It’s been a little more than two weeks since Marvel unveiled its release date for the yet untitled “Guardians of the Galaxy 2.” Fans have until May 5, 2017, to speculate as to what Star-Lord, Gamora, Drax, Rocket and, of course, Groot will be up to when they return for the followup to 2014’s highest-grossing film. Now, director James Gunn is throwing some fuel on the rumor fire.

“Guardians” was always Marvel’s biggest risk. It was the first movie in its cinematic universe that didn’t run on the support of well-known superheroes. For that matter, it didn’t take place on Earth and the villain was not a recognizable name. Still, it flew right out of the cosmos and into fans' hearts. A lot of that success likely had to do with Marvel fans' devotion to the franchise. The film featured elements that will directly lead to “The Avengers: Infinity War” parts one and two. With that in mind, MTV asked Gunn how “Guardians of the Galaxy 2” would be connected to the Avengers universe.

“I don’t feel beholden to that stuff at all. I think it’s really about the Guardians and what they are doing. We’re not subservient to the Avengers,” Gunn said. “'Guardians 2’ is not a movie that’s made to move toward ‘Infinity War.’ It’s something that’s made to move toward future cosmic movies, so I don’t feel that that is something that affects me that much.”

The most interesting part of that answer seems to be the idea that “Guardians 2” will open the door to Marvel’s cosmic universe. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the only two cosmic comics on Marvel’s roster, other than “Guardians,” are “Nova” and “Captain Marvel.” The latter character, a superheroine with the alter ego Carol Danvers, will be getting her own film in Marvel’s Phase Three lineup.

Is it possible we’ll get our first glimpse of Captain Marvel in “Guardians 2”? It would certainly make sense. After all, Marvel seems to be taking a backdoor strategy to introducing the Black Panther to the big screen. It was announced that Chadwick Boseman will appear as the character in “Captain America: Civil War” before getting a big-budget picture all to himself.

Another rumor that’s been floating around is that the storyline will bring Mark Ruffalo’s Hulk to the cosmos. Without going into any potential “Avengers: Age of Ultron” spoilers, Hitfix’s Drew McWeeny makes a pretty good case that, following the events of the sequel, Hulk will find himself in space acting out (at least partially) a popular storyline from the comics titled “Planet Hulk.” Perhaps he’ll encounter everyone’s favorite band of lovable misfits when and if he does. Unfortunately, fans will have to wait until after "Avengers: Age of Ultron" premieres in 2015.

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