Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2 Will Be 'Deeper, Funnier' Than Original

It looks like the Guardians of the Galaxy really will be hooked on a feeling in their upcoming sequel.

In an interview with The Daily Beast, director James Gunn sat down to spread out the details about Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, particularly the ways in which it expands upon and differs from the original 2014 flick.

When approaching the follow-up Guardians film, Gunn stated he realized a balance needed to be struck.

"When you're making a sequel, there's a balance between giving people the things they need—which are some of the things they expect from the characters in the first movie, and the tone from the first movie—and giving them what they don't expect," Gunn explained.

He then mentioned that when stacking the first Guardians up against what will be the second installment, it's night and day but still quite similar in terms of its trademark tone. Where the original played up the humor and took time establishing the world, the sequel will have more room for maturity and evoke bigger laughs.

"I think this movie is incredibly different from the first film. There's still that lightness and fun and love between characters that spoke to people in the first movie," Gunn began. "But it's a deeper film; it's a richer, more emotional film. And it's also funnier. It's maintaining this balance."

Gunn then spoke about Marvel's influence on the original Guardians of the Galaxy: it was actually virtually non-existent, as the company interacted with the film's creative team but didn't dictate Gunn's actions or attempt to revoke his control.

"In terms of getting pressure from Marvel? No... we of course worked very closely together. But when it came down to it, this is my movie, and they trusted me after I made the first one," he stated, also mentioning that it was "pretty shocking" that Marvel was allowing him to do the things he was with the first Guardians film, which is "so different from so many of the other [Marvel] movies."

He reassured fans that this is still the case with the sequel. The MCU reportedly hasn't touched Guardians Vol. 2, and it still very much remains a product of Gunn, the cast, and the crew. "There is not a single thing in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 which was ever dictated by the larger Marvel Cinematic Universe," Gunn said. "It was pretty much understood [by Marvel] that the Guardians are my guys, so they'd have to deal with whatever came from that. It's a 100-percent self-enclosed story about the Guardians of the Galaxy."

The even more comical and even more emotional Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 lands in theaters on May 5. While you wait to see it in all its glory, pass the time by reading up on the facts about the Guardians you may not know.