James Gunn on ‘Guardians Of The Galaxy’ Sequel’s Connection To ‘Avengers’ And ‘Infinity War’

There is no debating the fact that Marvel’s latest film, Guardians of the Galaxy set the world on fire. On top of being the highest grossing “first movie” in Marvel’s Cinematic Universe, it took its place as the third overall highest grossing movie out of Marvel’s ten films thus far (only behind The Avengers and Iron Man 3). Beyond the sheer novelty and technical splendor of the world, what really caught people’s attention was the film’s heart. With lovable characters like Groot and Rocket Raccoon, and a charismatic lead like Chris Pratt, there was a lot for fans to latch onto.

While Guardians of the Galaxy was a refreshing entry in Marvel’s machine, some fans were mildly disappointed at the film’s overall lack of connection to the cinematic universe as a whole. Sure it had an Infinity Stone, and Thanos made an appearance or two, but on the whole it did its own thing. Like Iron Man 2 and Captain America: The Winter Soldier before it, it seemed like Guardians of the Galaxy 2 was destined to catapult its characters headfirst into the main arc of the Marvel story. Not so, says James Gunn, writer and director of the upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy sequel (via IGN).

“I really am concerned with the cosmic. I am often concerned with the future, but I am concerned with where the cosmic characters go. I don’t think it’s about intertwining them too much with the Marvel Earth heroes. I think that that isn’t what it’s about. We’re not here to service ‘Infinity War.’ We’re not here to service ‘The Avengers.’ It’s really about the Guardians and where they can go. I think there are similarities to the rest of the Marvel Universe, but there’s also a lot of differences. The Guardians have a little more darkness to them, I think. They’re not as good.”

So Guardians Of The Galaxy 2 likely won’t be delving further into the shared universe if Gunn has his way. So what will the sequel entail? Gunn had a conversation with Forbes, and in it, he emphasized the importance of not attempting to simply repeat what audiences liked about the first film.

“We can’t just say, ‘Okay, well let’s just start with something sad and then shift into something really happy and with some music, and let’s have the Awesome Mix work in exactly the same way except with songs from the ’80s instead of songs from the ’70s.’ And it’s like, all of those things, that doesn’t interest me. For me, the shift is getting to know the characters on a deeper level, knowing them more intimately, and uncovering facets of those characters that make them more real to us. Because I think at the center of what works about ‘Guardians’ is that people like the characters. [The sequel will delve] more deeply into the characters and who they are, and how they work and how they think, and what their flaws are and what their strengths are. They’re a much more flawed group than the Avengers… they have major, major issues.”

We’ll see how this approach works out for Gunn. Rumor has it that Avengers: Age Of Ultron will vastly change the Marvel cinematic landscape, and if things manage to collide with Guardians‘ cosmic side of things in some way, he may find himself having to unwillingly accommodate as Favreau did with Iron Man 2.

Guardians Of The Galaxy hits Blu-ray and DVD on December 9, 2014.