Marvel Studios' Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 will do things a little differently by having a character drop a full, uncensored f-bomb, the first in the MCU’s 15-year history.
Marvel Studios has primarily produced the MCU with families in mind. None of the violence is excessively graphic, the jokes are never too off-color, and up until next month, none of their projects have featured an f-bomb.
Sure, they’ve come close. May and Peter Parker started to utter the expletive before being interrupted by the closing credits of Spider-Man: Homecoming and Spider-Man: Far From Home, respectively. And Groot was implied to have used the f-word in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, but given that all he can say is “I am Groot,” it was a little difficult to understand.
James Gunn Confirms Star-Lord’s F-Bomb
Responding to a fan on Twitter on Peter Quill’s use of a censored f-word in a recent clip from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, the director confirmed that in the version of the film that will be screened in theaters, audiences will hear the whole word, in full and uncensored.
In the scene in question, Chris Pratt’s Peter Quill steals a car while Nebula goes to sit in the passenger seat. But with Nebula not having a firm grasp on Earth technology, she has trouble getting the car door open. Quill attempts to instruct her on the process but gets frustrated and eventually tells her to “Open the f*cking door!”
Replying to a fan's query, “The f-bomb is gonna be uncensored in Vol. 3, right?” Gunn simply input “ofc” which is internet slang for “of course.”
The Guardians helmer also gave much the same confirmation on Instagram, which can be seen below:
In a separate Tweet, Gunn even noted that this moment wasn’t planned. Pratt said the line while filming and it was so funny that they kept it in:
“You can only have one in a PG 13 movie. That said it wasn’t planned - I told Chris to add it on set and it just made the moment funnier so we kept.”
F-Bombs Becoming a New Trend for Marvel Studios?
Will dropping f-bombs become the norm for the MCU in the wake of Guardians 3? Well… a few things need to be considered.
Firstly, like James Gunn pointed out, the Motion Picture Association of America, the organization responsible for handing out film ratings, often only allows PG-13 movies a single f-bomb. Marvel Studios typically aims for a PG-13 rating for most of their films.
However, there’s at least one Marvel movie that won’t be rated PG-13, and that’s Deadpool 3. There’s plenty of cursing in the first two Deadpool films, so f-words in the threequel will absolutely be par for the course, especially with the threequel confirmed to have an R-rating.
Another thing to keep in mind is the studio’s Disney+ content. Marvel could possibly be able to slip the word into a future episode of one of their series or specials. If Disney permits them to, that is.
All things being equal though, it’s probably safe to say that the MCU isn’t going to become Uncut Gems any time soon.
Marvel Studios’ Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 hits theaters on Friday, May 5.
