'GOTG' Director James Gunn Says Main Characters Were Supposed To Be Introduced In Short Films

James Gunn, who is responsible for giving live-action treatment to the "Guardians of the Galaxy" comic, revealed that the characters of the movie were supposed to be introduced through individual short movies.

The 55-year-old director recalled the incident after he came across an outlet mentioning how Marvel Studios initially planned short movies to introduce the characters.

"I forgot about this, but this is true," the director wrote on Twitter Monday. "Not only did we plan it, we shot footage for one of the scripts (Rocket & Groot) - part of which was the first shot of Rocket shooting a machine gun on Groot’s back that we showed at San Diego Comic-Con," he wrote.

In the same thread of tweets, Gunn explained that there were going to be four parts including Rocket and Groot, Gamora, Drax and Star-Lord. The director revealed that only Rocket and Groot's script was finished at that time and it was completely "storyboarded."

The director went on to explain that the story revolved around how Rocket and Groot met for the first time. "I still think it’s true in my headcanon," he added, noting that he also wrote a role for actor Alan Tudyk.

However, Gunn explained the reason he didn't execute the idea and instead went on to make a full-fledged movie.

"We didn’t end up doing it because I realized it was ridiculous for me to be writing & directing 4 short films at the same time as I was prepping an enormous world-building movie," he explained.

Gunn wrote that three out of four shorts were planned to "play before" the three movies released ahead of "Guardians of the Galaxy" in 2014.

While the director didn't name those movies before "Guardians," three movies were released in Marvel Cinematic Universe: Phase Two including "Iron Man 3," "Thor: The Dark World" and "Captain America: The Winter Soldier."

The director noted that the fourth short was supposed to be the backstory of Peter Quill (played by Chris Pratt), which became the "beginning of Guardians."

"It was really hard for me to admit it was too much for me & I was sad deciding I couldn’t do them (especially Rocket & Groot) but, you know, maybe someday!" Gunn added.

"Guardians of the Galaxy" was first released in 2014. The sequel of the movie was dropped in 2017 and the third installment is slated to release on May 5, 2023.