Anyone who has followedJames Gunn’sTwitterorFacebookpages know that the filmmaker is always sharing stories and insight into the making of his movies. During a recent Twitter Q&A session, the filmmaker confirmed thatHulk and Captain Marvelwill not be included in his upcoming sequelGuardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, while adding that there are a number ofMarvelcharacters he would love to use in this follow-up, such as Rom Spaceknight and Bat-Mite, but he can’t since the studio doesn’t own the rights to these characters. Yesterday, the filmmaker revealed onFacebookthat he wanted to use an obscure group of aliens known as the Sneepers, butMarvelwouldn’t allow it, although it has nothing to do with the character rights. Take a look at the director’s hilarious explanation below.
“While writingGuardiansscripts I like to use the names of characters from the comics as much as possible - it makes watching the movie more fun for longtimeMarvelfans (one of whom is me). Characters like Kraglin, The Broker, Bereet, and Garthan Saal all originally appeared in the comics, albeit sometimes in very different incarnations. Every name I use I have to run through theMarvellegal department. Lately, in the service of building out theMarvelcosmic side of the universe, I’ve been trying to clear names ofalienspecies we see in the background. It’s always a bummer when I can’t use a name, usually because Fox or Sony or Hasbro or whomever owns the rights. But today I received a brand new reason for being advised against calling one of the alien species “Sneepers.” “Sneeper is a word for clitoris in Icelandic.” Have a great weekend.”
While this is certainly a humorous reason for exclusion, it is somewhat puzzling, considering that the originalGuardians of the Galaxyhad one of the dirtiest jokes in any of theMarvelmovies, Rocket Raccoon’s (Bradley Cooper)’s Jackson Pollock reference when talking about the cleanliness of Star-Lord’s ship, the Milano. Most casual fans of the MCU might not even be aware of the Sneeper’s existence, but they are certainly present in the comics.
In the comics, Sneepers hailed from a planet dubbed Sneep, who developed technology for space flight far earlier than humans, and were initially considered a far more advanced than earthlings. They used this technology to conquer a number of unnamed planets, but, as it turns out, their development was much slower than humanity, as the human race started to exceed their capabilities. While these aliens had planned on invading Earth, they decided to let the humans destroy themselves.
It isn’t known if the Sneepers would have been a major part ofJames Gunn’s story forGuardians of the Galaxy 2, but now we’ll never know. The filmmaker has finished the script for this sequel, with production scheduled to begin early next year, andMarvelalready setting a May 5, 2017release date. Would you have liked to see the Sneepers inGuardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2?
