Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 director James Gunn debunks theories that Galactus appears in Guardians of the Galaxy.
After a fan pointed to a scene from the original 2014 Guardians of the Galaxy film, which resembles the birth of Galactus in the comics, Gunn shut the theory down. "No. Marvel didn't have the rights to Galactus in 2014," he said on Twitter. "Just another example of comic book pareidolia -- in the millions & millions of comic book panels that exist & the millions & millions of shots in films there is bound to be an enormous amount of coincidental overlap."
"I've purposefully given visual homage to another artwork or film only a handful of times in my entire career. Maybe I've done it once or twice subconsciously. The rest - most - are coincidences," Gunn said. He concluded the thread by saying, "Every day someone posts a shot from my film next to a comic panel or still from another film & says - the harmless version: cool how this inspired you! - or the irksome version: you ripped this off!"
This is not the first time Gunn has denied this particular Galactus theory, debunking it once before in 2018 after a fan asked whether the Collector scene from the first Guardians film featured an Easter egg teasing the villain's origin story. "No, he's not in there in any way," Gunn said at the time.
It has been speculated that Galactus may appear as the next big bad in Phase 4 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, particularly with a Phase 4 teaser containing the logo for the MCU reboot of the Fantastic Four. It has also been theorized that the introduction of the Celestials in Eternals could usher Galactus into the MCU. Eternals writer Kaz Firpo has previously expressed interest in bringing the Devourer of Worlds into the potential sequel.
"Galactus is an amazing, amazing character, and villain," Firpo said. "We are, you know, obviously setting the stage for intergalactic, cosmic, megalith confrontations, especially when you kill a space god -- and then the space god comes and kidnaps you and plans to judge Earth, I think the door is very much open for world-eating villains."
Though there is some excitement about the possibility of Galactus being the next villain for the Eternals, Firpo also noted that nothing has been set in stone. "There's definitely conversations about these post-credits sequences, about who we’re introducing, where we're going," he explained. "Galactus is one of those iconic figures of the Marvel Universe that we're excited to see. But sometimes I think you leave yourself open, you leave these doors open, and who knows what’s happening in number two. Maybe you're too busy saving a Celestial from Galactus that you end up incurring his [wrath]… anything’s possible."
Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 3Â is scheduled to hit theaters on May 23, 2023.
Source: Twitter