James Gunn Created MCU’s Infinity Stones Lore in 3 Minutes

by

James Gunn, director of the Guardians of the Galaxy film trilogy for Marvel, shared recently that it only took him a brief three minutes to establish the backstory of the Infinity Stones, a key element in the narrative of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. These fictional artifacts played a pivotal role in The Infinity Saga, encompassing the first three phases of the MCU.

How 3 minutes of work with Infinity Stones laid the foundation of Infinity Saga

During a conversation with GQ, Gunn reminisced about some of the notable projects he’s been involved with throughout his career, and his time at Marvel Studios was brought up. The director revealed that within just three minutes, he created the origin and significance behind the Infinity Stones in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

The director of Superman, when discussing the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), admitted he was unaware of the MCU phases prior to being asked to create the backstory for the Infinity Stones in the franchise. Gunn explained, “I only knew about the Infinity Stones when they suggested, ‘We’ve been thinking and believe that some of these things might have been Infinity Stones in different forms. Could you write down what the Infinity Stones represent?’

Gunn clarified that when he wrote the scene where Benicio del Toro’s character, Taneleer Tivan / The Collector, explains the Infinity Stones, it was essentially him just taking a few minutes to jot down those lines. He further explained that this brief writing session formed the basis of what eventually became the entire concept of the Infinity Stones. Gunn also mentioned that there were no specific guidelines from Marvel other than the red and blue stones would be the Infinity Stones.

In the interview, Gunn clarified that the concept for the Infinity Stones wasn’t set from the outset. He went on to share that the Power Stone in Guardians of the Galaxy was initially envisioned as red, but Marvel opted to depict the Reality Stone as red in Thor: The Dark World instead. Subsequently, the Power Stone was changed to purple during post-production.

Significantly, the Infinity Stones draw inspiration from the original Infinity Gems, which were initially known as the Soul Gems, in the Marvel Comic books.

Read More

2025-07-10 14:46