Guardians Of The Galaxy Vs. Avengers Has A Clear Winner, According To James Gunn

James Gunn's presence in the superhero film genre looms large. He made arguably the best trilogy in the Marvel Cinematic Universe with the "Guardians of the Galaxy" franchise, and he's hard at work at DC, as well, with the critically-acclaimed "The Suicide Squad" and his upcoming work on "Superman: Legacy." It's safe to say he knows a thing or two about comic books and superheroes, including who would win in a fight between two massive team-ups. 

Many comic book conversations center around who would win in a fight if famous heroes went up against each other. Now, Gunn has laid down the gauntlet of who would win if the Avengers and the Guardians of the Galaxy found themselves on opposing sides. Gunn appeared on the "Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum" podcast to offer his unfiltered opinion: "Listen, I always thought that the Guardians would beat the s*** out of the Avengers easily." Those are pretty big words, and he offers some reasoning behind them: "Like, it's just they're from outer space. They have technology that is pretty advanced, so it would be hard to beat them."

Gunn is naturally biased toward the Guardians, but it brings up an interesting question of who would genuinely win between the two teams. Let's do a little analysis and some good, old-fashioned speculating to determine who has the true advantage.

For the sake of simplicity, let's only look at the cinematic versions of the Avengers and Guardians of the Galaxy. The teams have seen many changes in the comics over the years, and occasionally, an Avenger has joined the Guardians, like Iron Man. Even with the movies, things get tricky because there's the question of who counts as an Avenger. Would the likes of Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) and Captain Marvel (Brie Larson) be included? It gets tricky quickly, so we'll only be focused on the six original Avengers.

Both teams are pretty evenly matched on the surface. They've both handled hordes of faceless bad guys, culminating in showdowns with big bads. The Avengers defeated Loki (Tom Hiddleston), Ultron (James Spader), and Thanos (Josh Brolin), albeit they lost to that last one initially. Plus, each individual member has taken down their fair share of baddies. Meanwhile, the Guardians are most impressive when they're a group, defeating Ronan the Accuser (Lee Pace), Ego (Kurt Russell), and the High Evolutionary (Chukwudi Iwuji). The Guardians also deserve some extra points because they were able to harness the power of an Infinity Stone to beat Ronan. Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) used one, too, but at the expense of his own life. 

In terms of powers, it's a mixed bag. Star-Lord (Chris Pratt) has blasters, while Gamora (Zoe Saldaña) and Drax (Dave Bautista) are more close-range combatants. It's safe to say Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) and Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) wouldn't stand much of a chance, but then there's the Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) of the matter. He's big enough to turn Rocket (Bradley Cooper) into roadkill, and that may be all it takes to sway favor toward the Avengers.

While Hulk gives the Avengers a clear advantage, the Guardians could always try to use Mantis (Pom Klementieff) to alter his mood so that he's not angry. At that point, he'd theoretically revert to normal Bruce Banner. There's also the question of whether we're talking about a full-blown angry Hulk or Smart Hulk, who seems far less inclined to destroy everything in his path. But even if the Guardians find a way to handle Hulk, there's still Thor (Chris Hemsworth), the god of thunder. Their blasters and swords wouldn't do a ton of good against him. 

And James Gunn's comments that the Guardians have advanced technology seem a bit out-of-step considering Iron Man has nanotechnology within his suits. He could easily go toe-to-toe with Star-Lord, but the fact the Guardians have the telepathic Cosmo (Maria Bakalova) could give them a major advantage. There are numerous variables to this fight, so it's tough to declare a flat-out winner. But given the Avengers have both Hulk and Thor, it certainly seems like they'd be in a prime position to take down the Guardians. 

Of course, if anyone's interested in seeing the Avengers and Guardians of the Galaxy fight, they did precisely that in an episode of "Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes." Both sides get some good licks in, but it ultimately comes down to a draw once they realize it's been a misunderstanding. For now, fans will have to hold out hope that a live-action Avengers vs. Guardians brawl somehow manifests in "Avengers: Secret Wars."