James Gunn has a risky idea for GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY 2

There’s a ton of reasons why Guardians Of The Galaxy was such a smash hit last year. Great actors, amazing special effects and a killer mix-tape are just some of those factors that all played a role in shaping the movie. But it was director James Gunn who combined them all into one cohesive cinematic experience, injecting the end result with some of his own signature style and humour.

Thankfully, he’ll be back for the sequel, and with even more leeway than usual as he gets to work on a new story which won’t exactly be based on any of the existing comic book lore. Speaking on  Alison Rosen Is Your New Best Friend (via FilmDrunk), Gunn revealed that his story idea for the sequel wasn’t going to play it safe:

It’s not really based on anything. The story for Guardians 2 is an original story that I came up with that I started working on actually while I was shooting Guardians 1, and it’ll answer some of the questions that were put forth in the first movie about Peter Quill’s father and who he is and what’s going on with that. We’ll get to know some of the characters a little bit more and then we’re going to meet a couple of new characters who will be very important to Guardians movies and probably important to the Marvel Universe as a whole.

It’s different than what’s in the comic books. Peter Quill’s father is somebody different in the comics. So then when the movie came out, we got green-lit on the sequel right away. I went in and I sat down with those guys and I’m like, ‘Okay, here’s what I think the sequel should be.’ And they were like, ‘Oh, whoa. That’s risky, but okay.’ Now I’m going to turn over the story in a few short weeks and we’ll find out how well it works.

You know what? I want to see what he has in store. Gunn probably has a lot more clout at Disney than ever before after GOTG was a smash hit, and seeing even more of his trademark style and banter in the sequel is something that makes me excited. And risky ideas are what works best in Marvel movies, to help prevent their flicks from becoming stale.

It was a risky move to make a cosmic action-comedy starring an unknown actor, a talking tree and a kleptomaniac space raccoon in the first place. But it might have been riskier when Marvel gave the project to Gunn, who cut his teeth on films such as the cult classic horror Slither and the mind-bending anti-hero film Super. But it’s a gamble that paid off. I say roll the dice again and let the man work some magic.