James Gunn Fought With Marvel To Include ’70s Music In ‘Guardians Of The Galaxy’

For most fans, the soundtrack to Guardians of the Galaxy is a highlight of the film and inextricable from the movie itself. However, that wasn’t always the case.

Speaking to Vanity Fair, director James Gun reveals that the inclusion of music from the 1970s in Guardians of the Galaxy was just one of several clashes he had with the Marvel creative committee, a group that read the film scripts and provided feedback to Marvel Studios.

“They were a group of comic-book writers and toy people,” Gunn says and describes the notes they provided on the film as “haphazard.”

The soundtrack to Guardians of the Galaxy ended up going platinum and the film made $773 million worldwide, so it seems like Gunn had the right idea in retrospect.

Gunn has been public about his problems with the creative committee before, casting blame on them for Ronan’s failure to impress as the film’s villain.

“There is some messy villain plot stuff in the first movie I’d like to deal with again,” Gunn said in a Facebook Q&A. “There was a committee working for Marvel at the time (now defunct) who had a lot of input, and that was primarily where it ended up. It just got a little messy.”

Gunn continued the success of the first Guardians of Galaxy movie through Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 earlier this year. He’ll return for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 as well, which could lead ot some potential cosmic Marvel spinoff projects.

“We talk about it all the time,” Gunn said. “It’s already a part of what I’m doing with Marvel and the conversations that Kevin and I have every day. When we’re talking about Guardians of the Galaxy 3 and that story, that’s a story that will lead to other stories. It’s innate to the DNA that’s the end of a trilogy but it’s the beginning of a whole other element of the Marvel Cosmic universe. That’s a part of what I’m doing now.”

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 in expected to release in 2020.

Thor: Ragnarok is now playing in theaters. Other upcoming Marvel Cinematic Universe movies include; Black Panther on February 16, 2018, Avengers: Infinity War on May 4, 2018, Ant-Man and the Wasp on July 6, 2018, Captain Marvel on March 8, 2019, the fourth Avengers movie on May 3, 2019, the sequel to Spider-Man: Homecoming on July 5, 2019.