Zoe Saldana’s MCU character Gamora was originally supposed to die in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, but Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige talked writer-director James Gunn out of it.
Speaking to ComicBook.com, Gunn said he knew from the onset of the Guardians series that Saldana only wanted to play Gamora “for so many years.” So his plan was to kill Gamora in 2017’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.
“I thought she was the one that was going to sacrifice herself, and Quill was going to learn about himself as opposed to in the second movie, and I thought different of it. I was kind of talked out of it by Kevin [Feige] and [Marvel producer Lou D’Esposito], and then it just didn’t work that well,” Gunn explained. “It didn’t feel right, it felt much more right to go where we go in that movie. That seemed what was correct for the story.”