When Guardians of the Galaxy was first announced by Marvel Studios, many were convinced the movie would be their first flop. Featuring characters not even the biggest comic book fans were overly familiar with, it's easy enough to see why there was some scepticism surrounding James Gunn's first blockbuster. Ultimately, it exceeded expectations both critically and commercially.
In the recently released book The Story of Marvel Studios, Kevin Feige revealed that, "We toyed with the idea of doing short films on Drax, on Rocket and Groot, and on Gamora, leading up to Guardians." All of those were set to lead directly into the 2014 release, "but it was too much."
Now, Gunn has commented on those early plans for the Guardians, revealing that the Rocket & Groot "One-Shot" had a finished script and a role for Doom Patrol star Alan Tudyk. The filmmaker adds that each short would have played in front of a different Marvel Studios movie (Iron Man 3, Thor: The Dark World, and Captain America: The Winter Soldier) by the sound of it, and it appears Gunn remains open to one day revisiting these brief origin stories.
This concept sounds really cool, and we'd love to see Marvel Studios potentially revisit it with other characters down the line. However, you have to believe they'd now debut on Disney+ instead of in theaters given the rise in popularity of that streaming service and the sheer level of Marvel Studios content heading there.
Check out Gunn's full explanation about these Guardians of the Galaxy shorts below:
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