The story behind the MCU’s first cinematic F-bomb

Rory Cashin

Writer and director James Gunn tells JOE all about what will soon be an infamous scene in the MCU.

As per the Irish Film Classification Office, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 has a certificate of 12A, with the office commenting that the film includes “Fantasy violence throughout. Occasional strong language and some frightening imagery.” What that doesn’t specifically tell you is that GOTG3 contains the MCU’s first official F-bomb.

To date, the Marvel movies have always toed the line with their audiences, making sure the violence was never too violent, the intensity was never too intense, but have mostly completely avoided things like scenes of a sexual nature, or verbal profanity. That was until recently, when Eternals gave audiences the first MCU sex scene, and now GOTG3 will feature the MCU’s first f-bomb.

JOE recently had the opportunity to sit down with James Gunn, the writer and director of all three Guardians of the Galaxy movies, and you can check out that interview in full right here:

As well as chatting about the strong Irish connection to the Guardians, as well as the emotional final day on-set, we had to ask about the MCU’s first f-bomb, and if there was any push back at all within Marvel against the line. Gunn told us the following:

“The F-bomb was something that I was concerned about, because it was so funny! So it was like, I didn’t expect him to say that, it is not in the script. I said that to him, so I can talk to Chris all the time when we’re on set, and I said, y’know, and I told him to say that line. And he said it, and it was just so freaking funny on the day.

“But then a lot of the time, something will be funny on the day and you don’t know if they’re going to be funny in the cut, and we put it in the cut, and it was just so damned funny. And I was like ‘Awh, man, Disney is going to make me take this out, aren’t they? They’ve never made me do anything, and this is the first time they’re going to make me do something and I’m going to be bummed out.

‘And then Kevin Feige, one day I was like ‘What about that F-bomb?’, and he was like ‘Well, the Russo Brothers had one in Endgame at one point, and it got a big applause, but at the end of the day, the Russo Brothers didn’t want that to be their legacy’. And Kevin said ‘So if you want that to be your legacy, then sure.’

“And I said ‘Kevin, if you think you’re scaring me away, instead of just enticing me even more to put this in the movie, you’re crazy’. And so, that’s how it happened. And then he laughed his ass off.”

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 arrives in Irish cinemas on Wednesday 3 May. You can check out our review of the movie right here.