Marvel's "Guardians of the Galaxy" film is officially coming together, as James Gunn has confirmed that he will indeed be writing and directing the film after weeks of rumors that attached him to the project. Furthermore, reports today indicate that Thanos, the villain teased during the credits of "The Avengers," will play a role in both " Guardians of the Galaxy " and "The Avengers 2."
Gunn's confirmation isn't much of a surprise since news of Marvel's courtship broke weeks ago, and Joss Whedon himself even discussed Gunn's involvement as if it were a foregone conclusion last week. During an interview, Whedon hinted that Gunn's take on the material is "twisted," which sounds about right given his status as a Troma Studios alum.
Yesterday, Gunn himself broke his silence about the project with a Facebook update that expressed both his enthusiasm for the film and his gratefulness for the support he's received so far. According to Gunn, this is the movie he's wanted to make "since [he] was nine years old" because he's been a "lifelong lover of Marvel Comics, space epics, and raccoons."
That Gunn put his trademark wit on display here isn't surprising, and one expects that it'll carry over to the film itself. Throughout his career--from his beginnings at Troma to his most mainstream feature, "Super"--Gunn has weaved splatstick and dark humor into much of his work, and it'll be interesting to see how much of that shows up in "Guardians," a film that could serve as a refreshing odd duck in the Marvel cinematic canon.
A separate report today has also revealed another bit of "Guardians" news by confirming Thanos's looming presence in Marvel's upcoming slate. While viewers have expected this ever since he showed up at the end of "The Avengers," it's perhaps a bit surprising that he'll actually appear in "Guardians of the Galaxy" first.
Whether or not he appears as the film's main villain remains to be seen since Gunn is only now working on his script, but one thing is certain: Marvel is once again planning ahead and already has one eye trained on an "Avengers" follow-up.
Before then, though, "Guardians of the Galaxy" will debut in August 2014, where it will hopefully be the first Marvel film featuring a cameo from Lloyd Kaufman. Move over, Stan Lee.
