No Thanos in Guardians Vol. 2, James Gunn's got "other fish to fry"

Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2 director James Gunn took time out from preparations on the sequel - which starts shooting this week - to participate in a Facebook Q&A, during which he spilled the beans on a couple of matters. Despite previously stating that the Marvel Cinematic Universe's Mad Titan, Thanos, would not be involved in round two, recent chatter from Josh Brolin led fans to wondering if he might make a quick cameo. As it turns out, he won't even do that.

"Thanos will not appear in Vol. 2," Gunn says. "No. As I’ve said before, Thanos isn’t in this movie. I think he’s gonna have a little bit to do and say when it comes to a certain wars and infinity. We’ve got other fish to fry in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2."

What those other fish might be is unknown. Gunn is keeping plot specifics on the quiet for now, but did confirm one major component of the MCU that won't be a part of the film. "We’re not really so much about the Infinity Stones in Guardians 2. Is that a spoiler? It’s not really a thing."

Of the six Infinity Stones, so far four have appeared in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. That leaves the Time Stone and the Soul Stone, both of which will be uncovered at some point before The Avengers: Infinity War - Part 1. This is a plus for Gunn, who won't have to compromise on crafting a stand-alone Guardians sequel that's as bonkers as the original.

Directed by James Gunn, and starring Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Michael Rooker, Sean Gunn, Bradley Cooper, and Vin Diesel, Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2 opens on May 5, 2017.

Images: Marvel

Gem Seddon

Gem Seddon is GamesRadar+'s west coast Entertainment News Reporter, working to keep all of you updated on all of the latest and greatest movies and shows on streaming platforms like Netflix and Amazon Prime. Outside of entertainment journalism, Gem can frequently be found writing about the alternative health and wellness industry, and obsessing over all things Aliens and Terminator on Twitter. 

Latest in Action Movies
Guardians of the Galaxy 3
Marvel star Vin Diesel might be teasing a Groot movie: "Disney wants their Planet X!"
Robert Pattinson as Bruce Wayne in The Batman
Robert Pattinson worries he will be a "f*cking old Batman" by the time filming on The Batman 2 finally starts
Lewis Pullman as "Bob" in Thunderbolts
The first look at Thunderbolts' Sentry suit seemingly leaked in new Marvel merchandise
Jim Carrey as Dr. Robotnik in Sonic 3 (2024)
22 years after the release of Bruce Almighty, Sonic the Hedgehog 3 is now officially Jim Carrey’s highest-grossing movie
Mad Max: Fury Road
A new Mad Max movie has a script, but director George Miller isn't sure it will ever be made: "All I can say is we’ll see"
Hugh Jackman as Wolverine and Deadpool walking in front of a damaged store during the Marvel movie Deadpool and Wolverine.
There's a moment in Deadpool and Wolverine involving Spider-Man that you might have misinterpreted
Latest in News
Helldivers 2
Helldivers 2 has an endgame problem, but a developer assures us "things are coming," they just can't say what yet because otherwise our expectations will be too high
inZOI Character Studio trailer showing a young woman with ginger-y long hair and a white baseball cap smiling, her hand against her chin
The Sims 4's hyper-realistic competitor inZOI will only "sort of" have sex – but I'm sure a Wicked Whims-style mod will take care of the rest
A screenshot of the title card for the upcoming DC show, Starfire.
James Gunn confirms that the Starfire animated TV show will be Elseworlds like Batman and Joker
Narset flowing in the air with waves of blue magic floating around her
MTG Tarkir: Dragonstorm’s autistic hero may be able to protect the multiverse but that doesn’t make her immune to sensory overload
Guardians of the Galaxy 3
Marvel star Vin Diesel might be teasing a Groot movie: "Disney wants their Planet X!"
Deltarune
Undertale's Toby Fox teases arrival of Deltarune Chapters 3 and 4: PS5 testers are "slurping the last drops of soda from between the ice cubes now"