James Gunn Shares Some of His Original Guardians of the Galaxy Pitch

Some of the original storyboards that James Gunn used to pitch for Guardians of the Galaxy have been released online. Being fan-favorites, it’s difficult to imagine what the MCU would look like without the existence of the Guardians. But it just wasn’t the case a few year ago when no one really knew who they were, bar the avid comic book readers. Since their cinematic debut in 2014, Star-Lord (Chris Pratt), Gamora (Zoe Saldana), Groot (voiced by Vin Diesel), Rocket (voiced by Bradley Cooper) and Drax (Dave Bautista) have become household names with two successful films under the team’s belt.

In less than three months, the growing squad, with brand new members such as Nebula (Karen Gillan), Kraglin (Sean Gunn) and Mantis (Pom Klementieff), are finally banding together with their Earth-bound counterparts, the Avengers, in Avengers: Infinity War. How they specifically factor in the fight against Thanos (Josh Brolin) is still unknown at the moment, but we’re pretty sure they’ll be bringing the same charm and humor to the ensemble flick. But before that, Gunn took a stroll down memory lane and reminisced how his and the Guardians’ cinematic journey all started.

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Taking to his official Facebook account, Gunn posted a slew of storyboards from the packet he used while pitching his Guardians story to Marvel. While some of the concepts weren’t exactly translated on the big screen, it did, however, include the director’s early visualization of Peter Quill. In the caption of the album, he explained that “packet included a 10 page statement, 19 pages on the visuals and inspirations for the film, and 42 pages storyboarding the first action scene in the film,” but belatedly added in the comments section that he ended up creating “over two thousand [storyboards], as there was one for every single shot in the film (as well as a lot I didn’t use).” You can check out his post below:


The filmmaker has never been shy about sharing the creative process he and his team go through to create the Guardians films. From concept work and hidden Easter Eggs, to just casually answering queries, Gunn has made sure that he is in-touch with his fanbase. Seeing these early storyboards exhibits how creating a film demands a higher level of meticulousness and attention to detail. Sure, the illustrations themselves are just rough sketches, but the captions below prove that the director had a clear vision of the kind of story to tell and how to tell it. So much so that Marvel even hired him to oversee the cosmic pocket of the MCU.

Gunn’s vision continues to be fleshed out in Guardians of the Galaxy 3, which he will once again helm. Set after the events of the still-untitled Avengers 4, the narrative is expected to move the franchise forward after its current storyline wraps up. The director has provided several updates in the last year regarding his upcoming Marvel project, the latest one being a confirmation that the threequel will indeed hit theaters in 2020. On top of his main series, the filmmaker is also working on developing off-shoots featuring smaller team-ups from the main Guardians roster.