The great thing about a successful franchise is that you get to follow the interconnected stories of a host of different characters, and pick and choose your favorites. The not-so-great thing is the reluctance of fans to say goodbye to the characters. Recently, during an episode of Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum, actor Michael Rooker had a blunt message for fans demanding the return of his character Yondu from the = series.
“No way, I’m dead. I’m dead. My character is dead. I would play something else, I wouldn’t mind. I would play something else, but why would I want to play Yondu? Yondu had a wonderful, [the] most amazing sendoff that you would ever want in cinematic Marvel history. My god, dude, why do you want to spoil that by bringing the character back now? I’m with Gunn. There’s consequences when you die, you’re supposed to stay dead! What the hell you coming back for? Why are they bringing all these schmucks back? Give me a break. Move on, do another movie.”
Yondu was an important part of the first two movies in the franchise. He was the head of the Ravagers, a company of space pirates who abducted Peter Quill from Earth and raised him as one of their own. Over the course of two films, Yondu evolved from a minor villain to a major ally. His fatherly affection for Quill eventually overcame Yondu’s self-preserving instincts as a pirate, prompting him to sacrifice his own life to save Quill and the rest of the Guardians in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.
The affecting manner of Yondu’s death sent shockwaves across the fandom. Since the series takes place within the MCU, where Loki has made a party trick out of returning from the grave, fans badgered series helmer James Gunn on social media to pull a similar stunt to bring back Yondu.
Gunn has always been firm about keeping Yondu dead, maintaining that bringing him back would cheapen his sacrifice, and now it seems that Rooker is of the same opinion, even if it means no longer getting to be a part of the most successful film franchise in history. Still, just because the actor has shut the door on Yondu does not mean he is done with the MCU as a whole since he mentions a willingness to take on another role in the franchise.
It would not be the first time an actor takes on two different Marvel roles. Paul Bettany served as the voice of Tony Stark’s AI assistant JARVIS, before finding a second role as Vision. Josh Brolin played Thanos, but he was also Cable in Deadpool 2, and since the Merc with the Mouth is now a part of Disney and the MCU, so is Cable.
So the day may very well come when we see Michael Rooker in another role in the MCU, perhaps this time playing an earthling instead of a space pirate with a magic wand and a red, cybernetic mohawk. Although that character description alone makes any other possible role seem boring by comparison.