As with our story on Guardians Of The Galaxy's credit sting and the spoiler special podcast interview feature, this is a spoiler-filled zone, so if you have happened upon this page without already having seen Guardians Of The Galaxy, go fix that problem and come right back.
Two key questions stood out for Guardians Of The Galaxy fans: who could Peter Quill's dad be, and how might Thanos factor into the sequel? We posed both questions to director James Gunn to get the definitive answer.
"There have been a lot of documents passed around about who Peter Quill’s father is between a select two or three of us," says Gunn. "That’s been part of the plan since the beginning, that’s something I had to work out before we shot the screenplay. We wanted to make sure Yondu’s place in everything made sense and it does, so it’s all very specific stuff."
Importantly, Gunn had a major revelation for fans trying to work out who Peter Quill's father might be. "It’s definitely not the character who it is in the comics, I’ll say that much."
For those not in the know, the comics' have J'son, also known as "Jason of Spartax" - the Emperor of the Spartoi Empire - as young Star-Lord's dad, a complicated and intriguing character that's hard to explain in a few sentences. For the curious, check out Marvel's site for more details.
As for Thanos possibly being the big bad for Guardians Of The Galaxy 2, don't get your hopes up. "He will show up [in the sequel] if he helps our story and he will not show up at all if not. Thanos is not the most important thing in Guardians 2, that’s for damn sure. There’s the Guardians themselves and other threats the Guardians are going to be facing that are not Thanos."
But before you start worrying for The Mad Titan, floating around up there in space on his lonesome after The Other had his face rearranged, Gunn has some reassuring words: "I think Thanos has been lonely for a long time. He can handle it. He’s used to his loneliness. He’s got some other kids out there. He’s got to look after them. Nebula’s probably the sweetest of them, which tells you what his kids are like..."
For much more from Gunn about the film and his future plans, check out the aforementioned feature for much more.
**Guardians Of The Galaxy **is in cinemas now, and Guardians Of The Galaxy 2 is set for a July 28, 2016 release.