Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 director James Gunn clarifies that he would have gone down fighting if Marvel Studios turned down the movie’s F-Bomb.
Per the filmmaker’s personal Threads account, he revealed that Marvel never gave him permission to use the expletive, insisting that it was entirely his own call. “Marvel didn’t give anyone the first f-k. I took it,” he wrote. “If they had pushed back I would have fought it tooth and nail but they were cool and did not.” GOTG Vol. 3 turned heads after its premiere when audiences learned that the movie bucked the trend of avoiding the F-Bomb, making it the first MCU movie to feature the word.
The scene in question is played for laughs as Nebula struggles to open a car door only for Peter Quill to yell, “Open the f-ing door.” While films set within the Marvel Cinematic Universe have come close to uttering the phrase, the franchise has often elected to censor itself, such as when Samuel L. Jackson‘s Nick Fury is cut off before he can complete swearing in Avengers: Infinity War.
Bunking Marvel’s Habits
While Gunn is adamant that Marvel Studios was fully supportive of the moment, star Chris Pratt previously recalled that Kevin Feige, president of the company, cautioned the director against the word. According to the anecdote, Feige told Gunn that he didn’t want to go down as the first person to include an F-Bomb in an MCU movie, to which the filmmaker vehemently disagreed.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 caps off Marvel’s space opera trilogy as the titular team is forced to contend with the High Evolutionary, a maniacal villain obsessed with Rocket’s hyper-intelligence. The film earned plenty of praise from fans and critics, many of whom highlighted its emotional story and compelling action scenes.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is now available to stream on Disney+.
