What Does James Gunn's Rehiring Mean for GOTG 3 and the MCU?

What Does James Gunn's Rehiring Mean for GOTG 3 and the MCU?

James Gunn is back! Marvel fans rejoice as the director, who had been previously booted by Disney due to comments he made on Twitter many years previous. But he's back now, and is set to direct Guardians of the Galaxy: Volume 3. What does this mean for the MCU going forward? Are we set to see some changes?

It's important to note that first, before James Gunn was fired from Disney, he was one of the most important figures in the Marvel hierarchy. He and Kevin Feige worked closely with directors such as the Russo Brothers to craft the overall narrative of the MCU, and he was specifically in charge of the cosmic side. So it's interesting that since he has now returned, we have a leader and a visionary who will be dealing with the space elements moving forward.

Kevin Feige has said that the MCU moving forward will be dealing a lot with cosmic elements, which makes sense with characters like Captain Marvel entering the fray. Could James Gunn be overseeing, or even directing a Captain Marvel 2 sometime in the future? It's possible. What could be even more likely is Captain Marvel joining forces with the Guardians of the Galaxy at a certain point.

What we do know is that James Gunn's script was going to be used no matter who was going to direct the film. And so, his ideas and visions for the film were always going to be included. This means that Adam Warlock, who was teased at the end of volume 2, would or would not have been in the film regardless of who was directing. The more important impacts of Gunn returning lie not in the story implications, but rather the behind-the-scenes implications.

It's hard to know, especially with the film not being released yet, how much influence Gunn had over Avengers: Endgame and his Guardian character. We know the dusted will mostly return, and that probably means Quill, Drax, Mantis, and Groot. What adds an even more interesting wrinkle into this fold is that Dave Bautista, who plays Drax, wanted out of his role as soon as he heard Gunn was not going to be returning. That's why I put him as my most likely to die in Endgame. But now that Gunn is back, I think Bautista is actually one of the least likely to die. For all the headaches that he's given Disney and Marvel, Gunn is the reason that Bautista enjoys being in these films, and I think that now he's back, Bautista would quit if he WASN'T in GOTG 3.

Aside from that, not much is being said about Gunn's involvement at the present. He still has to direct The Suicide Squad, and that will remain his priority for the time being, but when he gets back to GOTG 3, we will be looking forward to that in great anticipation.