The Guardians of the Galaxy have taken their last ride, and the Marvel universe may never
be the same.
Who lives, who dies, and what's the deal with that talking dog?
Let's break down the ending of this trilogy-capping adventure.
Warning: spoilers ahead for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.
Most of "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3" is spent trying to save Rocket.
The movie opens with a brutal attack by Adam Warlock on Knowhere, which has become a thriving
base of operations for the Guardians since they bought it in their Disney+ holiday special.
Rocket is grievously injured in the assault.
Saving him means going after the High Evolutionary -- a deranged bioengineer obsessed with creating
"the perfect species and the perfect society."
He's also the man who made Rocket what he is, making the whole mission more complicated.
By the final act, Rocket is healed, but his creator still seeks vengeance.
What follows is a massive space battle between Knowhere and the Evolutionary's flagship,
while the Guardians attempt to save the many innocent beings trapped by the villain.
What makes this climax really hit home, though, is the characters' willingness to sacrifice.
They spend the whole film trying to revive Rocket, only for Nebula, Drax, and Mantis
to get captured in the process.
So Rocket, Star-Lord, and Gamora go back for them, the children the Evolutionary has imprisoned,
and every other life form on his ship.
"Vol. 3" is a movie where saving lives, not killing the villain, is the goal.
The ending resonates much stronger for that reason.
For Rocket, fighting through the High Evolutionary's flagship means returning to the place of his
creation.
We get his full backstory in bits and pieces throughout the movie: his horrific, caged
existence as a baby raccoon, his brutal transformation into a humanoid hybrid, and his eventual escape.
We also see how his three closest friends in captivity all died as they tried to flee.
You'd think that going back would be a tough ask for Rocket, but he does it without fear
or hesitation.
"I'm done running."
He leads the charge into the belly of the beast, and, eventually, he works his way to
the very room where he and his friends were once caged.
The cells are packed with more innocent animal specimens, and Rocket sets them all free.
His encounter with the cage of baby raccoons is particularly powerful.
Desperate to give them the chance he never had, he struggles to fit every single one
on his body and carry them to safety.
In a stark contrast to previous films, Rocket even acknowledges himself as a raccoon in
this scene after reading the label on the cage.
"What's a racoon?"
"It's what you are, stupid."
"Ain't no thing like me except me."
Having faced his demons and conquered them, he's finally able to take ownership of who
he truly is, free of anyone else's control.
At last, just like the animals he liberates, he's free.
"Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3" is all about creation.
It's the thing the High Evolutionary is obsessed with -- building a species and society that's
perfect.
But his ambitions are so thoroughly corrupted that all his efforts turn out wrong.
"He didn't want to make things perfect.
He just hated things the way they are."
After defeating the villain, the Guardians take a different approach to creation.
Knowhere more than doubles in population size thanks to all the freed lifeforms, and Nebula
dedicates herself to building a "new society" for them.
She uses the same words as the High Evolutionary, yet the society she refers to couldn't be
more different.
Where the villain used eugenics to eradicate any traits he deemed unsuitable, Knowhere
welcomes all kinds of people, and becomes a home around them.
It's powerful to see Nebula so dedicated to creating something good.
For years, rage was her only motivator, and violence her only tool.
Now, she genuinely wants to be the one in charge -- the person responsible for building
a better world and protecting those in it.
Fortunately, she'll have Drax by her side while she does it.
After insulting him mercilessly for most of the movie, she acknowledges his pure heart
and asks for his help with the children.
Gamora is dead; long live Gamora.
For most of the movie, Peter tries desperately to bring the new, or old, depending on how
you view the "Guardians of the Galaxy" timeline, Gamora back to the version he knew.
But by the end of "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3," she's still not there.
And she may never be.
Gamora certainly has an arc in the movie.
At the start, she's a cold-hearted loner with no interest in rebuilding friendships with
any of the Guardians.
But as the adventure continues, she starts to soften and seems to enjoy being around
them.
She can even understand Groot again by the end of the film.
However, she doesn't actually rejoin the family.
Instead, she decides to return to the Ravagers, where she seems to genuinely belong.
As she tells Quill, she's simply not the person he used to know, and it's unlikely that she
will ever be.
There's still a moment of hesitation before she leaves Peter for good.
Looking away from him, both tearing up, she says simply, "I bet we were fun."
It's an effective line -- an acknowledgment that she both wishes she could be that person
again and that she can't.
She can only be the Gamora she is now: one who seems happily at home with her new Ravager
family.
Having only joined the franchise in "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2," Mantis has always felt
a bit like a secondary protagonist.
"Vol. 3" fixes that by giving her as much material as nearly anyone else in the movie,
and it acknowledges her own unique role by sending her off on some solo adventures at
the end of the movie.
The High Evolutionary is defeated, Knowhere is saved, and the Guardians all choose different
paths for the immediate future.
For Mantis, that means following her own compass for once, rather than Ego's, or her team's,
or anyone else's.
What does that mean exactly?
Maybe setting up her own private practice where she helps people process her emotions.
Maybe a long, relaxing, well-earned vacation at the cushiest resort in the galaxy.
Or maybe she'll continue her superhero work, just outside the purview of the other Guardians.
Whatever Mantis's next chapter brings, it could slot her back into the MCU at a later
point.
For now, though, she's clearly focused on herself, which is a healthy departure from
the character we met in Vol. 2.
Both of Ego's children in the Guardians take some solo time at the end of "Vol. 3."
Mantis goes off to focus on her own desires and priorities, and Star-Lord finally ventures
home to Earth.
As he tells the rest of the crew, he's been running ever since his mother died when he
was a kid.
So in the interest of no longer running, he goes to see if his grandfather is still alive.
Lo and behold, he is.
Peter Quill's reunion with his aging grandpa is a touching moment.
It's sweet to see the family back together at last, but it also symbolizes a major step
in Peter's larger arc.
What he says to his team is right -- he has been running his whole life.
Whether that's from his own problems, enemy ravagers, the law, or Thanos, he's always
managed to find some crisis to keep him busy and his mind off of more personal matters.
His willingness to face his past at all -- to cast off the markers of Star-Lord and just
become Pete for a while -- is commendable.
It shows just how far he's come over the course of the trilogy and the MCU as a whole.
At the end of the day, the "Guardians of the Galaxy" films are about accepting the bad
things that have happened to you and finding new sources of joy in spite of them.
That process is never easy, but Peter's finally on the right path.
We are Groot "I am Groot."
"I am Groot?"
"I am Groot."
It's maybe the most famous line in all of the MCU, strictly on the merits of how frequently
it's been said.
When a major character can only say one thing, it's bound to pop up a lot.
But at the end of "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3," something strange happens.
In their final meeting before going their separate ways, the Guardians hug it out, and
Groot says something different: "I love you guys."
If you got a bit confused while watching this scene, that's more than fair.
After all, the other characters don't even react.
But that's because Groot doesn't actually say anything different than normal.
All of us can just understand it now.
In a 2020 interview with Digital Spy, James Gunn explained how Groot's language actually
works.
"People don't learn Groot through knowing the language.
They learn it through connecting with Groot."
The film demonstrates this just moments before the big line in a scene between the big guy
and Gamora.
He approaches her alone to tell her it was good to work with her again, and she's surprised
to discover that she understands him.
By going on the grand adventure to save Rocket and defeat the High Evolutionary, she's reconnected
with Groot enough to speak with him.
And so have we.
This is a true fourth-wall-break moment.
Because we've all followed the Guardians on their many adventures, we too can finally
understand Groot.
We all, the film seems to say, are part of the family.
A second chance Redemption is one of the big themes of "Guardians
of the Galaxy Vol. 3."
In the final act, Adam Warlock is baffled after Groot saves him from certain death.
His confusion is understandable.
After all, he spends the whole movie trying to kill the Guardians.
But Groot gives a simple answer, and Drax translates, saying, "Everyone deserves a second
chance."
Adam quickly justifies this by saving Star-Lord from the cold vacuum of space.
However, he's far from the only character in the movie to benefit from a second chance.
Nebula has arguably the most significant arc through the whole "Guardians" series, with
the end of "Vol. 3" seeing her heading up a new, healthy, positive society.
It's a far cry from the violent villain she is in the first film, and it shows just how
far a little compassion and kindness can go.
Peter also gives his grandfather a second chance after a rocky childhood, and it ends
up being the right decision.
"Guardians of the Galaxy" has always been about healing -- about how trauma changes
us, but also how we can grow past it.
"Vol. 3" takes that theme to its natural conclusion by telling a story all about rebuilding.
The film opens with a Rocket flashback, followed by a long-take tour of Knowhere under construction.
With Nebula leading the effort, the citizens of the cosmic community are building something
together.
And after Adam Warlock comes in and smashes half of Knowhere to bits, they start rebuilding.
Peter rebuilds his life after the death of Gamora.
Rocket rebuilds his after a lifetime of abuse.
Even Drax finds a kind of surrogate family by becoming an adoptive father to the many
child prisoners of the High Evolutionary.
From every angle, "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3" shows that tragedy leaves scars, but
that healing and rebuilding are always possible.
The characters in "Guardians" are broken people at the start, hurt by loneliness, torture,
and loss.
But by the end of "Vol. 3," they've made a home for themselves and others like them where
all are welcome.
This all stands in stark contrast to the High Evolutionary, who would rather demolish an
entire planet he created and start over than attempt to fix things.
His view that flaws are to be incinerated, not treated, is the reason he becomes so corrupt.
Perfection.
That's what the High Evolutionary claims to be pursuing.
"My sacred mission is to create the perfect society."
For the good of the galaxy, he says, he must create, destroy, and torment countless lives,
all to make something perfect.
But of course, there's no such thing as a perfect species, or a perfect world, or a
perfect person.
Everything in "Guardians of the Galaxy" is broken, but that's what makes it beautiful.
Rocket suffered horribly at the hands of the High Evolutionary and lost close friends,
but he still manages to find a new family for himself, just like Peter, Drax, and the
others do.
Gamora is a walking ghost in "Vol. 3" -- a woman whose life was stolen from her and who's
forced to pick up the pieces.
And yet, she finds a new path that still gives her meaning.
Nebula is perhaps the clearest example of this theme, as her body was literally broken
time and again by her father.
But now, she uses those modifications to help others.
It's only fitting, then, that the Guardians build their home on Knowhere -- the severed
head of an ancient being that's been attacked and reconstructed numerous times.
And of course, there's Rocket himself, who finds the flaw in his creator's bioengineering
scheme despite being, by all accounts, a run-of-the-mill experiment.
There is no such thing as a perfect world, but there is power and purpose in the imperfection.
Where the High Evolutionary sees flaws in his creations, the citizens of Knowhere see
valuable life.
The superhero genre has gotten so expensive and complicated in recent years that it can
be easy to forget its original appeal.
Long before endless Easter eggs and multiversal crossovers, comic book movies were about Superman
and Batman saving innocent people.
It didn't have to be from Lex Luthor, or the Joker, or Thanos.
Sometimes it was just from a burning building or an airplane that lost an engine or a runaway
train.
"Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3" gets back to that original superhero intention in its
final act.
It's not enough for the heroes to save just themselves, or the children imprisoned by
the High Evolutionary.
They have to save everyone -- from the biggest Abilisk to the smallest baby raccoon.
It seems like an obvious beat for a Marvel movie, and yet, it feels surprisingly fresh.
Instead of putting the climactic focus on beating the bad guy, James Gunn rests it squarely
on the rescue -- the saving of lives.
The scene where all the animals escape is honestly pretty emotional, as well as being
hilarious.
The message of "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3" seems to be that all life, regardless of
creation, intention, or language, is sacred.
"You left out some important information, but that is the gist of it."
As is only appropriate for the third film in the series, "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.
3" ends with an extended dance scene set to a famous pop song.
But thanks to the Zune passed down from Yondu, to Star-Lord, to Rocket, it's a lot more modern
than most of the music in the franchise.
Rocket hooks the audio up to speakers all around Knowhere and starts blasting Florence
+ the Machine's 2008 hit "Dog Days Are Over."
It's the perfect choice.
The song provides a beautiful thematic wrap-up to the whole "Guardians" trilogy.
It describes a woman who runs and hides from happiness, terrified of losing it.
She knows the pain and sadness of the past and fears facing them again.
But she must embrace the joy, despite her fear.
Despite her vulnerability to future hurt, living in fear is no way to live.
If you've watched these movies, that message shouldn't need much contextualizing.
All of the Guardians have been running from things since we met them: personal losses,
regrets, traumatic childhoods, you name it.
And they're all scared to trust again because it could mean more betrayal down the line.
Fortunately, they convince one another to step back into the space of hope.
Every Marvel movie has to have a mid-credits scene, and in "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.
3," it shows us the fate of the team after its many notable departures.
Rocket is now leading the show, with a supporting crew made up of Groot, Kraglin, Cosmo the
Spacedog, Adam Warlock, and a young girl rescued from the High Evolutionary named Phyla who
could be the comics' Phyla-Vell.
We catch up with the updated troupe as they fight off a herd of deadly monsters on a desert
planet.
Kraglin has fully mastered Yondu's Yaka Arrow by this point, and Groot has grown to a truly
gargantuan size.
As they all await the arrival of their foes, Rocket asks everyone what their current go-to
song is.
They all share, and when he's asked the same question in return, Rocket puts on something
special -- Redbone's "Come and Get Your Love," which kicked off the first "Guardians" film.
It's a great choice, not just because it brings the trilogy full circle, but because it shows
the legacy of Guardians captain passed down from Star-Lord to Rocket.
The scene also drives home just how much happier and healthier Rocket is now, having rediscovered
and fully embraced his childhood love of music.
The "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3" post-credits scene shows Peter Quill eating a peaceful
breakfast of cereal with his Grandfather, who's reading the newspaper.
They chat briefly, and when the scene fades to black, a message appears stating that Star-Lord
will return to the MCU.
This is pretty big news, as all indications from James Gunn and the cast point to "Vol.
3" being the end of the story.
It's significant that the stinger only mentions Star-Lord, rather than the whole team, as
that implies that the "Guardians of the Galaxy" squad is done, at least for now.
So when will we see Peter Quill again?
"Well, that's a good question."
The logical explanation is that Star-Lord will pop up on Earth in some future MCU project
-- possibly "Secret Wars," "The Marvels," or "Avengers: The Kang Dynasty."
Disney would need to have such an appearance locked down with Chris Pratt already in order
to make that commitment, and it's easy to imagine him helping out some of his fellow
Earthlings down the line.
Does that mean that the other Guardians couldn't also return someday?
Not necessarily.
James Gunn is likely done with Marvel for the foreseeable future now that he's heading
up DC's docket of superhero films, but some of his characters could come back in cameos
or crossovers.
However, "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3" feels like a pretty clear finale for this
particular squad.
It's the end of an era, and the first real trilogy Marvel Studios has completed in years.
Every character gets to walk into the sunset in their own way, and the series might do
well to leave them there for a while.