heroes in the galaxy.

"The line designs were the product of our costume designer Alexandra Byrne's creative brain, and I wrote down and gave her the list of convictions," Gunn noted. "People are asking me for a complete list, but I'd have to track it down in my files and, as I'm about to finish a draft today, I don't have time to do it (nor am I sure it's possible to find). It's also important to note (well as important as anything this deep in the mythos can be) that these are just crimes they've been convicted for - not crimes they've committed and gotten away with, which is probably a lot."

The filmmaker went on to break down each members crimes, which are as follows:

"Rocket's are mercenary activity, grievous bodily harm, arson (he blows up a lot of stuff), escape from prison, and, I believe, public drunkenness. Quill's crimes are penny-ante robbery, grift, criminal conspiracy (from his gang involvement with the Ravagers), and having sex with members of a royal family (consensual but on some planets considered an outrageous crime for someone from his caste). Gamora keeps things simple with her long list of murders and assassinations, all at the behest of Thanos. And Drax's crimes are grievous bodily harm, murder, and every variety of destroying stuff you can imagine."

Groot, on the other hand, noticeably doesn't have any pants on at all. This was both a narrative and financial decision.

"In the original cut, I planned to have the Nova guards put a pair of pants on Groot with his crimes of mercenary activity, grievous bodily harm and escape from prison on them, but, as soon as he entered the prison he tore his pants off, because the dude just loves being nude," Gunn confessed. "However, it ended up being an enormous expense to have to create CGI pants for Groot, so it was one of the compromises I made to come in on budget."

The filmmaker's motivations behind a detail as subtle as marks on a prison outfit prove just how devoted he is to crafting an entire universe, something we can surely expect to see more of with Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, which could tentatively land in theaters in 2020.

[H/T Facebook, James Gunn]