“Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2” writer/director James Gunn wrote the script for the highly anticipated upcoming sequel assuming that Marvel Studios had the rights to the character Ego (who, by the way, is a living, breathing planet), so he wrote Ego in and made him an integral part of the story and cast Kurt Russell before he found out Fox are actually the ones with the rights.
Fox and Marvel don’t have a great relationship
Gunn would’ve been screwed, since Fox and Marvel haven’t always gotten along, and the expansion of the Marvel Cinematic Universe to eventually incorporate basically everyone who’s ever been featured in a Marvel comic (including the infamous Howard the Duck in the post-credits sting of the first “Guardians”) has meant that crucial characters like the X-Men and the Fantastic Four being a part of Fox’s wheelhouse has been very problematic.
The vendetta against Fox has even led to drastic measures from Marvel like holding off on Fantastic Four and X-Men Comics in favour of those featuring MCU characters in order to build a brand and gain market popularity for the former and dissipate interest in the latter.
However, an amicable deal could be made when it transpired during the development of this year’s surprise smash hit “Deadpool” that their story required the character of Negasonic Teenage Warhead to be changed massively from her comic book counterpart by screenwriters Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese, for which Marvel had to give special permission. So, Marvel basically said they agreed to the changes as long as Gunn could have Ego the Living Planet, who got lost in the flurry of Fantastic Four/Silver Surfer characters transferred to Fox almost ten years ago, for his “Guardians of the Galaxy” sequel.
With regards to the deal, Gunn said, “Thank God,” and admitted that had it not worked out, he had “no backup plan.”
The sequel will be released next year
“Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2” will be released on 5 May 2017 and “Deadpool 2,” which might lead to another character-swapping deal with Marvel, will be released on 12 January 2018.
