Well, folks, it happened. Last summer, one of the biggest news in the movie-sphere was how James Gunn was fired from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 due to controversial social media posts he’d made over a decade ago resurfacing. However, today it’s been announced that Gunn has been reinstated into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and will return to direct Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.
You’ll recall that last August, approximately a month after James Gunn was let go from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, it was reported that Disney had not changed its mind and would not rehire him. Well, according to Deadline, Gunn has returned to helm the threequel, and apparently this was decided months ago among the respective Disney and Marvel Studios leadership teams. Walt Disney Studios president Alan Horn reportedly met with Gunn several times and, persuaded by Gunn’s public apology and handling of the matter afterwards, decided to bring him back into the fold.
Now some of you may be asking, “Wait, what about Suicide Squad 2, a.k.a. The Suicide Squad?” After all, several months after James Gunn was let go from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, he hopped aboard the DC train to write and direct the next movie starring Task Force X, which is said to be less of a direct sequel to 2016’s Suicide Squad and more of a relaunch of the property. Well, Gunn signing on to The Suicide Squad complicated Marvel’s plans to bring him back for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, but as things stand now, Gunn will work on The Suicide Squad first, and once it’s finished, then he’ll turn his attention to Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. So Gunn gets to wrap up his Guardians trilogy as originally intended and leave his stamp on another superhero franchise.
While Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 was initially believed to be one of the first Phase 4 movies to be released, but James Gunn’s firing last year placed the project on indefinite hold. Since The Suicide Squad is set for release on August 6, 2021, that means Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 will probably arrive a year or two later at the very least, so we’re still in for a long wait for it to arrive. Nevertheless, this is a major turn of events following months of reports, and while Marvel was already planning on using James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 script regardless of who direct the movie, now Gunn gets to oversee the production just like he did two times before.
No plot details for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 have been revealed yet, although the story is reportedly quite the tear-jerker. Regardless, before we get to that adventure, we have to see what goes down next month in Avengers: Endgame. Avengers: Infinity War saw all the Guardians except for Rocket Raccoon and Nebula being turned to dust by Thanos, and while Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista and Pom Klementieff are all confirmed to be appearing in Endgame (hopefully Vin Diesel will provide some Groot vocals as well), we don’t know with absolute certainty yet which of their characters will be brought back to life and which will appear in flashbacks, hallucinations etc.
Keep checking back with CinemaBlend for more updates on Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3’s development, but for now, look through our Marvel movies guide to learn what else is coming down the MCU pipeline.
