Marvel’s ‘Creative Committee’ Tried To Force Major Changes To Guardians Of The Galaxy

With 2014’s Guardians of the Galaxy, James Gunn delivered the most innovative film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. This feat becomes even more impressive when you learn that he was up against a group that seemed designed to ensure that movies stopped being fun altogether. According to the director, at one point, Marvel Studios had a “creative committee” step in during the writing and filming of the “Guardians” opening to make some strange suggestions, like removing all the music.

Long before he was overseeing a thriving film empire as co-president of DC Studios, Gunn was making small, quirky films like the horror-romance comedy “Slither.” But that all changed when he was recruited by Kevin Feige and Marvel Studios to helm Guardians, which catapulted Gunn to directorial stardom and showcased his unique blend of heart and humor on a huge stage. The film felt like the first Marvel Cinematic Universe project to showcase a true artistic vision, which, as any fan of the blockbuster franchise knows, isn’t exactly what Feige and his co-stars see. It is known for. In fact, as the MCU has continued, it has faced more and more criticism for producing CGI-laden generic arcs that reliably cause eyes to glaze over within mere minutes. However, Gunn delivered a veritable visual feast with “Guardians” while also injecting his space opera with enough emotion to make it linger in the audience’s minds long after seeing it. (In fact, the director had one heartwarming goal with the Guardians trilogy.)

But if the director had been intimidated by the frankly evil-sounding “creative committee,” we would never have seen such a movie — and who knows, maybe Gunn wouldn’t even be in his current position as co-president of DC Studios.

During a 2025 appearance on “Smartless,” James Gunn was asked about creating the “Guardians of the Galaxy” movie, and he took some time to recount his experience receiving what are surely some of the most misleading notes in Hollywood history. “There was something called the creative committee at Marvel,” he explained. “And it was the comic book people and the gaming people and all these people who were chiming in with their notes on the scripts.” The director explained that he is happy to receive feedback, explaining: “You just have to listen to it, and people are usually happy if you just listen.” But according to the director, this creative committee acted “as if it had the authority over everything.”

As Gunn recalls, he and Kevin Feige were working on Guardians, producing a final script before receiving “lists of things that needed to be changed.” He went on to liken his experience to the period Cinemax medical drama “The Knick,” in which brain surgeons “do brain surgery and have a bunch of podiatrists tell you how to do it.” As he continued to explain, the panel immediately demonstrated their lack of insight by suggesting that all songs be removed from the film and questioning why Bradley Cooper was voicing Rocket Raccoon. “They saw the first cut and Bradley was voicing Rocket as the character,” Gunn recalls. “They say: Why are we paying all this money? […] “Doesn’t he look like Bradley Cooper?” “I’m like, ‘Yes, he’s playing a character.’ He’s an actor. This is what a man does. That’s why we hired him.”

In Gunn’s recollections, he essentially received a list of “things that had nothing to do with storytelling” and “nothing to do with what might capture people’s imaginations.” Fortunately, Gunn’s vision won out in the end, which is a good thing considering that Guardians of the Galaxy was not only a hit, but also showed that lesser-known heroes than Iron Man in his 2008 big-screen debut could form the basis of a successful film.

During his interview with Smartless, James Gunn continued to compare his experience with Marvel to his role as co-president of DC Studios alongside producer Peter Safran. According to the director, he has more freedom in his new role, even heaping praise on a figure otherwise considered one of the standout goblins of modern filmmaking: the CEO of Warner Bros. David Zaslav. “The only one we answer to [at DC Studios] “It’s David Zaslav,” Gunn said. “David Zaslav tells us if he likes something or doesn’t like something, but he doesn’t have any opinion [in the creative side](Though, as Gunn pointed out, he could certainly have a say in the creative side if he wanted to.)

For example, Gunn pointed to a tape of “Superman” star David Corensweet and Lois Lane actress Rachel Brosnahan being sent to the head of Warner. “They were great together, and I loved them,” Gunn said of the actors.[…]I sent the tape to David and said: This is our choice. This is what we want to do. And David called me up and he seemed very stern, and he said, “You know, I should preface this by saying this is not what I do.” That’s not what I know, I’m not […] Film creator. I’m not a storyteller like you. This just comes from where I am as a person. Then he stopped and said, “I like it.”

Considering that Gunn’s “Superman” was well-received as a silly but charming crowd-pleasing one, leaving the man to his own devices really seems to be the best approach, and one he’ll no doubt enjoy repeating in the upcoming “Superman” sequel “Man of Tomorrow” (which may feature the same villain as Henry Cavill’s canceled “Man of Steel 2”).