Marvel's Kevin Feige And 'Guardians Of The Galaxy' Stars Zoe Saldana And Dave Bautista React To James Gunn's Return To The MCU

By Ben PearsonApril 9, 2019 2:30 pm EST

Marvel fans and reasonable people everywhere breathed a collective sigh of relief when Disney reinstated writer/director James Gunn as the director of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 after originally firing him last summer. Now that he's back on board, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige and Guardians stars Zoe Saldana and Dave Bautista are sounding off on Gunn's return...and they're all absolutely furious that he's back.

I'm kidding, of course – they're all stoked about it. Read their quotes below.

"Thankfully [James Gunn] is back and he's doing it and all is right with the world," Feige told io9. In a separate interview with IGN, Feige called out Disney executive Alan Horn by name. (Horn is the chairman of the Walt Disney Studios and the person who ultimately hired Gunn back.) "[Horn] is a man of great integrity," Feige explained, "and a man who really believes in right and wrong. And he made the decision the right thing was to have James come back."

Saldana, who plays Gamora in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, was also thrilled, telling Variety:

"I'm really excited, and I'm proud of [The Walt Disney Company CEO] Bob Iger and Alan Horn for stepping up and making a decision to reinstate James Gunn...leaving that space for redemption, for error, and then coming forward with so much humility and saying, 'We acted impulsively and we're going to rectify this,' Disney is a big entity and they make content for younger audiences. You're sending a strong message to kids, and that, I commend them for it. And obviously, I'm happy to have my captain back on board because we were panicking. No other person can be like James Gunn for 'Guardians.'"

You can see Drax actor Dave Bautista's reaction from CinemaCon below:

He put his job on the line, and @DaveBautista is STOKED to have @JamesGunn back to steer the ship of Guardians of the Galaxy 3.#CinemaCon pic.twitter.com/wGcCxd9b88

— Fandango (@Fandango) April 3, 2019

An interesting side note: we knew that Marvel was planning to use Gunn's completed script for Guardians Vol. 3 all along, but Feige told io9 that the script hasn't changed and he doesn't envision it changing, even though the movie was delayed because of this whole director situation. That means it's probably safe to assume Guardians 3 won't have a profound impact on the rest of the MCU – it'll either be a smaller, more self-contained story involving the surviving members of the team, or if it does end up having a universe-wide impact, it will set off a chain of events that Feige doesn't mind waiting years to implement.

We'll find out more about Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 and the future of the rest of the MCU after Spider-Man: Far From Home hits theaters this summer.