Look, we aren’t exactly turning to Guardians of the Galaxy for realism. That said, it’s often fun to hear the kind of changes a production makes for the sake of storytelling. One scene in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3 takes some liberties, according to an astronaut, and he has a suggestion for how it could’ve been improved.
Chris Hadfield, famed spacefarer and engineer, broke down the MCU film in a video with Vanity Fair. In terms of the Marvel movies in order, Guardians 3 gets off comparatively easy, with Hadfield looking at a moment where Chris Pratt, who portrays Peter Quill in the Guardians of the Galaxy cast, winds up floating through space without a suit.
“You can see his face swelling up, that’s real,” Hadfield says. “If you popped your helmet off in space, sure your lungs would sort of collapse, but also your blood would fizz like opening a can of Coke. Release the pressure and suddenly there’s bubbles in your blood and in your cheeks and in all of your flesh.”
Actually, being in space without any form of protection could happen for a brief period, and you wouldn’t freeze over like Pratt does. “Suddenly he’s got frost on his face – it wouldn’t happen like that,” Hadfield states. “There’s no water on your face. It’s not gonna instantaneously freeze. You’ve got a lot of thermal mass, it’s like sticking a big roast in the freezer. It doesn’t instantaneously freeze, it takes a while.”
The astronaut acknowledges that really, a lot of this was to make it clear to us what’s happening. “Most of the stuff that’s happening [is] inside your body, but it’s really hard to show that to the movie audience,” he concedes, “so that’s why they sort of exaggerated what’s happening to his face.”
Really, though, the most glaring flaw? That the best Marvel character for the job wasn’t used. “I think it would’ve been better if this had happened to Groot,” Hadfield adds. “I think Groot would’ve just like flown out of that one ship and gone, ‘Groot!’ And then been on board the other ship, and it wouldn’t have been any big deal.”
We agree. Groot improves most situations, and hopefully the Guardians of the Galaxy 4 release date gives us more of him. In the meantime, our best movies and new movies lists provide recommendations new and old, as well.