The Guardians movies actually get what made Marvel popular in the first place
In Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, the movie about the talking raccoon fighting the cape-swishing villain, the most comic book-y thing about it might actually be the quick introduction to Adam Warlock. That might sound strange to those who only know superheroes from the cinema. Marvel movies do this kind of thing all the time, after all — Monica Rambeau/Spectrum was a supporting character in WandaVision, but she’ll get top billing in The Marvels. Dane Whitman/Black Knight was a small player in Eternals, but is confirmed for a larger role whenever Blade finally happens.
But Gunn’s take on the ol’ Marvel tee-up is uniquely deft and insightful. GotG3 omits almost all of the ficto-factual details of Adam’s Marvel Comics character in favor of establishing the emotional hook that has endeared him to readers: He’s a person with indescribable power figuring out where his own choices fit into the rigid responsibility of his fate. It’s a smart choice, and the right choice, and that Gunn made it is a testament to his genuine care for the source material — and more relevantly, to his understanding that comic book superhero universes are a conversation.
In GotG, Gamora is Gunn’s conversation with Avengers: Endgame’s Russo brothers, and Adam Warlock is Gunn’s conversation with whichever future MCU filmmaker picks up Adam’s story. But what’s truly remarkable about the Guardians of the Galaxy movies is how they’re inarguably the biggest conversation the MCU has ever had with Marvel Comics.
And when movies and comics are in actual dialogue, we get good things.
Did you know that when James Gunn and Nicole Perlman put together the screenplay of Guardians of the Galaxy, they were, in a very real sense, only the second creative team to
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