If James Gunn returning to finish off Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 was already considered a pipedream, Disney CEO Bob Iger has now quashed any remaining hope by way of The Hollywood Reporter.
The outlet caught up with Iger to discuss everything from Star Wars to the soon-to-be-released Disney streaming service, which will, through time, carve out room for standalone TV series for the likes of Scarlet Witch and Loki.
But when the conversation inevitably veered towards James Gunn, Bob Iger was resolute, and reaffirmed his support of the “unanimous decision” to severe ties with the former Guardians helmer after a series of gross and insensitive tweets about rape and pedophilia emerged from yesteryear.
Per THR, here’s Bob Iger putting a pin in the entire situation:
The James Gunn decision was brought to me as a unanimous decision of a variety of executives at the studio and I supported it. I haven’t second-guessed their decision.
That “unanimous decision” seemingly includes Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige, who reportedly backed the decision to remove Gunn from his post, which has now left Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 in limbo and the MCU’s cosmic branch in need of a new shepherd – particularly now that Captain Marvel is about to introduce the Kree-Skrull war to Earth.
Jon Favreau, Taika Waititi and even the Russo Brothers have already been tipped as potential replacements, while Ghostbusters helmer Paul Feig recently came out to say that he currently has no interest in playing in the sandbox once occupied by James Gunn.
All of this raises serious question marks over Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3‘s rumored May 2020 release date, as many expect the Doctor Strange sequel to swoop in and fill the void. Watch this space for more.