James Gunn Imagines An Alternate Reality For Guardians Of The Galaxy's Gamora In The MCU

Fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe may recall that Gamora (Zoe Saldaña), the green-skinned alien warrior, was sacrificed by her father Thanos (Josh Brolin) partway through the 2018 film "Avengers: Infinity War." Gamora was thrown off of a mystical cliff so that Thanos could obtain one of the six magical Infinity Stones. Thanos wasn't keen to murder his own daughter, he just wanted the Infinity Stone more than her continued survival. News of Gamora's death reached her would-be lover Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) at the most inopportune time; Peter could have stopped Thanos but was too sad and angry about Gamora to help other superheroes wrest the Gems from him. 

Thanks to some time travel rigmarole in the 2019 sequel "Avengers: Endgame," Gamora was resurrected. Well, sort of. Gamora was plucked from a moment in the past, when she was still alive, and deposited in the present. She could continue to live in the Marvel Cinematic Universe but had no memory of becoming one of the Guardians of the Galaxy, and no memory of falling in love with Peter Quill. 

In James Gunn's new film "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3," the parallel Gamora has to explain multiple times to a lovelorn Peter that she doesn't know who he is. For audiences, the two can be together again, but not really. This is a different Gamora. At least Saldaña gets to continue to work. 

In a recent interview with Collider, Pratt and Gunn talked about what could have been between Gamora and Peter, had the original Gamora survives. Pondering the possibilities just made everyone sad.

When asked to postulate how "Infinity War" would have turned out if Gamora had somehow escaped and Thanos was stopped, Pratt figured that the relationship between her and Peter would have continued apace. He also, however, knew what a lout his character could be, and understood that his postulated familial bliss would likely be interrupted by his own romantic incompetence. Pratt said:

"Oh, I think that they were in love. I think the next natural step is that they would have started a family and been happy to be together, I suppose. [...] [H]e would have probably blown it though. He would have screwed it up somehow. Hopefully, otherwise, this wouldn't be a great movie."

Gunn then pointed out that Gamora and Peter Quill were not an item in the original Marvel Comics. Gamora originally had a different famous paramour. Gunn pointed to a newcomer to the MCU, Adam Warlock (Will Poulter), a gold-skinned alien warrior who was artificially grown in a lab. In "Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3," Adam Warlock was little more than an overpowered enforcer of his boss, an alien high priestess played by Elizabeth Debicki. 

Adam Warlock, however, played a more significant role in large-scale Marvel Comics stories: he was the primary protagonist of "The Infinity Gauntlet," the original Thanos-has-the-Infinity-Gems story from 1991. He was the leader of the Infinity Watch, a superhero team that Gamora was a part of. Gunn recalled that Adam Warlock and Gamora had a romantic relationship in the comics, implying that they would have eventually "hooked up" in the movies as well. 

Pratt liked that potential development, saying "Oh, that would be good for them. That'd be good."

Sadly, it looks like Peter was destined to be alone.