As of March 2017 we've had all embargoes lifted regarding my Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 set visit, which took place last April partly at Atlanta Pinewood Studios - where Marvel Studios has entirely taken over the facilities since it opened, its first production being Ant-Man - and on location at an old, derelict conference center.

Where we traveled to the UK for the first Guardians of the Galaxy, Marvel Studios HQ is basically in Atlanta now where they also shot Captain America: Civil War, Spider-Man: Homecoming, and Black Panther, and where they're working on Avengers: Infinity War, Ant-Man and the Wasp, and potentially Captain Marvel at the time of this publication.

We had the opportunity to chat with all of the main characters of the Guardians sequel, who were fully decked out in costume, as well as key crew members, writer-director James Gunn, and Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige on our adventure. We've shared dozens of articles since February to share our learnings so here is where we can recap it all with a few timely updates as we edge closer to the May release of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.

Without further ado, here are 50 things we learned on our Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 set visit!

50. Only A Tiny Bit of the Movie Takes Place on Earth

Marvel Comics - The Peak Space Station orbiting Earth

When speaking with Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige to begin our set visit we sat down with him in the production offices of Atlanta Pinewood Studios. At the time we knew Avengers: Infinity War was coming up just a year after Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 but writer-director James Gunn consistently emphasized that his Guardians of the Galaxy sequel is expanding deeper into the cosmic and doesn't really connect to the other movies.

Kevin Feige: We are going out further, yes. There’s a little bit of Earth in this film, but it’s not these characters going to earth.

We can only assume then if it's not directly setting up Avengers: Infinity War with its Earthly connections, then perhaps scenes of Earth are flashbacks explaining how and why Star-Lord's dad (Ego the Living Planet) came to Earth and fell in love...

49. There Are 4-5 Planets

Ego the Living Planet from Marvel Comics

Including Ego, there are multiple new cosmic locations. Some have very different and unique aesthetics and one is a forest planet we saw  bit of on set and in the marketing materials (where they setup camp).

The most pulp sci-fi of these from what we saw in the concept art on set was labelled "J'Son" which we can now confirm is Ego the Living Planet (Kurt Russell's character). He is both a planet and a person in human form and this explains how and why his personal starship organically connects to the surface when it lands. There are all sorts of wild visuals in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and stuff you've never seen before in a comic book movie.

More on Vol. 2's style and how it's pushing on that front, later!

48. It Takes Place Just A Few Months Later

Marvel Comics Timeline

James Gunn talked about this a lot when explaining how and why Groot is Baby Groot instead of a fully regrown tree creature, and how initially the movie was going to be set years later. But for character purposes it was interesting to see how the characters were still basking in the fame of what they did in the first movie, and to have Rocket Raccoon have a role reversal with Groot where he is now the protector.

Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige and producer Jonathan Schwartz confirmed to us on the set of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 that the sequel takes place "a couple months" later when we asked about why Groot was Baby Groot.

Kevin Feige: Just a few months, so he’s probably just grown out of that pot and stepped out, and is now this size, but as James I’m sure will tell you, he’s just as dumb as big Groot was, and I mean, he’s not really a baby. As James said in that sizzle, he gets, he gets mad at people. And then of course, the fun thing is, as you saw briefly in there, whereas Groot was Rocket’s protector in the first movie, Rocket is Groot’s protector, and they sort of all are in this movie, which was something we had talked about and planned on. It was one of those things, when we were making the first film, and we were just concentrating on making that film as great as it can be, there are always little things that we say, boy, if we get to make another one, it would be really fun. And from the moment we were shooting and animating Rocket on Groot shoulder, we were saying, on the next one, we’ll reverse it. Wouldn’t that be cool? And that’s what we’re doing.

And here's what writer and director James Gunn had to say:

James Gunn: I think because they're just such fragile egos, and they're so combustible that this is really the time. I think they'd have problems with each other pretty instantly. And so I just felt like it was more... Seemed funny when I was writing it. [Laughs] It's what came up, and I thought about it being later and I think a lot of it was the Groot thing as well. When I first started thinking about it, when I was jotting down ideas, I thought Groot was maybe going to be an adult. And I thought "God, what if I just make Groot a baby for the whole movie. Like he's a baby." And I think that just felt right. So a lot of it had to do with that.

47. Yondu Has His Fin From The Comics

Marvel Studios Hall H Panel - Yondu's Fin Mohawk in Guardians of the Galaxy 2

A long time ago, during one of his many Facebook Q&As with fans, James Gunn said one of the things fans consistently didn't like about his adaptation of the Guardians of the Galaxy characters was dropping the fin/mohawk that Yondu (a member of the original Guardians team in the comics), so in the sequel he wanted to rectify that.

While talking about the larger role of the Ravagers and their many factions in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, none of which seem to be fond of Yondu and his faction, Kevin Feige mentioned, "you may have noticed without much ceremony in the sizzle, but we see it with great ceremony in the movie, he gets a big, a much bigger fin on top of his head, which was James’ sort of nod of the head to that bigger fin he had in the comics, and also because he looks frickin’ awesome in that bigger fin."

As for why in terms of the story, James Gunn later told us"Yeah, there's a reason. There's a reason for it. Yes, there's a reason for the change of fins," confirming that is has to do with their confrontations with the other Ravagers.

46. Mantis Has Never Met Another Person

Mantis-in-Infinity-War

Everyone on the set of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 that we spoke to did two things: they acted like Fanboys over working with Kurt Russell, and praised the newcomer, Mantis - who's played by Pom Klementieff. She's unique, weird, and brings something very interesting to the MCU, and part of what makes her character special is how innocent and awkward she can be due to her not really having been in contact with other people.

Kevin Feige: She’s amazing. Pom Klementieff... is really amazing and is really unique and is really, and her portrayal of Mantis, she auditioned for the part many, many times, along with many, many other people, because James was doing something very unique with Mantis, who is a, has never really encountered other people and other humans before, humanoids before, and makes Drax look like the most world-savvy person there is, and it’s a tough thing to do and to be endearing, and she’s pretty amazing at it. She comes into the story along with the Kurt Russell character, and doesn’t know the other characters and doesn’t know much of the world, and there is a, talking about the bondings between characters, she and Drax spend a lot of time together in this story as well.

Pom Klementieff: There's an awkwardness and a curiosity... She wants to discover new things... she was really lonely and by herself, so it's a completely new thing to meet these people and to discover new things and new emotions and a new way of sharing things.

More on Mantis' motivations later...

45. Thanos is Main Villain of Avengers: Infinity War

Thanos wearing a complete Infinity Gauntlet

One of the biggest and most interesting revelations of our Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 set visit wasn't even about this movie, but when we started the day and chatted with Kevin Feige we asked about the MCU's issue or lack of time spent developing villains. Now that we're in Phase 3, that's going to change in a big way and it may begin with Avengers: Infinity War.

A movie titled Infinity War, which will obviously feature Thanos assembling the six relics and putting them in the Infinity Gauntlet of course must feature a lot of Thanos on screen. After being teased on screen for years while villains are generally under-served, the third Avengers movie will be the first Marvel movie where the villain is the star.

What have you learned about creating villains for Marvel movies, because you know, earlier in Phase 2, as well, like the scale was always really big, like Ronan, but even with Baron Zemo in Civil War, it’s very small in scope. What have you sort of learned as you guys are getting this far into the ..

Kevin Feige: ...it always starts with what serves the story the most and what serves the hero the most. We’ve been criticized - if a big criticism of ours is that we focus on the heroes more than the villains, I think that’s probably true. I don’t think it will always be true and I think some of you spoke to Chris and Steve at the Civil War junket. When the heck was that, yesterday? Last week? And they talked about - in appropriately oblique terms - Thanos. Thanos in Infinity War is, you know... in a movie that has a lot of characters, you could almost go so far as to say he is the main character, and that’s a bit of a departure from what we’ve done before, but that was appropriate for a movie called Infinity War.

44. Marvel Intentionally Focuses on the Heroes

Marvel Heroic Age Avengers with Spider-Man, Iron Man, Luke Cage, Wolverine, and Ms. Marvel

In a followup to the criticism of Marvel Studios not developing antagonists like other franchises or even Marvel TV does, Kevin explained that this aspect of the storytelling - of focusing on the stories of Marvel heroes instead of villains - so far has been intentional, using Iron Man vs. The Dark Knight comparison as an example:

Kevin Feige: In a lot of cases, Ronan - Ronan’s great, Lee Pace awesome job, absolutely serves it - but certainly was there to go up against our heroes and to give our heroes a reason for coming together. And I think it’s, I hesitate to even... in 2008, there are two superhero movies that came out. One focused on the villain, one focused on the hero, and we at Marvel looked at them as like 'yeah, we focus on the heroes. We don’t mind that. We like that.' Please don’t start a flame war. We don’t, nobody wants that. We don’t do that. It really always is what serves the story. Loki, great character, serves, you know, in a lot of ways, Thor. Zemo served that conflict between Cap and Iron Man.

Do you dig this approach so far? With Sony planning a Venom movie for 2018 (that we expect must be connected to the MCU) and Kevin Feige promising to keep doing new things, the strategy will change.

43. Thanos is not in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

thanos chair

While he may be the star of Avengers: Infinity War, Thanos won't get any screentime in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, although his influence will still be felt thanks to the sisterhood relationship development between Gamora and Nebula when they discuss their shared history with their adoptive father. James Gunn explains:

"It's not about the sisters and their father. It's about two sisters and what were the sisters' problems with each other. And yeah, some of those things were caused by being raised by the ultimate abusive father. But it really isn't about Thanos, and frankly I just wasn't inspired to put him in the movie. I kind of go with my gut on these things and it just wasn't what I wanted to do. It wasn't the most fun part of the movie last time for me, and I just didn't really want to do it this time. And again the relationship with Thanos has nothing to do with it. It's not about their relationship with Thanos. It's about their relationship to each other, and what is that. And that was interesting to me. And I thought that was important to our story, and that was important to our characters. What happened with them in the past. There's a lot of stuff that happened in the past that affects our characters presently.

As for Drax (Dave Bautista) who's purpose in live is to serve vengeance against Thanos, we asked Bautista about that and he said it's "a real touchy subject. I think everybody knows from the first film that's always going to be his mission. That is the reason he is living right now. But yeah, we'll kind of just leave it at that for now." Maybe this will be part of the reason the Guardians get pulled into the Infinity War conflict?

42. We Do Learn More About Thanos Though...

Thanos # 1 (cropped)

As we said, there's no screen time for Josh Brolin's Thanos in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, and it's doubtful that he'll even show up in the post-credits scenes (more on this later). There won't even be flashbacks to him and Gamora and Nebula, according to Karen Gillan but there is this:

Karen Gillan: Yeah, I guess so. We learn a lot about their backstory actually and what happened to these two girls growing up and actually how awful it was for them and how it's ruined their relationship and they're sort of going to freely talk about it, which has never happened between these two people.

Thanos presence will be felt.

41. No Infinity Stones!

The Collector Infinity Stones In Guardians Of the Galaxy

And with no Thanos there are also no Infinity Stones. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is not about chasing a MacGuffin. It's about characters. And at this point we know where five of the six Infinity Stones are - the last remaining one being the Soul Stone which seems like a safe bet to appear in Thor: Ragnarok at this point. Here's looking at you and your eyes, Heimdall!

Will we see any Infinity Stones in this one?

Kevin Feige: No.

Simple enough, and refreshing. We'd love to see more stories drop the MacGuffin chase.

40. Mantis and Drax Share A Special Bond

Drax and Mantis in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 banner

Mantis, being so innocent and longing to make connections, will find herself bonding with Drax. As Dave Bautista explained to us on set, Drax is a "heartbroken guy" over the loss of his family and his one mission of revenge. James Gunn explains when we asked about Mantis' role in the film as someone working with Ego (Kurt Russell's character).

Besides an obvious working relationship how would you describe the relationship between Mantis and Kurt's character?

James Gunn: She works for him basically. That's it. I think it's very interesting to watch the relationship between Mantis and the other characters. Because like them, she's an outcast. I think the relationship between her and Drax is very interesting because they're both complete oddballs.

What about her relationship with Peter, and their dynamic?

James Gunn: It's more of a relationship to the group as a whole, but I think she relates a little bit more to Gamora and Drax then she does to Peter.

39. There Are Still No Other Earthlings Joining the Guardians

Guardians of the Galaxy 2 BTS Set Photo - Ego Ship Chris Pratt James Gunn
Chris Pratt and director-writer James Gunn

For a long time there have been rumors - really it's just wild, made-up fan speculation - of the Guardians of the Galaxy meeting Hulk in space or having Iron Man or Captain Marvel join the team like in the Brian Michael Bendis comics. None of these things were part of the plan during or after the first movie, and Peter Quill remains the only Earthling on the roster in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.

James Gunn: From the beginning I say, for the time being, Quill is the only Earthling superhero member of the Guardians. So, that was part of what I had I in mind with her, and that's probably part of why I landed on her as well.

Although with the Guardians of the Galaxy finally meeting The Avengers next year in Infinity War, the dynamic will need to change. Phase 4 will undoubtedly include Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 where the roster will evolve (maybe this is where more Earthlings can join) and we can expect to see more cosmic-set films and Guardians spinoff. We already know James Gunn has an interest in a spinoff should he decided to make more Marvel Studios movies after this one.

38. Star-Lord Surviving The Power Stone is Important

Star-Lord surviving the Power stone in Guardians of the Galaxy

We already explained how and why there are no Infinity Stones in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, but the team's interactions with one in the first movie - most notably with Peter Quill holding the Power Stone and surviving - is important. We asked Chris Pratt and James Gunn about this:

Has messing with the Power Stone done anything at all to him?

Chris Pratt: It plays a certain role. His interaction with the Infinity Stone in the first movie becomes - there’s a thread there that gets pulled in the second movie, like you get to know a little bit more. But yeah, that wasn’t an unimportant aspect of who he is.

He said that Star-Lord's mythology has expanded because he was able to hold it.

James Gunn: Yes, we say that at the end of the movie. There's a question as to why Star-Lord was able to hold the Infinity Stone and not be completely and immediately destroyed. And we learn a little bit more about why that's the case in this movie.

Well, Quill's dad is Ego the Living Planet, a potential elder of the universe. Maybe that's why?

37. There Are Many Ravager Factions

Chris Sullivan as Taserface in Guardians of the Galaxy 2

Family is at the forefront of the themes and plot lines of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 but the Ravagers have a much bigger role too. When we began our day on set back in April 2016, Kevin Feige played for us some behind-the-scenes B-roll footage along with a sizzle reel of some of what they had already shot in the first half of production and explained:

Kevin Feige: ...the Ravagers are a big part of this movie and I, much more so than even the first film... We did a costume test for the Ravagers. You always do makeup and costume tests on every movie, and usually people come in, and they stand around. Chris Pratt will put on his outfit and stand there and turn around and we point at his butt, and you get the gist of what the costume is going to be.

With the Ravagers, we had them all in full costume and full makeup, and then James put them all together and basically just said, act like the Ravagers. I’m telling you, I could have watched that footage for three hours. It was hilarious, and it was amazing seeing these guys. They’ve, they’re some of the same actors from the first movie, a lot of new actors playing new characters and new Ravagers, and there’s something just really sort of chemically interesting that happens when you put them all together.

This is why Marvel brought many of these actors and put them in costume on stage during their panel presentation at San Diego Comic-Con last summer. Kevin Feige continues:

There is a story, that you saw bits of in the B-roll sizzle that Yondu has gotten soft, that Yondu has a soft spot for Quill. He clearly at the end of the first movie opens the orb and sees that Infinity Stone is not in there, that a little troll doll is in there, and he smiles. It’s a very sweet moment in the first movie. I think it shows that, you know, I think he cares about Quill maybe more than he even admits, but there are other Ravagers who think that was shitty and think they should have hunted him down and killed him right on the spot, and there is an incident in the first act of this movie, where they’ve been hired to get him, and yet again, Yondu is like, 'we’re not going to take down the Guardians of the Galaxy. We’d be crazy to do that. We’d endanger ourselves. We’d get the entire Nova Corps, everybody would come after us if we did that,' and Taserface and some others are like, 'bullshit, you just saying that because you’re soft on Quill,' and it leads to a mutiny, and in that we have a sort of a subplot of these mutinous ravagers, and Yondu and Rocket and Groot sort of of teaming up and escaping from that mutiny to go help Quill...

36. It's More Intimate, But with Way Bigger Action Too

Guardians of the Galaxy 2 concept art

When anyone involved speaks about the sequel, it generally involves explaining how Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is a lot funnier but also more emotional and personal. It is these things but it's also a superhero sequel and the action is bigger too. James Gunn laughed about this when we asked him about some of the set pieces, one of which involves an inter-dimensional beast at the very beginning of the movie (seen in the the trailer and concept art).

James Gunn: I really set out to write a more intimate, personal story and I think it is, and then somehow in the midst of writing this more intimate, personal, emotional story the set pieces got five times as big. Like really. I feel great about it. Honestly, I've been focusing a lot on it because I think that I want this movie to be better in every aspect. And that includes that it's funnier. The emotion works on a deeper level, which is probably the most important to me frankly. And then the fact that the action is bigger and more exciting.

35. Chris Pratt is in Love With Kurt Russell

Guardians of the Galaxy 2 - Kurt Russell News

If we go by reports, Kurt Russell wasn't the first actor in talks for the role of playing Star-Lord's father and someone... who's also a planet. Matthew McConaughey may have turned down this same role, and some rumors said even Hugh Jackman was of interest for the part too, but that's all history now. Kurt Russell was a fan-favorite online and ended up being the perfect player to bring into the fold. He gets along extremely well with everyone, especially the actor playing his onscreen son... who now wants to be his real son!

How cool is it that Kurt Russell is your dad?

Chris Pratt: It’s so cool. It’s so cool. It’s perfect.

What’s it like working with him?

Chris Pratt: For me, there are actors that I loved growing up - there’s a handful of them - and he is absolutely right at the top of that list, and has not once done anything to disappoint the inner child in me who was so excited when he got cast. He’s really cool. He’s absolutely an artist. Even though he’s kind of the ‘everyman’ kind of a character, he’s really an artist and he really cares deeply about all of the details of his character. We’re really kindred spirits I think. Me and Anna [Faris], and Kurt and Goldie [Hawn], I feel like we are the same in some parallel universe, you know what I mean? Anna’s often times been compared to Goldie Hawn, like in the House Bunny and things like that, and one of our favorite movies is Overboard. And I guess some people have made that comparison with me and Kurt, just kind of like a blue-collar type of dude, American actor. He loves to hunt and be outdoors and he’s, I don’t know, I just really, really love him. I’m in love with Kurt Russell. [Laughs]

You’ve said you’ve asked him to be …

Chris Pratt: … be my dad in real life. Yup. I’m still waiting to hear on that. ‘Cause he’s got other children so I think that he’s gonna have to check with them to see if they want a brother, but I’m hoping they all say yes. [Laughs] No, I have a feeling that it’s one of those relationships that you meet somebody and you know that the relationship - although some relationships you meet someone, it’s fine when you’re on set, you’re gonna have a great working relationship with them, but you know that when the movie wraps there’s a likelihood that you probably won’t see one another unless you work together again. But I think it’s not that way with Kurt. I’m sure we’ll go hang out and do things together because we’ll talk for an hour and not have once mentioned anything about work, you know what I mean? It’s pretty cool.

34. Everyone Else is In Love With Kurt Russell Too

Kurt Russell at Guardians of the Galaxy 2 panel

It's not just Chris Pratt who loves spending time with Kurt Russell on and off set. Literally every person we interviewed involved with Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 loved him.

What's it like working with Kurt Russell?

Dave Bautista: It's pretty great, man. [laughs] It's pretty great. It was weird. I felt like such a fanboy. The first day, I was like, "I've got to ask you about this, man: How do you feel about the Rock being cast as Jack Burton?" And he was like, "Yeah, great." I wanted to hear the opposite: "I think it's shit. I think it's shit casting, man. They cast the Rock as Jack Burton, I just don't agree. Like, Chris Pratt to me is Jack Burton," but that's the fanboy in me, man. I take things like that personally. [laughs] But he doesn't take that personally at all. He's like, it's the character you're portraying, now it's time to move on. Next character. But yeah, a lot of Snake Plissken stories going around, stuff like that. Constantly bugging him about what we want to know. What's really weird, especially for someone -- because he grew up in Hollywood, grew up in film, so it's kind of weird to meet people that grew up in films who are still in touch with reality. I've met a few people and they've been sheltered their whole life and just totally out of touch, and Kurt is not like that at all. He's like super down to earth and just a real dude and real friendly to everybody, and that's kind of cool to see, because I've seen the opposite, so it's really cool to see someone who comes on and just is real down to earth. There's nothing superficial or pretentious about him. He's been just very patient with everything. He's never in a rush, he doesn't keep to himself, he doesn't separate himself from the cast, so it's kind of cool.

Obviously a lot of great actors have come through the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but how cool was it to have Kurt Russell on set?

Producer Jonathan Schwartz: It's really cool. I have a hard time not fanboying out about it. But I keep it all inside. It's really cool that he's so passionate and committed to a movie like this, because I don't think he's really, necessarily done something like this before - which is part of what's so cool about it. And he's really into the character and into the mythology and loves it... That's the other cool side of it. Watching that happen. It's a real treat.

What's it like going from being a fan of Kurt Russell to directing him?

James Gunn: It's pretty crazy. It's pretty crazy. Especially, Escape From New York, to me is like one of those bible movies as a kid. It's like one of the core experience films. So working with Snake Plisskin has been quite an experience. But he's great. I've worked with a few actors who I've admired a lot. Benicio [del Toro] was like that. Glenn Close was like that. Kevin Bacon was like that. Those are people who I really admired as actors, and it wasn't like coming into work with somebody who was more of a contemporary. It was somebody who was famous and successful long before I was. Not so Benicio, but he was pretty young when he became successful.

And working with Kurt, he's been the most down to Earth. And maybe it's also because I'm more confident than I used to be, but I think he's been down to Earth. And he's funny as shit, and we laugh hard. And he's filthy.

Have you gotten to work at all with Kurt while you're on set and what's it like being on set and watching him work?

Karen Gillan: All I want to do is watch him work, and I have watched him work. And it's like just getting a lesson on how to act basically. It's really cool, it's sort of unbelievable actually. I'm just like, "What's happening?" We get this whole thing, and he's amazing and his character is going to be brilliant and he's just really charming.

Zoe Saldana spoke to us about her love of '80s movies which led to:

Zoe Saldana: ...I do love Big Trouble in Little China. I am a fan of his. To get to work with a veteran of that scale and I'm really humbled. And he's fantastic. An incredible human being. And I've been also a great fan because he's always been someone we've always talked about, my family on about being a good Father. A really good man to his family. So I get to work with a decent human being. I'm really happy about that. When you get old, you know, your time starts to mean everything to you. So how you spend it and who you spend it with is very important. And if I'm gonna spend 16 hours of my day at work, I better be fucking spending it with great people. And Kurt Russell is a great person I have to say.

What's it like working with a legend like Kurt Russell?

Pom Klementieff: Oh, it's amazing! He's amazing. He's really nice. He's really funny. He's really professional, and it's great to see him work and to see someone who's done so many movies and who's so down to earth, it's great. They're all like that in this movie. I feel really lucky.

How cool is it then knowing that Kurt Russell's Ego the Living Planet could return in future Marvel Cinematic Universe movies!?

33. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 Is More Emotional

Drax Petting Rocket - Guardians of the Galaxy

James Gunn made it abundantly clear from the beginning that Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 would be about family, a story about fathers, but it's also a story about sisters in the case of Gamora and Nebula, and about the issues of being in a dysfunctional family. The movie is far more intimate, and this is why Chris Pratt said long ago that he cried reading the script.

Do you feel like this film is more emotional than the first one?

Karen Gillan: I think it's more emotional for sure, because the main theme of this film is family. And that's true of the last film, but this is where we really get to see like that on a much deeper level and what it means to all of the characters. Also it's just funnier. Like the really funny dialogue from the last film, it's amplified in this film.

32. There Was One New Guardian of the Galaxy Cut From First Draft

Adam Warlock Ronan Nova Guardians of the Galaxy

When James Gunn pitched his Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 ideas to Marvel Studios' top brass, he handed in a whopping 64-page treatment. And since then very little changed to what fan swill see on screen except for one major thing: there was another major character who got cut.

James Gunn: I'll say one major thing that happened during the treatment phase, not even during the script phase, during the treatment phase there was another character that was a major character. That was a part of the treatment. Although it kind of worked generally in the story, I got to the place where there were to many characters. I think Civil War handles a lot of characters really well, but they're minor characters, and in this movie every character has their own arc, their own thing. And I thought it was one character too many, so I took one of the characters out of the story about half way through the treatment phase. But the eventual 70-page treatment, which is what it was, is what this movie is, and it has changed very, very little. And there's been almost no changes in the past three or four months before shooting; minor, minor lines here and there. We did rehearsals and some things I changed because of that. Now who knows, we may get into post and go "oh my God, let's change everything," I hope that isn't the case, but I've been really fortunate.

And part of it is because I knew on the last movie we did do a lot of changes later on. We did some changes in production. We did some changes in post-production, and I knew this time I was really fortunate to have such a headstart on the script. And to make that story really strong so we could have that from the beginning. And so that was something I focused on, was really dialing in the screenplay, the dialogue, everything before we ever even came here to Atlanta.

Is it possible then we see this character in the future? Gunn followed up by saying "for sure" and that he loves the character, but just didn't have room for him in this particular story. As for how it could be, it's a male character and someone who wasn't one of the original 3000s-era team. Take your guess as to who!

31. Mantis is Partly CGI

Mantis CGI Antennae - Guardians of the Galaxy 2

Where Groot and Rocket are entirely generated in post-production whereas Drax and Gamora are entirely practical, Mantis falls somewhere in between. When we interviewed Pom Klementieff on set, there were dots on her face and the antennae on her head only came out part way with pins and tiny balls at the end of them sticking out where the CGI elements will come in with special FX.

Can you talk a little bit about the makeup for your character?

Pom Klementieff: Ah, the makeup! So, there is some CGI going on, that's why I have dots on my face. [Laughs] So I'm not going to look like that. And my antennae are going to be bigger with CGI. So, I'm not moving them, it's going to be the CGI job to move them. So, I hope they're going to do a good job!