Thanos Was The Villain In Original Guardians of the Galaxy Script

Thanos Was The Villain In Original Guardians of the Galaxy Script

First Richard Rider Nova, and now Thanos.

James Gunn, you are killing us.

It’s learned that Thanos was actually the villain of the Guardians of the Galaxy movie prior to James Gunn getting on board.

Back around 2009, Marvel had a Writers Group that could basically come up with whatever script they wanted, with science-fiction writer Nicole Perlman choosing Guardians of the Galaxy, as she was impressed and inspired by the Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning Guardians of the Galaxy Marvel comic book.

When the movie finally was green lit and Gunn came on board, he re-wrote the script to his liking and in the process removed Richard Rider Nova because he wanted to keep the focus on Star-Lord being the human relatable character of the movie.

Now while participating in a video Q&A on Facebook, Gunn clears up some things regarding the involvement of Thanos revealing at one point the Mad Titan was the big bad . First, Gunn lets it be known he didn’t have to go back and do re-writes on Guardians and add in Thanos as Thanos was already a part of the script.

“That’s just totally not all all true,” Gunn replied to questioning regarding having to go back and add Thanos to the script. “When I came to Guardians there was a script, and Thanos was actually the bad guy in it the movie. I changed the script so that Ronan was the bad guy. Thanos became a part of that script.”

Gunn also let it be known they were contemplating removing Thanos in his entirety as they found it difficult to incorporate the Mad Titan with the rest of the story, but Gunn wanted to keep Thanos because of his appearance in Whedon’s The Avengers.

“There was a time later when we realized it was very difficult working Thanos into the script, but I wanted to keep him in the movie because I knew that people who liked Avengers would maybe be likely to see Guardians, which nobody knew Thanos was in the movie,” Gunn continued. “So I kept him in there. He was a pain in the a– to put in the movie because of his connection and family relationship to Ronan and Gamora and Nebula.”

Gunn also finished his Thanos thoughts with a rather interesting remark which seems to insinuate those people that wanted to cut Thanos from the movie might not be at Marvel any more.

“There was a group of people at Marvel who had a lot of ideas how things were suppose to be that aren’t there any more,” Gunn said.

Ronan and Thanos scenes Guardians of the Galaxy

About Matt McGloin

Matt McGloin is the editor-in-chief and publisher of Cosmic Book News, the independent entertainment news site he founded in 2008. He covers movies, comics, TV, video games and pop culture and has reported major industry scoops over the years, including revealing the Avengers: Endgame title ahead of its official announcement. Through Cosmic Book News, he helped Marvel Comics promote Guardians of the Galaxy and Nova through exclusive previews, artwork, and interviews, with the site also quoted in solicitations and on comic covers. He also reported on Marvel’s Daredevil: Born Again retooling before it was later confirmed by the trades.

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