James Gunn Explains Why He Dropped That F-Bomb In Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 features the Marvel Cinematic Universe's first-ever "f-bomb," with Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) swearing at Nebula (Karen Gillan) for not being able to open the door of a car. Given the threequel largely focused on Bradley Cooper's Rocket Raccoon, some have wondered if Gunn ever considered giving the beloved space raccoon a chance at dropping the MCU first. According to Gunn, however, he would have never given Rocket the f-bomb given the content of the film.

"No I didn't. I gave the line to Chris on the day," Gunn said in response to a fan on threads. "I found it fun to break that barrier in a throwaway situation where it didn't matter as opposed to one where we were relying on the word for weight – I think Rocket accepting himself as who is is (raccoon by species, Rocket by choice – just as we're all a mix of what fate's given us and who we choose to be) is maybe the most important moment in the three films and it might have been diminished by everyone focusing on the F-word."

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Long after the film was released last year, Chris Pratt revealed Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige warned Gunn about the moment. According to the producer, Gunn might only be known as the guy to have the first "F-word" in his movie.

"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."

"It's not the first one I've tried to get into the movie. I think everybody's tried, you know?" the actor 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 is now streaming Disney+ and available for purchase wherever movies are sold. Stay tuned to ComicBook.com for more updates on the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and James Gunn's next big project as we learn it!