The Marvel Character James Gunn Stopped from Appearing in Guardians of the Galaxy as It Was Too “Stupid”

Marvel Studios’ Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy, directed by James Gunn, starred Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldaña, Dave Bautista, Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper, and more. As a part of Phase Two of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, GOTG Vol. 1 became a critical and commercial success upon release. The movie was highly praised for its screenplay, direction, performances, and humor.

The movie follows Peter Quill and a group of extraterrestrial criminals on the run after stealing a powerful artifact. James Gunn, who is now the co-CEO of DC Studios, returned to direct the sequels Vol. 2, Vol. 3, along with a holiday special. The filmmaker recently shared a character that could have appeared in the movie, but he decided not to include them.

James Gunn clarifies why Bug didn’t make it to the Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy team

In a recent Thread post, filmmaker and co-CEO of DC Studios, James Gunn, clarified why Bug’s character was not featured in his Guardians of the Galaxy team. According to reports after filmmaker James Gunn posted a picture of a bug with the caption, ‘Not a pet, just a very good friend’, a user commented,

He just wants to know why you didn’t include Big in GOTG.

James Gunn replied by mentioning that Bug was not included in the movie because Marvel didn’t have the rights to the character. The character was originally a member of the Micronauts and later joined the second incarnation of the Guardians of the Galaxy. Rocket Raccoon asked him to join the team after the original team disbanded due to internal conflicts.

In an interview with Wired in 2014, Gunn confirmed that Bug was shortlisted to join the team in GOTG Vol. 1, adding that it was included in an early draft of the script. However, he went on to explain why Bug never made it to the movie.

In one of the drafts, there was the character of Bug, who was killed in prison, but I thought it was stupid. I didn’t really like anyone else—I thought the five were good. I was adding enough other characters to begin with, like Ronan, Nebula, and Youndu, to the script. For me, I really like Nebula and Yondu anyway.

Bug as a character has extraordinary sight, with enhanced peripheral vision gained by wearing his helmet. The character’s antennae can communicate with others bearing antennae. Gunn revealed that Hasbro still owns the right to Bug, which is also one of the reasons why the character didn’t appear in the movie. Gunn, according to comicbook.com, had tried to use the character in his trilogy but was not allowed to.

James Gunn assures ardent fans about upcoming DCU projects

Co-CEO of DC Studios, Gunn, took to his social media to assure fans that there are DC projects on their way despite a lack of updates on most. He replied to a fan on Threads when asked if The Authority film is in pre-production or sitting dormant. Gunn said,

Some scripts are in development, either looking for writers or being written or rewritten. When scripts are finished, they’re ready to be made; they are greenlit, and then they are in production.

Back in January, the filmmaker had spoken to Collider about The Authority and shared that it’s one of his passion projects, adding that he has been working hard on it with the writers. He noted that they are starting to put together.

The filmmaker added that everything else is in the development. Chapter 1 of the DCU is dubbed Gods and Monsters. Creature Commandos Animated Series is all set to premiere on December 5, 2024, where DC Studios’ highly anticipated movie Superman is scheduled for July 2025 release.

The movie is going to star David Corenswet and Rachel Brosnahan as the main characters. He noted in his thread’s post that they had finished the assembly cut for the movie a long time ago.

Guardians of the Galaxy is available to stream on Disney+.