Darth Vader was almost in Guardians of the Galaxy

Speaking at the Hollywood premiere of Spiderman: Homecoming, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige revealed he initially planned to fit a Vader action figure into the first Guardians of The Galaxy movie.

“Always, we wanted to reveal at a certain point in the movie that Peter Quill was a human from Earth," Feige told Mashable. "And for a long time, I really thought it was going to be the greatest thing in the world that you're in a spaceship and he's talking to one of the alien characters and he knocks over his bag and one of the alien characters bends down and picks up — and it was a Darth Vader action figure — [and] goes, 'What's this?'"

Impressive. Most impressive. However, Feige soon choked on his conviction to bring Vader into the picture when director James Gunn signed onto the project and swapped the Star Wars reference for a Walkman.

Feige said: “To make a long story short, James Gunn was basically like, ‘I got a better idea. What if he had a Walkman and listened to music?’ And it was like, ‘Oh, that’s a million times better.’ Because the Star Wars thing was just a nerdy reference in a single moment, and obviously, the conceit of the music redefined the entire movie.”

Indeed it did. Quill’s Walkman transformed the sci-fi blockbuster into a musically-driven ode to the ’80s, providing a retro reference feast for older viewers and a unique soundtrack for younger ones. Sorry Darth, Sith happens, but sometimes for good reasons.