Spoilers ahead for Guardians of the Galaxy 3.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe is a behemoth force in the entertainment industry, and there are a handful of franchises that stand out as fan favorites. Guardians of the Galaxy is definitely in that category, and fans are still reeling from the wild events of the threequel. James Gunn recently revealed that he thought about cutting one team member from the movie entirely. And my mind is pretty blown.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is the latest Marvel movie to arrive in theaters, and wrapped up the story of the cosmic team as we know it. The ending of Guardians 3 surprisingly didn’t kill anyone off, and gave the heroes their version of happily ever after. But Gunn almost left Zoe Saldaña’s Gamora out of the movie, given her character’s death in Avengers: Infinity War and her “resurrection” via the Time Heist. As he explained in a recent conversation with the New York Times:
That was a possibility, yes. [Peter] would be dealing with her loss, but she wouldn't come back and confront him in this different way. I toyed with it a lot as I was writing the script.
Well, my mind is blown. It’s almost impossible to imagine Guardians 3 without Gamora, but that was a possibility that Gunn actually debated while writing the threequel. And it certainly would have been a drastic change to the way that Peter’s story played out throughout the blockbuster. But I’m thinking he made the right decision by including Thanos’ daughter for one more movie.
The events of Avengers: Infinity War no doubt created a number of challenges for James Gunn when developing Guardians 3. In addition to Gamora’s death at the hands of Thanos, most of the Guardians were snapped out of existence. So Gunn had to factor those events into his script for the acclaimed blockbuster.
The Gamora we knew died in Infinity War, with the 2014 version of the character brought into the current timeline thanks to Endgame’s time heist. Because she had no memory of her time with the Guardians and relationship with Peter Quill, she departed the final battlefield and eventually joined the Ravagers. While fans expected to see Gamora and Star-Lord once again connect on a romantic level, that didn’t happen throughout the runtime of Guardians 3.
While Gamora didn’t get back together with Peter Quill, they did find a common ground by the end of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. I found this plot choice super powerful, with the cosmic superhero flick offering a touching take on break-ups in the process. And both characters still ended up happy; Gamora reunites with her Ravagers family while Guardians 3’s post-credits scene reveals he’s happily back on earth with his grandfather. While Star-Lord will be back in an upcoming Marvel movie, it seems like Gamora’s story might have been wrapped for good.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is still in theaters now and making money at the box office. In the meantime, check out the 2023 movie release dates to plan your next movie experience.
