INT: An extraterrestrial cave. STAR-LORD, a 30-something scavenger makes his way through the alien structure to come upon his an orb of glowing light. Before he picks up his prize, he pulls out a Darth Vader toy and confers with it, probably.
In one of those close calls that could’ve changed everything, Marvel head honcho Kevin Feige wanted a Darth Vader action figure to be Peter Quill’s (Star-Lord’s) connection to earth, rather than the Awesome Mix Tape that has since become an iconic part of the Guardians universe and his character. Luckily, director James Gunn stepped in and made the proper call, saying Quinn needed a connection to his home planet’s culture, rather than featuring a toy for a single cheap pop that might sell a couple Guardians of the Galaxy-branded Vader figures.
In the end, Gunn was right. Feige was wrong, despite seemingly being all about having this Darth Vader action figure floating around Star-Lord’s ship. Here’s what he told Mashable:
“I really thought it was going to be the greatest thing in the world that you’re in a spaceship and he’s talking to one of the alien characters and he knocks over his bag and one of the alien characters bends down and picks up and it was a Darth Vader action figure, goes, ‘What’s this?’”
According to Mashable’s interview with Feige, he had this idea well before Disney acquired Lucasfilm, so it’s probably an idea based in love, but what could you do with that? You can’t embed a toy on YouTube with Electric Light Orchestra. You can’t have Groot dancing with a Vader toy! Well, Baby Groot could… Damn, I’d buy a Baby Groot dancing with Lil Vader.
(Via Mashable)
