If ‘Guardians of the Galaxy 3’ Doesn’t Have a Dance-Off, It At Least Needs a Workout Montage
The Guardians of the Galaxy movies feature more dancing than you might remember, especially Baby Groot at the beginning of Vol. 2, where he spends the opening sequence gyrating to Electric Light Orchestra’s “Mr. Blue Sky” while chaos explodes around him.
So wouldn’t it be fun if the next time we saw the Guardians, we got some kind of dance-off with their new buddy Thor? Fans think so, but James Gunn dashed those hopes quickly.
James Gunn: Thor doesn’t dance
Gunn, the co-writer and director of the Guardians of the Galaxy movies, frequently interacts with fans on Instagram via the stories. When one fan pleaded, ‘Please put Quill and Thor having a dance-off in GOTG3!” the fan was probably thinking this would be the way to determine who’s the leader of the Guardians.
In Endgame, Star-Lord not unreasonably says it’s him, but Thor strongly implies it should be him. After all, he’s a god, and he doesn’t like taking no for an answer.
Fans have to, though, because upon seeing the suggestion that Thor and Star-Lord should get down to determine who will step up to Guardians Vol. 3 leadership, Gunn replied bluntly: “Not gonna happen.”
On Reddit, a lot of fans told Gunn in so many words that he was no fun, with one person saying, “What’s the point in watching it then?”
Another fan suggested that there ought to be a workout/training montage, but Gunn would probably put the kibosh on that too. The Guardians movies are known for being one of Marvel’s more freewheeling series, but they’re not that freewheeling.
Marvel reshuffled their decks
Part of the reason for Gunn’s reluctance may be that Marvel had to reshuffle their release schedule. Although a release date for Guardians Vol. 3 was never set, fans expected it would have been out by now.
The first Guardians film was in 2014, and the second was in 2017, so following the same time frame would have meant the third Guardians would be this year.
As fans well remember, though, Gunn was temporarily fired from the movie after old tweets that were in poor taste came to light. After major uproar from fans and the Guardians cast, particularly Dave Bautista, Gunn was rehired. So when Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3 was not in the phase 4 lineup for 2020 and 2021, it was not surprising.
In the interim, Gunn took a job with DC to direct the Suicide Squad sequel, and he just finished shooting that movie, which is scheduled for release in August of 2021. However, Gunn has promised that Guardians 3 is still in the works, and he’s hashing out the script. Now it will fall to a different Marvel property to figure out what to do with Thor and the Guardians.
The Guardians will appear in ‘Love and Thunder’
Marvel threw down the hammer by announcing that Thor: Love and Thunder would cap off the Phase 4 movies, with a release date of November 2021. Since Avengers: Endgame saw Thor going off with the Guardians, it made sense that we would see them together again the next time Thor appeared. It just turned out to be a Thor movie instead of a Guardians movie.
Vin Diesel, who voices Baby Groot (and the adult Groot before him), gave an interview promoting his new movie Bloodshot. He said: “I am waiting and excited for my friend James Gunn to knock this next one out of the park … the director talked to me about how Thor will incorporate some of the Guardians of the Galaxy. I don’t know, maybe I shouldn’t have said anything.”
But the Internet remembers everything, so now that Diesel’s non-disclosure agreement just went up in smoke, it looks like Thor: Love and Thunder will incorporate the Guardians in some way. Whether director Taika Waititi would allow a dance-off or a training montage remains to be seen.
