'More merchandising' for Guardians of the Galaxy's female stars

Karen Gillan as Nebula

Female stars of the new Guardians of the Galaxy movie will feature more prominently in its merchandising, the film's makers have said.

The characters include Nebula, a blue skinned alien played by Scottish actress Karen Gillan.

There was a backlash on social media to merchandise released for the first Guardians film in 2014.

Gamora, who is played by Zoe Saldana, did not appear on a t-shirt while her fellow, male leads did.

The row saw the hashtag #WheresGamora appear on Twitter.

Fans of the film also complained that other merchandise of Gamora, and Gillan's Nebula, who also appeared in the first movie, was harder to find than that featuring male characters.

Chris Pratt, Dave Bautista and Zoe Saldana with CGI characters Rocket Raccoon and Groot in the first Guardians film

In a post on Facebook on Sunday, the films' director James Gunn confirmed that there was a commitment to raising the profile of the female characters.

He wrote: "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 will have Mantis, Nebula, Gamora and Elizabeth Debicki's character as part of the fray, and we're committed to making sure they're included in more toys and merch than the last go round."

Marvel and Disney are involved in making the movies and commissioning the merchandising.

Guardians, which topped the US box office in 2014 with ticket sales of $332.8m (£203.9m), also stars Chris Pratt and Dave Bautista and the voices of Vin Diesel and Bradley Cooper.

Earlier this year, Gunn revealed that Gillan, from Inverness, has a bigger role in the new movie, which is to be released next year.