Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 Drops MCU's First Uncensored F-Bomb

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is dropping a frickin' F-bomb — only it's not "frickin'." After Rocket Raccoon (Bradley Cooper) translated Baby Groot's (Vin Diesel) family-friendly swear word in 2017's Vol. 2, writer-director James Gunn has confirmed Vol. 3 is the first Marvel Studios movie to include an uncensored F-bomb that's not "frick." In a new clip from the Marvel Cinematic Universe sequel, it's a frustrated Peter Quill/Star-Lord (Chris Pratt) who drops the censored curse when instructing the alien Nebula (Karen Gillan) how to "open the f—ing door" to a car. On Twitter, Gunn confirmed that "of course" the F-bomb will be uncensored in the actual movie. 

"You can only have one [uncensored F-word] in a PG-13 movie," Gunn tweeted of the unscripted F-bomb. "That said it wasn't planned — I told Chris [Pratt] to add it on set and it just made the moment funnier so we kept [it]."

Vol. 3 is officially rated PG-13 for "intense sequences of violence and action, strong language, suggestive/drug references and thematic elements."

You can only have one in a PG 13 movie. That said it wasn’t planned – I told Chris to add it on set and it just made the moment funnier so we kept.

— James Gunn (@JamesGunn) April 23, 2023

Marvel Studios dropped an F-bomb — albeit a censored one — as far back as 2010's Iron Man 2, during a bleeped-out exchange between Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) and Senator Stern (Garry Shandling). The word has been cut off or censored in Spider-Man: Homecoming, Spider-Man: Far From Home, Avengers: Infinity War, and She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, and has only been explicitly said in the MA-rated Marvel Television productions that originally aired on Netflix: Daredevil, Jessica Jones, and The Punisher.

Marvel describes the threequel: "In Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, our beloved band of misfits are settling into life on Knowhere. But it isn't long before their lives are upended by the echoes of Rocket's turbulent past. Peter Quill, still reeling from the loss of Gamora, must rally his team around him on a dangerous mission to save Rocket's life — a mission that, if not completed successfully, could quite possibly lead to the end of the Guardians as we know them."

Starring Chris Pratt as Star-Lord, Zoe Saldana as Gamora, Dave Bautista as Drax, Karen Gillan as Nebula, Pom Klementieff as Mantis, featuring Vin Diesel as Groot, Bradley Cooper as Rocket, and Sean Gunn as Kraglin, Chukwudi Iwuji as the High Evolutionary, Will Poulter as Adam Warlock, and Maria Bakalova as Cosmo, Marvel Studios' Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is in theaters May 5th.