James Gunn Was Sure Guardians Of The Galaxy 3's F-Bomb Would Get Axed By Disney
Forget the death (and return) of half the universe's population or a goodly number of murders and battles — the Marvel Cinematic Universe is full of family-friendly films that are rated PG-13. While James Gunn's "Guardians of the Galaxy" trilogy is on the edgier side of things, content-wise, you might still have been surprised by the f-bomb that happened in "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3." It's technically the first one in the MCU, though there was a deleted scene all the way back in 2008's "Iron Man" that had Samuel L. Jackson saying "I'm Nick Fury, motherf***er." I mean, if you're going to have someone curse, you couldn't pick a better person than Jackson. Still, it wasn't in the main film, and many people haven't seen it.
This f-bomb shows up during a "Guardians Vol. 3" scene on Counter-Earth. Though it was a surprise to hear, the reason he says it will be very understandable to most of the audience.
If you somehow missed the f-bomb, it happens when Quill (Chris Pratt) is getting ready to drive off in a car with Groot (Vin Diesel) and Nebula (Karen Gillan). Nebula, for all her brilliance, cannot seem to open up the car door. Quill gets frustrated, and boom, we have our f-bomb. Gunn recently spoke to the Irish outlet, Joe, and said he thought the line would be axed by Disney.
'The F-bomb was something that I was concerned about, because it was so funny!'
In the interview, James Gunn was asked about whether or not there was any resistance from Marvel when they learned about the MCU's first f-bomb. He said:
"The f-bomb was something that I was concerned about, because it was so funny! So it was like, I didn't expect him to say that, it is not in the script. I said that to him, so I can talk to Chris [Pratt] all the time when we're on set, and I said, y'know, and I told him to say that line. And he said it, and it was just so freaking funny on the day.
"But then a lot of the time, something will be funny on the day, and you don't know if they're going to be funny in the cut, and we put it in the cut, and it was just so damned funny. And I was like 'Awh, man, Disney is going to make me take this out, aren't they? They've never made me do anything, and this is the first time they're going to make me do something, and I'm going to be bummed out."
Well, Disney didn't take it out, and I'm glad. Aside from the fact that most self-respecting kids know these words by the time they're five, we all get what it's like to be pressed for time and frustrated by something small like a car door handle. As /Film's Joe Roberts reported in late April 2023, Gunn said that Marvel President Kevin Feige was okay with it. He also said that Feige "laughed his ass off." Aw, thanks, Papa Marvel! You're a cool dad!
"Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3" is currently streaming on Disney+.