Michael Rooker's Yondu basically stole the show in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. The moment when Peter Quill compares him to Mary Poppins has become the film's most iconic moment, and it almost wasn't in the movie. The scene depicts Peter and Yondu descending slowly from the sky after the ship they were on exploded. Apparently, writer and director James Gunn wanted this scene to be something of a badass heroic moment. Unfortunately, the visual didn't really work that way, leading him to add the joke. According to Gunn...
When I was visualizing the scene, it didn't look quite as heroic as I intended it to be. So then I put the Poppins line in Peter Quill's mouth. And Yondu, of course, not knowing the name Mary or Poppins, might think he's sort of a Lee Marvin type, and he owns it.
Of course, the thing that's the most magical about the scene is that after Peter Quill makes his Mary Poppins comment, the scene does become the heroic moment that James Gunn wanted, entirely because Yondu makes it that way. After Peter tells Yondu that Mary Poppins is cool, because Mary Poppins is cool, the way that Yondu proudly proclaims himself to be Mary Poppins makes the scene awesome.
Sometimes things just don't turn out the way you imagine them. Apparently, that's what happened to James Gunn as he tells The Hollywood Reporter that it wasn't until he first visualized the scene that he realized it just didn't look the way it did when he originally wrote it. One can only imagine the mental image of Yondu slowly descending, arrow in hand, to the epic swell of Tyler Bates score. Instead, he vaguely resembles Julie Andrews with an umbrella in her hand. Luckily, Gunn was able to roll with it and adapt the scene in such a way to make it work.
Since Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 came out the Mary Poppins moment has become the biggest takeaway, resulting in no end to the memes and even the release of a Funko Pop toy that sees Yondu dressed as the magical governess. While surely accidental, it's probably a great cross-promotional moment for Disney, as they have a new Mary Poppins movie coming out next year. Unfortunately, principal photography on Mary Poppins Returns is already over and it would likely be too difficult to throw in a Guardians of the Galaxy reference in that film that made any sense in context.
We're looking forward to what James Gunn has in store for the Guardians of the Galaxy next, the characters will be appearing in the next two Avengers movies before returning for a third Guardians movie, which is supposed to set the tone for the MCU going forward.
