Why James Gunn Chose To Use Those Original Guardians

Now that Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is raking in a ton of money at the box office, James Gunn is hard at work on the script of the third film in what he’s called a trilogy.

But the director is also answering spoilerific questions about Marvel Studios’ latest blockbuster, revealing storytelling decisions and production developments about the second Guardians film now that people have had time to watch it.

Fans were surprised when they found out Sylvester Stallone‘s secret role in the film was of a classic Marvel character named Starhawk (Marvel), who was the leader of the original Guardians of the Galaxy. In the movie, Starhawk AKA Stakar is the leader of the Ravagers who exiled Yondu for his dirty dealings with Ego the Living Planet. But by the end of the film, he comes around on the red-finned space pirate and even reunites with his old gang.

James Gunn took to Facebook Live to answer fan questions and revealed why he decided to include some of the old Guardians of the Galaxy in the new film.

“That was the only post-credits scene I think that was written after I had shot the rest of the movie. I shot that in post,” Gunn said. “I woke up one morning and I was thinking, oh my god, I would love to see those guys together at the end of the movie, sort of forming an even more messed up, screwy version of the Guardians, who are even less heroic than the Guardians are. And they’re also even weirder.”

UP NEXT: James Gunn Describes The Guardians’ Role In Avengers: Infinity War

In one of the many post-credits scenes, Stakar reunites Aleta Ogord, Martinex, Charlie-27, Mainframe, and Krugarr in the wake of Yondu’s sacrifice, stating that he wants to go “steal some sh*t.” Some of them are original members of the ’70s team of Guardians and some are characters on the periphery.

“Charlie-27 is obvious, Martinex is obvious, they’re two of the original Guardians of the Galaxy. Aleta, I thought, was an interesting character. Mainframe is male. I thought she could be very interesting as this big, tough robot head that could [go on into] a lot of other things, but it talks like Miley Cyrus. And then Krugarr I just thought was even weirder than Rocket and Groot and could be a really cool character. So that was my decision process, it really was just me lying in bed and thinking about who those characters could be.”

Hopefully this anti-Guardians team has a larger role in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, or perhaps they’ll even get their own movie when Gunn wraps up his trilogy. Maybe we’ll learn more about their future after Avengers: Infinity War releases in theaters next year.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is in theaters now. What did you think of the latest volume of the Awesome Mix? Let us know with your rating in the Movie Database below!

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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.