James Gunn nearly killed a main character in Guardians of the Galaxy Episode 2 before Marvel executives convinced him against it.

Although the character – Zoe Saldaña’s Gamora – eventually died a year later in 2018 Avengers: Infinity Warthe director said he was “talked out” of his original plans by Marvel Studio president Kevin Feige and executive producer Louis D’Esposito.

“Gamora almost died in Episode 2,” Gunn revealed in a recent interview with ComicBook.com.

“I knew from the beginning Zoe just wanted to play this character for many years and she very honestly said she was done. [after this]. And so I intended to let her die.”

He continued: “I think she’s the one who’s going to sacrifice herself… I was told out by Kevin and Louis and then it didn’t go so well. It doesn’t feel right. I feel much more right to go where we go in that movie. That seems true to the story.”

In the end, it was the death of Yondu (Michael Rooker) that replaced Gamora’s intentions. Episode 2 destiny.

Gunn admits that his close friendship with Rooker made him “scared” of killing Yondu, “but that’s where the story progresses naturally”.

Then he recalled his conversation with Infinity War directed by Joe and Anthony Russo, in which they discuss their plan to kill Gamora.

“They called me and said, ‘We’re thinking about this, will this work? Can you work with this?’ And I said, ‘Got it, yeah. I really can,’” Gunn said.

However, while Gamora died in the 2018 film, an alternate version of her appeared in the 2019 film. Avengers: Game overand will appear in the final film of the Guardians trilogy Book 3.

Guardians of the Galaxy Episode 3 in theaters on May 5. Read independenceFour-star rating of the movie here.