James Gunn Has Revealed The ‘Guardians Of The Galaxy’ Line That Disney Asked Him To Cut

Of all the Marvel Cinematic Universe movies, Guardians of the Galaxy least fits the Disney “brand.” There are one-night-stand aliens, Star-Lord is shirtless in one scene, and, as IMDb points out, “Rocket, who is a raccoon, is briefly shown not wearing clothes while entering his prison cell after being showered, his folded prison uniform held over his groin.” My monocle popped out in comedic fashion halfway through that sentence. Also, Guardians and its sequel, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, were written and directed by James Gunn, who began his career with Troma Entertainment, the fine purveyors of anything-goes shlock like The Toxic Avenger and Class of Nuke ‘Em High 3: The Good, the Bad, and the Subhumanoid. But Gunn has learned to play nice with Disney and Marvel, even after he was briefly fired from Guardians, Vol. 3, although there is at least one line that had to be cut due to… implied violence against Uncle Jesse?

When asked on Twitter about studio notes, Gunn tweeted, “I like to create a filmmaking atmosphere where I listen to & consider every voice around me. So I truly consider the studio’s notes. I always try the notes out in the cut, no matter my initial distaste, to see if they actually might work. If I don’t like them, I take them out.” He added, “On two occasions – once in Slither & once in Guardians Vol 1, I took out something (two shots in Slither, one line in Vol 1) that I really didn’t want to. But I did that as a way to compromise, because the studios had been so good at letting me ‘get my way.’”

What was the Guardians line?

(in movie) Quill: I come from a planet of outlaws, Billy the Kid, Bonnie & Clyde, John Stamos.
Drax: Sounds like a place that I would like to visit.
Quill: Cool.
(cut) Drax: And kill many people there.

Have mercy, Drax.

(Via James Gunn/Twitter)