Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 director James Gunn revealed why he changed the gender of the Marvel Cinematic Universe's version of Cosmo the Spacedog.
Gunn discussed why Cosmo, who was a male dog in the source material, was being voiced by female actor Maria Bakalova in the upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. In response to a fan's comment on the change, the director claimed the gender swap was his way of paying his respects to the real-life pup who inspired the Spacedog's comic version. "Cosmo is based on Laika, a female Soviet space dog who died in orbit in 1957," Gunn wrote. "I'm just going back to the original source material."
Created by Wellington Alves, Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning, Cosmo the Spacedog was an animal test subject used for the Soviet Space Program. He was lost in space when his experimental ship drifted out of Earth's orbit, which led to his exposure to cosmic radiation and subsequent development of psionic abilities. His movie counterpart made her debut as one of the prizes of the Collector Taneleer Tvan, who hoarded a library of rare organisms and items in his museum on the Knowhere mining colony. Cosmo was eventually freed after the spaceport was destroyed, and will reportedly play an important role in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.
Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige previously expressed his excitement for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 during San Diego Comic-Con. "With the Guardians team, you see when people have been together for so long and it really choked me up because it means so much to provide an environment where creative people feel like they can do their creative best," Feige explained. "And seeing [actor Pom Kelemntieff] get emotional up there on stage and all of them, they were backstage and watching the clip and then came right out on the stage, and they had not seen the clip before, which we're not releasing any time soon, it was really just for the people at Hall H today."
Comics artist and writer Jim Starlin also gave his seal of approval to Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3's casting of actor Will Poulter for the role of Adam Warlock. Starlin claimed he was "comfortable with what I've seen in Guardians" and believed the films needed to make adjustments to the comics' characters to better fit the intended media. "Any creator who thinks their character will be literally translated into a multi-million dollar movie is a fool," Starlin said.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 lands in theaters on May 5, 2023.
Source: Twitter