‘Predator: Badlands’ Director Dan Trachtenberg Recalls Being In Mix For Marvel’s ‘Guardians Of The Galaxy’ Before James Gunn

Long before director Dan Trachtenberg‘s “Prey” and “Predator: Badlands” (helping to inject new energy in the “Predator” franchise), the filmmaker got himself on studio radars after making a short film based on the popular video game “Portal,” and would likely lead to his link-up with J.J. Abrams/Bad Robot for their “Cloverfield” spinoff “10 Cloverfield Lane.” But during a recent chat with Josh Horowitz on his podcast “Happy Sad Confused,” the director revealed nearly making a film for Marvel Studios as he was one of the people in the mix to make the first “Guardians of the Galaxy” before James Gunn was ultimately selected, and when they only had the Nicole Perlman script (created in-house as part of the studio’s writers’ program).

“I like so many filmmakers of my generation and younger, who have made a movie that strikes a chord, have definitely met…I will say that I met a producer named Jeremy Latcham at [Marvel Studios] and [Kevin Feige], because of Jeremy, to meet for ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ before James Gunn, based on my short film “Portal,” they were like ‘That’s creative, let’s find someone interesting and cool.’ I did not get the job, obviously, and rightfully so, but still so so awesome.”

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Gunn, of course, would go on to direct a trilogy and a Holiday Special made for Disney+ featuring those “Guardians of the Galaxy” characters, which ultimately left his creative stamp on the cosmic side of the MCU before exiting to oversee DC Studios for Warner Bros. Pictures. Outside of the adorable “I Am Groot” shorts, there hasn’t been much movement on a fourth feature installment (still hopeful we’ll see them again), as Bradley Cooper‘s Rocket Raccoon is now the team’s leader with a different lineup as revealed at the end of “Vol 3.”

Given that Trachtenberg just delivered Disney and 20th Century Studios one of the biggest box office openings for a solo “Predator” film over the weekend with as “Predator: Badlands” nabbed a global debut of $80 million, the director likely is going to be offered other sandbox projects in the future, and we shouldn’t be shocked if Feige (among other studio heads) attempts another meeting if that already hasn’t happened. We’ll keep our fingers crossed that the gestating “Nova” or “Starjammers” (a group of space pirates from the “X-Men” comics led by Cyclops’ father) ends up in those hypothetical discussions, as there are plenty of other cosmic projects to tackle at Marvel.

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“Predator: Badlands” is currently in theaters, with audiences sharing mostly positive experiences, and presumably, Trachtenberg will be asked to helm a fourth movie and third live-action installment.

Below is that podcast episode where Trachtenberg talked about nearly adding to the Marvel Cinematic Universe and other topics.