James Gunn was denied the use of one Marvel character by Hasbro

One character escaped James Gunn in all three Guardians of the Galaxy movies because of a rights issue.

Director James Gunn is used to having his pick of the litter when it comes to obscure characters from Marvel and DC’s back catalog to use when he makes a superhero movie. And sometimes he goes further. Gunn put Peacemaker in The Suicide Squad and managed to wrangle an HBO Max spinoff starring the troubled pacifist.

That’s an incredible feat for a superhero barely known and sparsely used since the ’80s but even Gunn strikes out now and then when selecting members for a big-screen super squadron. And quite surprisingly, it happened three straight times with the same character when it came time to make Guardians of the Galaxy volumes.

K-Mart Transformers

There is one esoteric but a charter member of the Guardians who most may not know is tied up in a rights dispute. His name is Bug and he is your average insect man who isn’t named Ant-Man or Spider-Man – though he is as agile.

Bug is principally owned by Hasbro as part of their Micronauts toy line, but because he appeared in comics inspired by the toys published by Marvel, they have sway over his rights in print. That carte-blanche doesn’t translate to the cinema, however, as Marvel’s studio has to go through Hasbro.

Squashed that Bug

They always say no; news Gunn had to break to fans debating on Twitter why we don’t see Bug in the MCU. ” Marvel is not allowed to use Bug in films. I have tried to use him in all three movies, and was not able. I hope this settles your argument,” Gunn tweeted back at them.

Bug’s first appearance in a Marvel comic was in 1979 (Micronauts #1) and thereafter he stuck around like a fly on the wall to join the GOTG when the book was relaunched into the second iteration that influenced the MCU team.

Dividends

The character’s limbo status is a bummer but, as you can probably imagine, far from an isolated problem. Gunn has had the same trouble bringing Rom the Space Knight to screens.

Thankfully, there is a silver lining – or two. Hasbro has their own film studio now and maybe keeping Bug in their back pocket for a Micronauts movie. Additionally, Gunn is working with DC these days so he could conceivably bring Ambush Bug into one of his movies or even a Peacemaker episode, now streaming on HBO Max, to make up for it all.

Guardians of the Galaxy 3 is also on the horizon after some stops and starts.

Are the Guardians short a Bug? What other characters do you want to see Gunn give a wack? Answer below and on all applicable socials.