Since James Gunn joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe, we’ve had a few opportunities to chat with him about the comic book properties he loves most outside of the Guardians of the Galaxy movie trilogy. Multiple times over the years the writer and director has expressed interest in Marvel’s Hit Monkey and Vertigo’s We3, alongside Marvel characters he’s particular fond of (Adam Warlock, Howard the Duck, Beta Ray Bill, etc.).
But there’s one character in particular that stands out the most: ROM: Spaceknight. ROM’s history is a little confusing, beginning as a toy sold to Parker Brothers before the character got a comic series. ROM was later licensed to Marvel Comics where he’s most well-known for.
Marvel built the world surrounding ROM, from allies and villains, to a complete origin story and villains (namely the Dire Wraiths), but can no longer use ROM: Spaceknight given the rights issues. IDW now makes the ROM comics with the Hasbro license and for that reason, we had to ask James Gunn about it this week at the Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 junket. I always thought maybe, if Gunn didn’t re-sign for Guardians of the Galaxy 3, he could do the ROM movie for Paramount Pictures who are building a shared Hasbro cinematic universe.
We share a common interest. ROM, the Spaceknight.
I love ROM, too. Do you still have any interest in making ROM: Spaceknight at all?
James Gunn: Yes, I love Rom.
Back in 2015 when James Gunn was developing Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, he revealed on Twitter that he’d finally get to introduce his favorite character in the sequel and I explored the possibility of it being ROM: Spaceknight and how’d that work. It’s obviously not, given Param0unt’s announcement of a ROM movie since, and of course - we’ve seen the Guardians sequel and visited the set and know who’s talking about now.
James Gunn: I don’t because this is the problem. Rom, the story is owned by Marvel Comics. So the Dire Wraiths, you know, all that story is owned by Marvel Comics. The character and the toys are owned by Paramount, so you can’t have both. Now you can’t have the Spaceknight, at Marvel, and you can’t have the Spaceknights without the story. What always interested me was more the story of the Spaceknights. People who gave up their humanity to save their planet was always very interesting to me, so there may be something to do with that, but it won’t be with Rom.
You’ll find out soon as well so stick around for more on this here on Screen Rant!
More: 50 Things We Learned on the Guardians of the Galaxy 2 Set
Set to the all-new sonic backdrop of Awesome Mixtape #2, Marvel Studios’ Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 continues the team’s adventures as they traverse the outer reaches of the cosmos. The Guardians must fight to keep their newfound family together as they unravel the mystery of Peter Quill’s true parentage. Old foes become new allies and fan-favorite characters from the classic comics will come to our heroes’ aid as the Marvel Cinematic Universe continues to expand.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is written and directed by James Gunn and stars Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, featuring Vin Diesel as Baby Groot, Bradley Cooper as Rocket, Michael Rooker, Karen Gillan, Pom Klementieff, Elizabeth Debicki, Chris Sullivan, Sean Gunn, Tommy Flanagan, Laura Haddock, with Sylvester Stallone, and Kurt Russell. Kevin Feige is producing, and Louis D’Esposito, Victoria Alonso, Jonathan Schwartz, Nikolas Korda and Stan Lee are the executive producers.
