It was a moment most probably didn’t think would ever happen, but as the new Marvel movie Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 showed us, there’s room for F-bombs in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. While it’s not a huge or flashy moment, the comedically-deployed profanity between Chris Pratt’s Star-Lord and Karen Gillan’s Nebula is a fun accent to writer/director James Gunn’s grand finale. Gillan herself has not only gone on record as being proud to be a part of it, but she’s also given some more details on how that scene came to be.
During Marvel’s big press day for this Guardians of the Galaxy sendoff, CinemaBlend was on hand to quiz the cast about various points of trivia throughout Gunn’s trilogy. So it felt fitting that our own Sean O’Connell asked each room about which Guardian swore the most, based on a specific list of words counted as profanity in each installment.
When that question hit the room of Karen Gillan and Pom Klementieff, Gillan revealed the following as the genesis of the MCU’s first F-bomb to CinemaBlend:
That whole little sequence was not really in the script. It was more like improvised, with James telling us what improvise, if that makes sense.
The scene in question sees Nebula and Star-Lord arguing over instructions to open a car door. Seeing as our cybernetically-enhanced friend isn’t familiar with a standard Terran automobile, she has a bit of a problem grasping that you need to hold a button down to, as Peter Quill so sensitively puts it, “Open the fucking door.”
So you want to know who’s the champion of saying Guardians of the Frickin’ Galaxy, only not saying “frickin?” Well, according to our research, here’s the top three characters with the mouth of a Ravager:
Yondu: 16
Star-Lord: 14
Rocket: 13
It’s a moment so subtle, but also so shocking, that it doesn’t throw Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 off of its rhythm. Knowing that it was an improvised moment, nurtured along by the usually R-rated sensibilities of James Gunn, gives this scene an actual place in the narrative rather than just acting as a “first” in the MCU. It’s also pretty funny to behold, with a moment so small being the one that finally sends Chris Pratt’s Peter into the realm of not-so-family friendly cursing.
Unfortunately, even with this milestone landing in the lap of Star-Lord, it wasn’t enough to give him the title of the most profane Guardians of the Galaxy character. As you can see to the side, that honor went to Michael Rooker’s dearly departed Yondu, with Peter Quill landing between his blue father figure and Bradley Cooper’s Rocket.
Still, that didn’t stop Karen Gillan from pitching for some extra points on his behalf. While sharing just how honored she was to be a part of Marvel swearing history, Ms. Gillan had a pretty specific request on behalf of her fellow Guardian:
Star-Lord had the first F-bomb, that was in this movie. So does that mean he gets five more points on the Curse Scale? Yeah, ‘cuz it’s an F-bomb, and I was on the receiving end of the F-bomb, which was kind of an honor.
If those five extra points were to count, then Star-Lord’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 outburst would indeed make him the high-score holder. However, those extra points could still be debated by fans and co-stars all around. No matter how you measure this contest, we’ve all won in the end, as Karen Gillan got to share a fun story about swearing in the MCU, and a precedent has now been set for potential future F-bombs.
That is provided, of course, that they don’t distract from the story or simply exist for the sake of colorful language. Not every movie can be guaranteed to be as R-rated as Deadpool 3 will be, so sprinkling in the salty language will still be something
Ok, so some of you may be contesting the point being made here, and may want to go back and count the totals for yourselves. That’s fine, in fact we encourage such a thing, especially with every previous Guardians of the Galaxy adventure being available in one place.
With an active Disney+ subscription, you can go back through each legendary intergalactic romp, and tally up the profanities we specified in the trivia question asked above, to verify this fact for yourself. Keep in mind, those tallies were for the first two films, and those figures will probably change now that Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is spinning the hits in theaters now. So perhaps we’ll have to update these standings in the near future to see whether Peter Quill or Rocket Raccoon have a shot at taking the crown.
