<P> In May, Gunn said the sequel would feature fewer characters than the first film, and that he had planned to introduce two major new characters in the script--Mantis and Adam Warlock . Talks had begun with an actor Gunn had in mind to portray Mantis, while he had decided to remove Warlock due to the film "getting too busy", explaining, "one of the main things with Guardians of the Galaxy is not to add a bunch of characters, not to make it bigger in that way but to go deeper with the characters...and getting to know them more emotionally...everything is just getting too sprawling and too crazy for me in these superhero comic book movies . And also in superhero comics in general . There's just too many characters so you can't concentrate on one and really get to know that character, and I really want to get to know the characters that we know better ." Gunn added, "I adored what we had done with him . I think we did something really creative and unique with Adam Warlock . But it was one character too many and I didn't want to lose Mantis and Mantis was more organically part of the movie anyway ." He noted that Warlock could appear in future Guardians films, and is considered "a pretty important part" of the cosmic side of the Marvel Cinematic Universe . The character's future introduction is hinted at in one of the film's mid-credits scenes . Gunn noted that Marvel gave him "some blowback" for including the Warlock teaser because they felt fans would believe the character would be appearing in Avengers: Infinity War and its sequel, which was not the case . By including the scene, Gunn promised Marvel he would use his social media presence to clarify for fans that the character would not be seen in either Avengers film . </P> <P> After the film's announcement, Gunn said he knew "a lot of where I want to go (in the sequel)", having written the backstory of Peter Quill, his father, and his history with Yondu during the making of the first film with the intention of exploring them in a future film . Gunn said he "probably won't structure the (sequel) in the exact same way (as the first one). One of the reasons people like Guardians is because it's fresh and different, so the second one will be fresh and different from the first one ." Before starting on the script, Gunn also hoped to further explore Drax the Destroyer, Nebula, Kraglin, and the Collector, and expand on Xandarian, Kree, Krylorian, and Ravager culture . He also hoped to introduce more female characters in the sequel, though wanted to avoid including "earthlings" such as Carol Danvers in order to keep Quill the main focus from Earth . Likewise, Gunn also chose not to feature Novas Richard Rider or Sam Alexander in the film, saying, "I don't want Nova right now because I think Quill being the only earthling is important . That serves the entire movie going audience and not just the handful of Nova (and Carol Danvers) fans ." </P> <P> Feige said exploring Quill's father "would certainly be part of a next Guardians adventure...I think there's a reason we seeded it at the very end of the (first) film like that ." Gunn also stated that he wanted to make sure "Yondu's place in everything made sense" in regards to his relationship to Quill and his father, and also revealed Quill's father would not be J'son as in the comics . Gunn also stated he "was less confident (Marvel) was going to buy in on Baby Groot than" including Ego the Living Planet, since "adult Groot was the most popular character from the first film and I didn't think they'd want to risk a good thing ." However, by changing Groot, Gunn felt it "opened the film up" creatively, allowing Gunn to bring out "new aspects of our other characters ." Gunn stated that Thanos would only appear in the sequel "if he helps our story and he will not show up at all if not . Thanos is not the most important thing in Guardians 2, that's for damn sure . There's the Guardians themselves and other threats the Guardians are going to be facing that are not Thanos ." Feige later confirmed that Thanos would not appear in the sequel, as he was being saved for a "grander" return . When asked about how the film would connect with the other Phase Three films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Gunn said, "I don't feel beholden to that stuff at all . I think it's really about the Guardians and what they are doing ." </P> <P> Gunn set the film two - to - three months after the first film, "because he felt the group are just such fragile egos and he didn't think this story could start years later ." Major planets visited in the film include Sovereign, Berhart and Contraxia . Feige also stated two or three other worlds would be seen, as well as "a little bit of Earth in this film, but it's not these characters going to Earth ." In December 2014, Gunn revealed the story for the film was written, saying, "It's (still) constantly shifting, but I feel like it's pretty strong . I'm excited about it ." By early February 2015, Gunn said that when he first presented his idea for the sequel to Marvel they thought it was "risky", and that he would be submitting a full story treatment to the company "in a few short weeks". He described it as "not really based on anything" from the comics, being mainly an original story . Gunn later referred to this treatment as a "scriptment", "a 70 - page combination of a script and a treatment and it goes through every beat of the movie". By April, he was preparing to write the screenplay, and in May he was hoping to complete the script before he began work on The Belko Experiment in June 2015 . </P>

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