Where to watch Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)

Trivia & production notes

• Nicole Perlman chose Guardians of the Galaxy from several lesser-known Marvel properties offered to her in the screenwriting program, surprising the studio since other options seemed better suited for different genres.
• Perlman wrote 10 drafts of the script between 2009 and 2011, experimenting with different character combinations before settling on the version by Abnett and Lanning because it was the most fun.
• The original screenplay centered on Nova as the lead character until Nate Moore, head of Marvel's writing program, suggested changing the focus to Star-Lord.
• James Gunn completely rewrote Nicole Perlman's script after being brought in early 2012, saying it didn't work for him, and used The Dirty Dozen as a reference to explain his vision to Marvel.
• Joss Whedon, when asked to revise the script, objected strongly to Star-Lord being royalty and suggested Gunn make the story weirder overall.
• Rocket Raccoon was nearly excluded from the film due to concerns he would seem too cartoonish, but Nicole Perlman insisted on keeping him and Kevin Feige agreed because he was a fan of the character.
• The iconic Walkman that plays throughout the film was not in Perlman's original script but was added in Gunn's version, inspired by pop music from her childhood.
• James Gunn found character introductions the most challenging scenes to write, particularly Thanos' appearance, and ultimately gave that role to Ronan to avoid overshadowing the film's main antagonist.
• Colin Trevorrow declined the opportunity to direct Guardians of the Galaxy because he was not a comic book fan.
• Kevin Feige first publicly mentioned Guardians of the Galaxy as a potential film at San Diego Comic-Con in 2010, describing it as an obscure title that had been revamped in an interesting way.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article Guardians of the Galaxy (film), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Rewritten for StreamShack; errors are ours — tell us about them.