The first Guardians of the Galaxy introduced a lot of people to some of the most obscure superheroes in Marvel’s vast library. Though characters like Star-Lord, Gamora, Groot, Rocket, and Drax have existed for decades, but they didn’t even exist as Guardians of the Galaxy until the Marvel comic by Dan Abnett, Andy Lanning, Paul Pelletier, Rick Magyar, and Nathan Fairbairn.
One of the film’s breakout characters comes from the original Guardians team from the ‘70s—the red-mohawked, blue-skinned Yondu. Played by Michael Rooker in the film, this version of the character was different from his comic book counterpart, with their main similarities being a name and whistle-powered arrow.
Even Yondu’s mohawk is different in the films and in the first movie it was much smaller than how it appears in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, which is more comparable to his comic book counterpart.
Rooker spoke with ScreenCrush regarding his meatier role in the latest Guardians flick, revealing just why the mohawk was different in the first film.
“One ship was … the ceiling was too low,” Rooker said. “There was a couple of vital scenes that we’re doing and it was a little too … I would have hit my head. I would have had to duck down and scrunch over.”
So there wasn’t some cosmetic reason or in-story purpose behind the change, it was just practical with the production of the set.
“Dude, at least that’s the reason they told me,” Rooker added. “They lie to actors all the time. You know these directors and producers lie to us all the time. ‘No, no, no, we can’t do that because of this and this.’ But in reality they just don’t have the money in the budget to make the ceiling higher, okay? Yeah, that’s what they had mentioned. It was low.”
While the shorter, protruding metallic mohawk helped establish Yondu’s aesthetic in the first film, sequels are about going bigger and bolder and that attitude is matched with the bigger version of the ‘do.
Hopefully Rooker sports an even bigger mohawk in Avengers: Infinity War, something reminiscent of an ‘80s gutterpunk.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 hits theaters this Friday.
Michael Rooker Explains Why Yondu Didn’t Always Have A Huge Mohawk