The following story contains spoilers for James Gunn's Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. If you haven't seen the sequel yet, click away, and visit one of our other articles!
Marvel's Cinematic Universe kicked off the Summer movie season with a melodramatic bang, as they gave Michael Rooker's surrogate father figure, Yondu, a ceremonial sendoff into that great Ravager heaven in the sky. Yondu died saving his adopted son, Peter Quill (Chris Pratt), in a heroic effort to protect Star-Lord from his real father, Ego the Living Planet (Kurt Russell). So Yondu is no longer in the MCU. And when we had an opportunity to interview Michael Rooker at San Diego Comic-Con on behalf of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, we asked him what he'd miss the most about working on these films. He told us:
Working with everybody else. It was such a joy. You know what, a few years back I'm like, 'No more fun. No more Rooker.' Okay, I can do a tough, serious, dark film, but I still gotta have... it's still gotta be fun. Life is way too short.
The thing about your time in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is that you're never really TRULY done. Villains have been eliminated, but they find a way to return. And beloved characters like Yondu absolutely COULD find a way to come back... if director James Gunn could find a creative (and credible) way to have him return.
James Gunn is busy working on Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 already, and he has been saying that it will be a sequel that concludes current storyline for this iteration of the Guardians -- which includes Star-Lord (Pratt), Gamora (Zoe Saldana), Rocket (Bradley Cooper), Drax (Dave Bautista) and Groot (the voice of Vin Diesel). Peter Quill expects to be dealing with the loss of Yondu, who he'd just accepted as his "daddy," so Rooker could reprise his role in a flashback, or a guiding angel character Quill sees. We're spitballing, mainly because we love Rooker in the role.
Listen to him talk about what he'll miss the most, now that his time in the MCU has reportedly come to an end.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe continues later this year with Thor: Ragnarok, which will continue to explore the cosmic side of this galaxy. And then, as we have seen in the Avengers: Infinity War trailer, Thor will meet up with the Guardians of the Galaxy to kick start that particular adventure. Yondu will not be present. How do you guys feel about that?
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 reaches Digital HD on August 8, and Blu-ray/4K on August 22. Grab a copy now!
