Guardians of the Galaxy 3: Fired director James Gunn ‘COULD return’ – but there’s a catch

Gunn’s dismissal over historic tweets that joked about pedophilia and rape caused outrage amongst fans and the Guardians cast, who all argued that they were old posts he had already apologised for and moved on from.

But reports have consistently suggested that Disney are unlikely to U-turn their decision to cut ties with him – a view that is, according to new claims, not shared by Marvel.

It is now reported that Gunn could return to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but the catch is that it would be with another project separate to Guardians of the Galaxy.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, there are some high-up people within Marvel who want him to develop and ultimately develop another project.

“An end-all verdict hasn’t been issued and conversations with Marvel are still ongoing,” one source told the US publication.

Another executive said: “Most people feel his comments were coming out of his brand of comedy [at the time he made them].

“Having an inappropriate sense of humour shouldn’t be a crime.”

His exit deal from Disney and Marvel is said to still be in progress, meaning he can’t formally react to any offers from other studios – although several are thought to be ready to pounce.

Interestingly, DC Entertainment (via Warner Bros) are said to have an eye on Gunn, meaning he would effectively be jumping ship from Marvel to their direct rivals if he were to accept any offers of work from them.

This new development comes after Dave Bautista – who plays Drax in the Guardians of the Galaxy and Avengers movies – said he would find a way to quit his contract if Gunn’s script was binned.

He had previously tweeted: “I will do what I’m legally obligated to do but @Guardians without @JamesGunn is not what I signed up for. GOTG w/o @JamesGunn just isn’t GOTG.”

And he told Shortlist: “Where I’m at right now is that if [Marvel] don’t use that script, then I’m going to ask them to release me from my contract, cut me out or recast me.

”I’d be doing James a disservice if I didn’t.”

Gunn’s tweets were resurfaced and shared widely by hardline Conservative pundits last month, seemingly as part of an attempt to settle a score over Roseanne Barr’s firing from ABC.

He had previously helmed the first two Guardians films and also helped develop the characters and their dialogue for Avengers: Infinity War.

Guardians 3 had been slated to go into production in 2019.