James Gunn Says He Was Told to Ditch Iconic Guardians of the Galaxy Soundtrack for Britney Spears-Style ’90s Hits

James Gunn has been on a roll lately — Superman landed, Peacemaker keeps popping — so it was funny to see him admit that, yes, even he has gotten a truly bad studio note. And the example he gave? It hits one of his biggest wins right in the mixtape.

The note that would have broken Guardians

On Threads, a fan asked Gunn to name the worst note he has ever gotten. He didn’t hesitate, and the memory goes straight back to Guardians of the Galaxy — the very franchise where he turned a bunch of Marvel oddballs into three blockbuster movies and a minor religion for 70s earworms.

"I was told no one would like the Guardians soundtrack, and I should change it to Britney Spears like 90's songs. I don't know if it's the worst, but it's the one I remember the most!"

Inside baseball alert: that is the kind of note that sounds small but would have completely rewired what those movies are. The whole point of Star-Lord’s Awesome Mix Vol. 1 was that it was a 70s mixtape — personal, a little dusty, totally specific — and it shaped the tone of every scene it touched. Swap that for late-90s pop and you don’t just change the vibe; you swap out the movie’s heartbeat.

Why that suggestion makes zero sense

Nothing against Britney — she has hits for days — but Gunn’s needle drops are engineered to do more than sound good. They’re character work. That curated, deliberately retro playlist is why those scenes land as hard as they do. Think how something like Hooked on a Feeling threads the needle between goofy and sincere and then locks the whole movie onto that wavelength. That isn’t an accident.

In another universe, sure, maybe Star-Lord is shimmying through a space temple to ...Baby One More Time. In ours, Gunn stuck to the 70s, the Awesome Mix stayed intact, and Guardians became, well, Guardians. Sometimes the best creative decision is ignoring the note.