From Marvel Studios, the highly anticipated sequel Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 has more action, more laughs and more heart than the first installment (which already had a lot!), adding intriguing new allies and unexpected new enemies, all while further expanding the Marvel Cinematic Universe. This time around, the story follows the ragtag team as they protect the universe doing mercenary work for hire around the cosmos, and Peter Quill, aka Star-Lord (Chris Pratt), finally unravels the mysteries of his true parentage.

At a conference during the film’s press day, writer/director James Gunn and Marvel guru Kevin Feige talked about wanting to make a great sequel, the amount of creative freedom they had to make the film, whether they disagreed on anything, the reference point on set for Baby Groot, the film’s portrayal of women, clarification on some of the scenes during the credits, and when we might see Howard the Duck again.

Warning: spoilers are discussed during this interview

Question: James, in coming back to do this second film, was there one thing that you wanted to make sure not to mess up?

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Image via Marvel Studios

JAMES GUNN: I don’t know. I wanted to continue from the first movie. So many sequels are not good. The primary reason, in studying them, seemed to be that so many of them just do the same thing the first movie did, with a different template. They’d be like, “People liked the dance-off in the first movie, so what’s our version of the dance-off?,” or “People liked ‘We are Groot’ in the first movie, so what’s our version of ‘We are Groot’?” Instead of doing that, we really tried to let these characters grow and change. We want to watch them become new and different people, in every film that we come up with. I didn’t want to just try to be a rehash of the first movie. I think people were surprised by the first movie, and people have been surprised by the second movie. I wanted to give people something new and different from what they already had.

Because the first film was such a huge hit, did you feel like you had more freedom on this?

GUNN: The truth is, the great thing about working with all of Marvel, but especially Kevin [Feige], who I have an especially close bond with and who is an incredibly important person in my relationship to film, is that they gave me complete freedom on both movies. On the first movie, I was a lot more timid, frankly. I took my first draft and, on the first film, I went to Kevin, and Joss Whedon was there. There was a lot of humor in there, and I was afraid that I was pushing the comedy and that it was too funny, but Kevin and Joss said, “Make it more James Gunn.” I was like, “Okay, it’s your funeral.” But, people seemed to like that. I’m a little punk rock kid likes edgy stuff and I thought, “What I like may not be what the entire world likes.” But, I’ve come to trust that what I like is what works. The great thing about working with Kevin is that we seem to be very much on the same page with what we like that’s popular and commercial and traditional, and what we like that’s edgy and funny and different. So, yes, I had a lot more freedom on the second movie, but mostly because I just allowed myself to completely go there with the story and not stop myself, at any point, from fear of alienating people. I wanted to be as true to the artistic vision, and especially as true to the characters, as possible in this film.

Was there any joke, line, or scene that you had to fight for?

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Image via Marvel

GUNN: There’s one thing in the movie that I won’t bring up because I may be wrong and Kevin may have been right, but also because I don’t want to embarrass Kevin, if I’m right. But, there was one thing in the movie that we disagreed on. It was only one thing in the whole movie, and Kevin let me have my way. I appreciate that.

KEVIN FEIGE: Good luck guessing what it is!

GUNN: It’s a very small thing. You’ll never guess what it is. It’s a moment in the movie.

What was the reference point on set for Baby Groot?

GUNN: We had a statue of little Groot. We had a nice maquette that we had made and designed beforehand, so we had him around and there were great moments on set. These guys would be acting their butts off and really putting their hearts and souls into it, and then, all of a sudden, Chris would look over at that little guy and go, “Damn it! He’s gonna steal the whole movie!

There is a shirtless scene with Star-Lord in this, so do you feel like we’re in an era now where men are being objectified in movies, and that it’s not just women?

GUNN: I think part of the issue is that it’s not about being sexually attractive or being thought of as a beautiful object. It’s about a fact that many women in films today are reduced to being only that. When Chris Pratt looks beautiful onscreen, or Chris Evans looks beautiful onscreen, people take that and still go, “Well, what’s that guy like? What’s his personality?” Chris Pratt is great because he’s funny and sexy, and he’s got this vulnerable side. There are all these other attributes to him. Whereas men take these women in films and all that they’re about is this one aspect of themselves. They’re sexual beings, and everything else about their personalities is negated. I think that’s the really difficult thing, and why it isn’t exactly a one-for-one thing between men and women being objectified. One of the things that we’ve tried to do with the Guardians films is to allow the women to be full characters. People love Chris Pratt and Zoe Saldana, and they’re the Clint Eastwood cool character. They’re all funny, but they’re also cool. One of the reasons why we love Mantis is because that’s somebody who’s as funny and goofy and weird as Drax and Rocket and our goofy male characters. That’s a way to combat those stereotypes of what a male and a female actor can be.

There are so many Easter eggs in this movie, and there are several closing credit scenes. Will we see the ‘90s Guardians of the Galaxy again, in the future?

FEIGE: They’re definitely the original Guardians. That was the fun of it. When James [Gunn] had the idea to do more with the Yondu character, who was also an original Guardian, the notion that he had a team once, like Peter does now, meant that we thought it’d be fun to see them. Where we see them in the future, time will tell.

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Image via Marvel

GUNN: With all of the post-credit scenes in this movie, they’re all funny and fun, and most of them are things that we hope to see continuing on in the MCU, whether that’s in supporting roles in future movies, or whatever. I think it would be great to see those things and those characters show up.

Can you confirm the names of each character?

GUNN: Ving Rhames is Charlie 27. Michelle Yeoh, who I’m an enormous fan of from old ‘90s Hong Kong films and she is a very wonderful person, is Aleta Ogord, who is the female Starhawk. And then, there’s Krugar. And Mainframe (voiced by Miley Cyrus) is the last one.

Kevin, in one of the scenes during the credits, we see The Watcher, Uatu, in there. Might Stan Lee might be The Watcher, in some way?

FEIGE: Well, I wouldn’t say you saw Uatu. I would say that you saw some Watchers. Stan Lee clearly exists above and apart from the reality of all the films, so the notion that he could be sitting there, on a cosmic pit stop, during the jump gate sequence in Guardians was something very fun. James had that idea and we shot that cameo and loved it so much that you see it a couple of times in the movie. It wasn’t in there, for a long time, and we put it back in, towards the end of the process. We thought it would be fun to keep that in there because that really says, “So wait a minute, is this the same character who’s popped up in all these films? Is this the same person?”

Loved the inclusion of Howard the Duck in the film. When might we see a spin-off film, or a cartoon series?

FEIGE: Of Howard? You know, the fun thing about Howard is that he shows up where you least expect him. Who knows where he’s going to appear next.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is out in theaters on May 5th.

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Image via Marvel Studios
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Image via Marvel

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