It can't be denied that James Gunn was responsible for turning the Guardians of the Galaxy from D-list outlaws to one of the Marvel Cinematic Universe's most important teams and with the success the first two films achieved, one would think that the director has free rein over the creative choices for the series. With the expansion of the franchise via Disney+, GOTG has spawned two upcoming spinoff projects — I am Groot and The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special but apparently, long before those were announced, Gunn already had ideas for a spinoff movie involving two Guardians.
According to Dave Bautista, the director actually met with Marvel Studios to pitch an idea about a spinoff project for Drax and Mantis, something that he believes the studio wasn't interested in doing. In an interview with Digital Spy, the Army of the Dead star revealed: "There were talks for a while about a Drax and Mantis film. It was really because it was James Gunn's idea. He really wanted to do a Drax and Mantis film. He laid it out to me. I thought it was such a brilliant idea, but I haven't heard any follow-up from the studio."
The former WWE champion added that the studio may not be down with the idea given their current MCU slate: "I don't think they're very interested, or it doesn't fit into the way they have things mapped out..."
Drax and Mantis showed a tremendous amount of chemistry in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and it doesn't come as a surprise why Gunn wanted to do a project focusing on the duo. Of course, Kevin Feige still has the final say about how everything in the MCU should play out, and considering how stacked Phases 4 and 5 are already looking to be, it's unlikely Gunn's proposed Drax and Mantis film will ever come into fruition.
Meanwhile, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 hits cinemas on May 5, 2023.
Also Read:Guardians of the Galaxy Lead Star Seemingly Confirms MCU Exit After Volume 3
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