One of the big questions surrounding Guardians Of The Galaxy was how the team and the fuzzy and cuddly breakout star, Chris Pratt, would tie into the larger Marvel universe as it progressed. The answer, according to James Gunn, is mostly that we might hear about it in passing.
Gunn, being interviewed by MTV for the upcoming home video release, was asked where the franchise goes from here, and the answer was pretty explicitly “Not towards Earth.”
We’re not subservient to the Avengers. “Guardians 2″ is not a movie that’s made to move toward “Infinity War.” It’s something that’s made to move toward future cosmic movies, so I don’t feel that that is something that affects me that much.
That’s intriguing for a few reasons. One, a few Marvel’s upcoming movies are “cosmic” movies, notably Captain Marvel and Inhumans: But Really, You Just Care About Lockjaw. Two, it indicates that Marvel has some fairly grand plans for their cosmos-spanning characters, to the point where they’re essentially spinning off an entire cinematic universe. Which is… ambitious, and normally I’d be worried except, well, that movie with the talking raccoon made cash hand over fist. While I admit I’m skeptical audiences are really going to go for Infinity War, the teleporting dog is going to sell $300 million in plushies alone.
Also, it means Gunn can do his own thing. It also means we won’t have the next movie stop dead so the villain can take a meeting with Thanos, so that will be a welcome improvement.
