James Gunn Teases Who Will (And Won't) Appear in 'Guardians of the Galaxy 2'

‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ (AP Photo/Disney - Marvel, File)

By Graeme McMillan, The Hollywood Reporter

James Gunn continues to take to Facebook to tease Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2, with his latest fan Q&A session also hinting at a possible character debut in the next Avengers movie, as well.

Taking to Facebook to respond to fan questions Tuesday, Gunn said that the follow-up to Marvel’s 2014 hit would be “something a little bit in the vein of the first movie and also different,” teasing that fans should expect a younger, smaller Groot in the sequel after his rebirth at the end of the first installment — which isn’t a good thing for all of his teammates. “Drax is not the biggest fan of Baby Groot,” he revealed.

The follow-up will bring someone new to the team: “I’m not going to give names and I won’t give numbers either, but there will be at least one new character,” Gunn said — although that shouldn’t be taken as a sign that the movie will follow Marvel’s comic book lead and add another superhero from Earth to its ranks (Captain Marvel, Venom, Iron Man and the Thing have all spent time with the team in recent years). “There will be no other humans — humans being earthlings — besides [Chris Pratt’s character] Quill,” Gunn clarified.

Asked about a possible Guardians team-up with the Avengers, Gunn seemed dismissive. “Everybody seems so addicted to this idea of seeing a character mashed up with another character, and that’s just not my interest,” he said. “My interest is to tell stories that are deeper and better about the characters that we’ve already known. Even though I am adding characters — one character, at least, in [Vol. 2], it really is about getting to know the characters better. It isn’t about mixing and matching characters. That’s kind of boring to me, actually.”

After naming Adam Warlock — an artificially created human with godlike powers that is often connected with the Guardians in Marvel comic mythology — as one of his favorite characters, Gunn was asked if he would appear in a future Guardians movie. The answer was unexpected: “You guys gotta wait and see,” he said. “But, you know, you can’t — everything’s going to be different in the Infinity Wars.” A clue, perhaps that Warlock — the comic book hero most closely connected with Avengers: Infinity War villain Thanos — will be headed to the big screen as part of the third and fourth Avengers movies … ?

The full Q&A is here. Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2 is currently in pre-production for a May 2017 release.