One of the best things that ever happened to the Marvel Cinematic Universe was the abolishment of the creative committee, who often ended up doing more harm than good.
Marvel Comics writer Brian Michael Bendis, former editor-in-chief Joe Quesada, publisher Dan Buckley and Marvel Entertainment president Alan Fine all stood between the filmmakers and studio chief Kevin Feige, who then had to report to Marvel CEO Ike Perlmutter. Thankfully, the committee was disbanded in 2015, with Feige having to answer to nobody other than Disney boss Alan Horn, which made things a lot easier for the talent as well.
New book The Story of Marvel Studios: The Making of the Marvel Cinematic Universe via CBR discloses that the five-man team had major concerns about the tone and style James Gunn had in mind for Guardians of the Galaxy, as revealed by producer Jeremy Latcham.
“They did not understand the music. They didn’t understand the tone. We really fought for the movie, and to keep James’ vision intact. We knew we were on to something special. We just kept pushing forward.”
The filmmaker had the unwavering support of Feige, but it was the overseers who presented the most sizable roadblock to bringing his unfiltered vision to the big screen. Thankfully, creativity won out in the end, and Guardians of the Galaxy instantly established itself as one of the most popular entries in MCU canon when the unmistakable talents of James Gunn were unleashed to deliver a crowd-pleasing comic book blockbuster.