Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn has been looking back on when he started working on his superhero franchise, and revealed that he didn’t put a lot of thought into writing about the Infinity Stones, with the main McGuffins of the Infinity Saga turning out as some weird afterthought that he had during writing.
During a cast interview with ComicBook, Gunn told the ensemble that he wasn’t too concerned with the Infinity Stones’ backstory in 2014’s Guardians of the Galaxy. According to the filmmaker, he wrote the scene in question around “an hour and a half” when Marvel Studios was thinking of including the Power Stone in the film.
Essentially, what became the catalyst of the Infinity Saga and the MC in general was made on a last-minute whim, and somehow, it worked.
“I wrote that scene in about an hour and a half, it just like came up with what the Infinity Stones were…and (the entire MCU’s) based on that…They were like, ‘You know, we’re thinking about putting the Power Stone in.’ I was like, ‘That’s cool. The Power Stone. The Collector has the Power Stone….’ And I just made up this bullsh-t!”
To recap, in Guardians of the Galaxy, the Collector explains the origins of the Infinity Stone after the Guardians gave him the orb that contained the Power Stone. He told the Guardians that only someone with “extraordinary strength” could use these stones, and showed images of former Power stone wielders.
It’s quite surprising to learn that after nearly a decade since the first film came out, the story that formed the main thrust of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s first decade was written as an afterthought. For some reason, it worked, as Guardians of the Galaxy received an average rating of 92 percent from both fans and critics and was given a certified fresh label.
If you want to revisit this scene, Guardians of the Galaxy is available to stream on Disney Plus.