The Marvel Cinematic Universe is barreling towards its major shift point: 2019's Avengers 4.

It's already been heavily hinted at that the film will mark some major changes in terms of characters and franchises, which likely means saying farewell to some old favourites.

An obvious answer to what he could be hinting about is the Ravagers team briefly seen in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and consisting of Sylvester Stallone as Stakar Ogord, Michael Rosenbaum as Martinex, Ving Rhames as Charlie-27, Michelle Yeoh Aleta Ogord, Krugarr, and Miley Cyrus as Mainframe - a team based on the original Guardians in the comics.

Gunn left things open-ended, stating simply: "I’m definitely interested in the direction that these characters are headed and their roles in the Marvel Universe."

However, the MCU seems unlikely to explore some of the team's more outlandish origins (there are elements of time travel), with Gunn replying: "That is not something that we’re dealing with. These are older characters and more criminal than our Guardians. So we’re focusing on that."

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The director also isn't afraid to deviate from the comics when it comes to Adam Warlock, slyly introduced in the post-credit sequences of Vol. 2., an attempt to create the perfect human being and later possessor of the Soul Gem - one of the Infinity Gems Thanos has been so ravenously after in the MCU.

"I always do what’s best for the movie," he explained. "A lot of times, that means taking things from the source material and other times it’s changing things. I’ve changed a lot already from the comics with the Guardians. Groot’s personality in the first Guardians, which people loved, was nothing like his personality in the comics."