'The Avengers 2' and 'Guardians of the Galaxy' won't ''swap characters''.

'Avengers' director Joss Whedon has revealed that his Marvel movie franchise won't share characters with James Gunn's upcoming space saga, despite previous speculation the two series would intertwine.

Speaking to BleedingCool.com, he explained: ''We're following 'Guardians' at Shepperton [with 'Avengers 2'] but we won't be swapping cast members.

''Every movie is its own thing and has to be. Unless I take a lot of peyote and write a very different draft... and I'm not ruling that out.''

It was previously thought the characters in next year's 'Guardians of the Galaxy' - which will star Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana and Dave Bautista as a team of extraterrestrial crime-fighters - would be integrated into 'The Avengers' sequel, which is due in 2015.

'Guardians' director Gunn told BANG Showbiz: ''All of our movies are connected. We're created in a way that is connected to the movies that came before us and we're even more connected to 'The Avengers 2', which comes after us. In that respect, what we hope is that these characters continue and at some point in time they'll all meet up with different characters throughout the galaxy.''

Although the cast has yet to be finalised, it's thought Robert Downey Jr., Chris Hemsworth, Chris Evans and Mark Ruffalo will all return for 'The Avengers 2'.