Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 writer/director James Gunn has explained why he gender-swapped Cosmo the Spacedog in the Marvel Cinematic Universe threequel.
Gunn recently shared a behind-the-scenes photo of Mikaela Hoover (Floor), Asim Chaudhry (Teefs), Sean Gunn (Baby Rocket) and Linda Cardellini (Lylla) in motion capture gear shooting one of the more emotional Rocket flashback scenes. This prompted a Marvel fan to ask Gunn about another motion-capture/CGI character — Cosmo — and why the spacedog was depicted as female despite Cosmo being a “good boy” in the comics. “Because Cosmo is based on Laika, the Russian dog, who was a female, so I gender-swapped her back,” Gunn wrote on Twitter. After fans continued to argue about whether the gender-swap was necessary, Gunn added, “I’d rather honor the real dog who died in outer space. Cosmo would not exist without Laika.”
Cosmo is a telepathic Soviet space dog who first appeared in the MCU back in 2014’s Guardians of the Galaxy as a prisoner of the Collector. After being freed following an explosion caused by the Power Stone, Cosmo made a cameo appearance in the post-credits scene of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017) before becoming a full-fledged member of the Guardians of the Galaxy in the 2022 Disney+ holiday special. Fred the Dog physically portrayed Cosmo in the first two Guardians movies with Slate serving as the on-set reference actor for Cosmo from The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special onward. Cosmo is voiced by Maria Bakalova in the holiday special and Volume 3. She also performs motion capture work for the character.
GOTG Vol. 3 Crosses $500 Million Worldwide
Despite a lower-than-expected opening weekend, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 has done quite well at the box office since it was released in theaters on May 5. After debuting to $118.4 million, the MCU threequel declined only 47 percent in its second weekend, earning an estimated $62.6 million from 4,450 theaters. That’s a better hold than the previous two Guardians movies, which each declined 55 percent in their sophomore outings. At the time of writing, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 has grossed over $500 million worldwide, meaning that the film has already surpassed the lifetime gross of fellow Phase 5 title, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania ($475M).
In Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, the beloved band of misfits’ lives are upended by the echoes of Rocket’s turbulent past. Peter Quill (Chris Pratt), still reeling from the loss of Gamora (Zoe Saldaña) in Avengers: Infinity War, must embark with the rest of the Guardians on a dangerous mission to save Rocket’s life. Dave Bautista, Karen Gillan, Pom Klementieff, Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper and Sean Gunn also star in the superhero threequel, reprising their roles from previous MCU projects as Drax, Nebula, Mantis, Groot, Rocket and Kraglin, respectively.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is currently playing in theaters.
Source: Twitter
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