‘Guardians Of The Galaxy’ Director James Gunn Claims That ‘Vol. 2’ Won’t Be As Deadly

One detail a casual moviegoer might have missed in the finale of Guardians of the Galaxy, as Star-Lord and his crew fought to stop Ronan the Accuser from destroying Xandar with an Infinity Stone: A lot of Nova Corps pilots died. Sure, we saw Ronan’s Dark Aster destroy plenty of those shiny Nova Corps fighter ships (above) as it descended upon Xandar, but we forgot or ignored were the people inside. A lot of people died in that battle scene, and that’s something that director James Gunn came to terms with on Twitter this week.

The website GoCompare.com released a “study” naming the deadliest movies ever made. In terms of total deaths, the Guardians of the Galaxy, claimed the top spot, coming out way ahead of the nearest competitor. The “data” revealed that 83,371 people/aliens were killed in Vol. 1. The next closest film, Dracula Untold, had just 5,687 deaths. Now, whether you want to buy into the research efforts of GoCompare.com, Gunn at least recognized the distinction with about as much enthusiasm as you’d expect.

I know what you’re probably thinking, because it’s the first question I asked when I saw the Guardian’s headline: “Hey, what about those planets that were destroyed in the Star Wars franchise?” I mean, that’s billions of people. Don’t worry, Gunn is on top of it.

So, maybe you were aware of all those Nova Corps deaths as they were happening and this isn’t news to you, but it was to me and other fans. Quite frankly, Gunn is right to have a little attitude toward us ignorant folk for not paying attention to the film or the “study.”

The important revelation here is what Gunn tells us about Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, because he is always so good at dropping little teasers about his upcoming sequel. In this case, can we expect to see so many pilots making the ultimate sacrifice to save the innocent Xandarians again?

He’s nothing if not blunt. However, other than the Star Wars question, one thing still bothers me. Only 2,922 people died in Sum of All Fears? That seems… off.

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