How did a racoon get so smart? Is romance in the future for Peter Quill? And who's guarding the
galaxy by the time "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3" comes to a close? Spoilers ahead.
Space: It’s huge. But not so huge that the aliens ever look all that
different from humans, apparently. As has always been the case in the MCU,
half the species in “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” are basically regular
people with face paint. And a lot of them didn’t even check into hair and makeup.
Many of the extras on Knowhere and even the High Evolutionary himself all appear to be Earthlings,
yet they aren’t. Again, that isn’t anything new for the franchise, but
it feels particularly strange this time around. The High Evolutionary is clearly not from Earth,
though he is in the comics, as he talks about having “visited” the planet once. And yet,
he appears to be a normal man, and he crafts his “Counter-Earth” in
its namesake’s image. He even fills it with evolved versions of Earth animals!
There are fan theories that have tried to explain this away, but the real answer, unfortunately,
is probably just ease of production. It’s not unusual for sci-fi movies to fill half the
galaxy with humans, as any “Star Wars” fan will tell you. But then again, Earth doesn’t exist in
“Star Wars,” so it doesn’t feel quite so strange. A little more makeup would have gone a long way
toward the cosmic worldbuilding of the MCU, but “Vol. 3” also had a chance to explain all the
humans in a way that connects to the story. Instead, their presence remains a mystery.
Over the course of “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3,” Rocket’s whole tragic backstory is
revealed. The film opens with a shot of him as a baby raccoon in a cage -- the only one of his
litter who faces his captors when they come instead of turning his back. Piece by piece,
we see him be experimented on, learn to speak, grow older, make friends,
and ultimately lose them at the hands of the High Evolutionary.
Perhaps the most curious thing revealed in the flashbacks, however, is just how special Rocket
actually is. As a kit, he identifies a huge flaw in the High Evolutionary’s bioengineering tech.
Thanks to his keen eye, the process is fixed, and the villain’s plan for a “perfect species” moves
forward. Unfortunately, Rocket’s technical brilliance also puts a target on his back.
The High Evolutionary becomes obsessed with Rocket’s intelligence. He can’t understand how
a being he “created” could have found a problem he himself couldn’t identify. The whole thing
could be written off as Rocket simply having a sharp mechanical mind, but is there something
more going on here? The High Evolutionary has created countless creatures and tested them all
in various ways. If Rocket truly is the only one to ever generate such an original idea,
that makes him incredibly unique, but the film stops short of explaining why that’s the case.
The Guardians save Rocket from his grievous injuries, but just barely. By the time
Star-Lord and Gamora upload the passkey that allows him to receive medical treatment,
he’s already got one foot on the other side. This leads to a curious scene in which Rocket talks to
Lylla -- his fellow test subject, former friend, and implied love interest -- in a white void.
Essentially, she tells him that she’s in a Heavenly paradise,
and that their other friends who died are also there. Rocket says he wants to join them,
but she reminds him that he can’t just yet because he still has work to do in the land of the living.
The big question here, of course,
is what’s actually going on? Is this a true vision of the afterlife? Or is it
merely a hallucination in Rocket’s mind -- a delusion caused by his near-death experience?
"And me and my friends are gonna go flying together into the forever and beautiful sky."
Aside from its core character arcs pulling heavily from “Avengers Infinity War” and “Endgame,”
“Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” doesn’t connect much to the rest of the MCU. That ends up working
to its benefit, as the film feels more independent and less like a nexus point for cameos and future
set-ups. However, there are times when it feels downright odd how separate the story is. There
are no references to the multiverse, no chaos magic, and hardly any nods to Phase 4, period.
Even more curious is the lack of reference to Thanos. Or rather, Nebula and Gamora reference
Thanos because he was their “father,” but there are no real allusions to the snap. When Thanos
used the Infinity Gauntlet, he didn’t just wipe out half of all sentient life on Earth;
he did it everywhere. You’d think that would have an effect on someone trying
to create whole new species and societies, but the High Evolutionary never brings it up.
To be fair, the Infinity Saga is over, and the MCU simply may not be interested in
dealing with it any longer. But it would have been interesting and relevant to hear how the
snap impacted the High Evolutionary’s plans. He’s obsessive with his work and sees himself
as a god. How did it make him feel when half of all his experiments vanished in an instant?
The High Evolutionary is a despicable villain, but he gets his comeuppance in
the end. His subordinates rebel against him, the Guardians destroy his ship,
and when Rocket finally confronts him, the raccoon takes him down. The thing is,
Rocket chooses not to land a killing blow on his tormentor. He’s a Guardian of the Galaxy,
not a killer, and he chooses to help get all the animals out instead.
The High Evolutionary is in rough shape when they leave him, and his ship completely explodes soon
after. It seems impossible that he could have survived, but without a definitive kill shot,
we can’t say for sure. Could he return to the MCU in the future? Of course
he could. Will he? Probably not. He has no connection to the big-picture plot in Phase 5,
and it doesn’t seem like he’d have a reason to go up against any other notable Marvel heroes.
Since there are no plans at the moment for a fourth “Guardians of the Galaxy” movie,
that would seem to quash any chance of a High Evolutionary revenge story.
If you went into “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” expecting Star-Lord and the new
Gamora to get back together, you might be a little disappointed right now. Though the
two share some tender moments, Gamora never quite returns to her old self.
"That girl died and then came back a total dick."
She emphasizes repeatedly that she can only be the person she is now: one with a very different
set of experiences and perspectives on the world. Though she reconnects with the other
Guardians and befriends them again by the end of the movie, she never actually rejoins the team.
In the final moments of the “Vol. 3,” Gamora returns to her new Ravager family,
where she’s welcomed with revelry and open arms. But before she leaves,
she does express a bit of regret that she can’t be the person who once loved Peter again.
Could these two crazy kids ever figure it out? It’s possible. Who knows what
wild cosmic circumstances might bring them crashing back together down the line? However,
because “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” feels like such a definitive endpoint,
a reunion for Quill and Gamora seems unlikely. The whole movie has a theme of growing beyond
your worst moments -- of letting the past go to embrace the future. Peter accepting that his
Gamora is gone is a big part of that message, and it would cheapen the story to undo it.
By the end of “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3,” the population of Knowhere has
grown exponentially. Refugees of all species from the High Evolutionary’s
ship now call the floating head home, and they have a fearless new leader in Nebula.
The blue-skinned cyborg who once wanted nothing more than to murder and destroy has become the
mayor of space town, and she fits the job surprisingly well. Nebula arguably has the
biggest arc of any of the main characters, and she feels more like the leader through
“Vol. 3” than Star-Lord. She even recruits Drax to help her build the new “city” of Knowhere.
Under their guiding hands, Knowhere seems destined for great things, or at least peace.
But what exactly this new society will look like remains unclear. Knowhere is naturally nomadic,
so could it become a rescue vessel for other refugees and people in need? Will
all of the High Evolutionary’s prisoners remain there, or will Nebula embark on
a great mission to return them all to their rightful homes? And perhaps most importantly,
will Knowhere pop up again in the MCU, floating through the cosmos? Only time will tell.
The “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” script finally treats Mantis as an equal with the others,
and she shines in the spotlight. But when all is said and done,
she decides to split off from the group and travel alone for a while. She says that her whole life,
she’s only followed others, and that it’s time for her to forge her own path and discover
what she actually wants out of life. It’s a nice moment for a character who’s usually
caught up in other people’s emotional lives, but it’s unknown where she’ll go.
To be fair, even Mantis doesn’t know where her journey will take her. That’s kind of
the point. After being freed from Ego and traveling the galaxy with the Guardians,
she finally has a chance to discover things in her own way and her own time. Could she
pop up in another space-set marvel movie later on in Phase 5 or beyond? Almost certainly. Plus,
since Star-Lord and Mantis are half-siblings, they’ll always have a reason to reunite. Judging
from the film’s post-credits scene, it seems that Peter will be sticking
around in the MCU for a while longer, and Mantis could be part of that next arc.
It’s not just Mantis who goes her own way at the end of “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.” By all
definitions of the phrase, the squad breaks up. Star-Lord returns to Earth to reconnect with his
grandfather, Nebula and Drax stay on Knowhere to lead the community there and build the new city,
and Gamora returns to the Ravagers. A new team is formed, led by Rocket and composed of Kraglin,
Cosmo the Spacedog, Adam Warlock, his pet Blurp, and Groot. One of the kids from the High
Evolutionary’s ship, credited as Phyla, also joins the gang. Given her name and superhuman abilities,
it’s likely that she’s actually the powerful Phyla-Vell from the comics.
This new team is plenty of fun, but it’s hard not to wonder if the original Guardians will
ever properly reunite. It would be simple enough to get Nebula, Drax,
Rocket, and Groot back together, as the new team likely still hangs out on Knowhere. And
Star-Lord will surely return to action sooner or later after a well-earned break back home.
But with James Gunn now leading DC’s cinematic efforts and the MCU moving into new territory,
there’s no guarantee that we’ll ever see the original Guardians squad together again.
"Are you ready? For one last ride?"
After a brief post-credits scene of Star-Lord relaxing with his grandfather back on Earth,
a final message promises that the character will be back in the MCU. Naming Peter in
particular would seem to suggest that the other Guardians are gone for now, which makes sense.
Their stories have all wrapped up, for the most part, and they’ve gone their separate ways. But
while there may not be another “Guardians of the Galaxy” movie, Star-Lord’s run is not yet done.
There are a number of places where Quill could pop up in the future.
“The Marvels” will feature another cosmic MCU story, and anywhere there are aliens,
Star-Lord could appear. We don’t know much yet about “Captain America:
New World Order,” but that could also be an upcoming venue for a Star-Lord cameo. Since
Peter is back on Earth he could easily fall into whatever shenanigans Sam Wilson gets up to next.
Alternatively, Star-Lord could be held in reserve for one of the next big MCU crossover events,
like the impending “Secret Wars” series or “Avengers: The Kang Dynasty.” It’s impossible
to know for sure, but the former Ravager from Missouri will be back sooner or later.