Kevin Feige Warned James Gunn About F-Bomb in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is set to make history on numerous fronts. The completed trilogy represents just the second time that one director has helmed all three installments of a Marvel Cinematic Universe franchise, with Ant-Man director Peyton Reed narrowly beating Guardians director James Gunn to the punch two months ago. Beyond that, Vol. 3 represents the final time that numerous MCU stars will portray their respective characters, with talent like Dave Bautista and Zoe Saldana seemingly getting ready to say goodbye to Drax and Gamora, respectively. Outside of the emotional history, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 will have an unexpected MCU first, as already revealed by promotional material.

During an exchange with Karen Gillan’s Nebula, Chris Pratt’s Star-Lord frustratingly instructs her to enter a car. When Nebula can’t figure out the handle, Star-Lord demands that she “open the f–king door.” While censored in the commercialized clip, this f-bomb will be spoken out loud in the film itself, making it the first time that curse word it uttered out loud in the MCU’s 15-year history. Previous films like Iron Man 2, Spider-Man: Homecoming and Avengers: Infinity War have implied it to be said, but never has it been spoken without interference.

This f-bomb did get a hesitant blessing from Marvel President Kevin Feige, but the longtime producer did warn Gunn about the consequences that could follow.

“From my understanding, the story goes that Kevin Feige talked to James Gunn and said ‘Listen, you don’t want to be the guy who’s known for having the first F-word in your movie,’” Pratt said on Jimmy Kimmel Live!. “And James is like, ‘Yes, I do!’ Don’t you know me?! That’s exactly what I want!’ And so, they kept it in.”

Pratt added that he has campaigned “for years” to drop the word in a Marvel movie but was often told no.

“It’s not the first one I’ve tried to get into the movie. I think everybody’s tried, you know?” Pratt continued. “With a PG-13 movie, you typically get two s-words, and usually don’t get [an f-word] but maybe you can get one f-word. So everyone’s always lobbying, you know? Throwing out an improv to get it in there.”

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 hits theaters next Friday, May 5th.