Director James Gunn and Joss Whedon are close friends so when Gunn was trying to get the job to direct Guardians of the Galaxy he had no problems contacting his friend for a little help. After all Whedon is Marvel prince following the success of his The Avengers film. I mean lets face it Whedon is the golden child of the comic book universe. Not a bad friend to have on your side.

So Gunn reached out to Whedon via e-mail asking for a little help. Whedon replied with a perfunctory “you’re a little (not-really-freaking) late. I already talked to all those guys about you!”.

The fact that Gunn is now directing Guardians of the Galaxy should be good sign for the Marvel fan base. Having such a close relationship between directors will allow cross input into both universes that can keep with the Marvel ideology. This will bode well for future films as well.

Consider the latest rumors that Marvel’s The Hulk will be somehow shot off into space at the end of The Avengers: Age of Ultran and eventually be teamed up with the Guardians for the likely sequel to Galaxy. The common thread here is Mark Ruffalo who will continue his portrayal of the green monster. Eventually, if the rumors are true, the Guardians in their sequel will be trying to get Ruffalo’s Bruce Banner back to Earth. It’s a story arch that would join both The Avengers and Guardians together for what could be the third Avengers film.

All of that will however come down to the success of Guardians. Initial reactions from the trailers has been mixed but mostly optimistic. Early teaser trailers left fans wondering if this was going to work while the full trailers have shed far more light on the film itself and those trailers have made the film highly anticipated.

Gunn won’t likely come anywhere near the success of Whedon’s Avengers, it appears only Christopher Nolan and James Cameron have the chops to match that success but a solid outing will set him up for any future films involving the Guardians and that is not a bad thing.

The film Guardians of the Galaxy is set to open August and you can read more of this by going here.