By now, everyone knows the story: Guardians of the Galaxy was the surprise hit of the summer. Not that it was surprising that it was a success - the only Marvel movie to underwhelm financially was Incredible Hulk, and that was some nine movies ago. Rather, it was surprising that Galaxy, a quirky adaptation of an obscure Marvel comic, would become A) the most successful Marvel movie of the year, B) the most successful movie domestically, and C) the second most successful movie worldwide.

So now that GotG is the most successful Marvel movie franchise that doesn't involve Robert Downey Jr., how will Marvel go about improving upon that success? Perhaps there'll be a crossover between The Avengers and the Guardians? That was the word on the street a few months ago, which was good news for fans who like crossovers. However, in a recent interview, director James Gunn seemed to put the kibosh on all that.

Speaking to Screen Junkies host Hal Rudnick, Gunn talked about Guardians in relation to The Avengers. Said Gunn:

“We really are separate from the Avengers, and I don't think people should assume too many things about the Guardians play in all this. We have our own galaxy to take care of. We have our own galaxy to save. Earth is the Avengers’ province. Thinking that everything is going to come together in a perfect way is not necessarily the way it's going to happen.”

So does that mean a Guardians/Avengers crossover is definitely no longer in the mix? Well, he doesn't say that precisely, and it's worth noting that Gunn's wording here is fairly ambiguous. That said, it would be strange if he were just playing coy, considering what he's said on the matter previously.

Guardians of the Galaxy The Avengers Team-Up Header

In fact, the reason people even think that a Guardians/Avengers crossover is a real possibility is that Gunn himself planted the idea in fans' heads. Here's what he said a few months back:

"[Marvel and I] talked about all sorts of possibilities [for a crossover] and I kind of know what the basic plan is. That could or could not include a couple of Avengers and a couple of Guardians meeting up, or all of the Avengers and all of the Guardians. But we do inhabit the same universe and they’re pretty big personalities that are likely to, at some point or another, run into each other."

As you can see, he seemed to have an altogether different impression of whether or not the Guardians might cross over with the Avengers in October. Could plans have changed between then and now?

This comes only a few days after Thanos actor Josh Brolin bolstered fans' hopes that such a crossover could happen down the line, perhaps in one of the two Avengers: Infinity War movies. On the topic of his role as Thanos, Brolin said:

"Ultimately, it’s Thanos against everyone."

Some fans took that to mean that Infinity War could feature the biggest Marvel team-up yet. Whether or not that's the case is yet unclear, and Avengers 2 and 3 are still a ways off - Age of Ultron and Civil War have to hit theaters before we can even begin  to start thinking about all that.

Frankly, it's possible that James Gunn just got in trouble for speaking a bit too freely the first time around - "loose lips sink ships" and all that - and he learned his lesson for the more recent interview. We'll probably have to wait a while before we know one way or the other.

What say you, Screen Ranters? Do you want to see the Guardians of the Galaxy meet up with The Avengers on the big screen? Drop us a line in the commens.

The Avengers: Age of Ultron hits theaters May 1st, 2015, followed by The Guardians of the Galaxy on May 5th, 2017, The Avengers: Infinity War - Part 1 on May 4th, 2018 , and The Avengers: Infinity War - Part 2 on May 5th, 2019 .

Follow me on Twitter @benandrewmoore.

Source: Screen Junkies