Will we see Drax, Nebula, and all the rest after the Guardians of the Galaxy drop their
third adventure?
And what's the deal with Will Poulter's Adam Warlock?
Here's what you need to know about what seems to be James Gunn's final film in the MCU.
After a controversial Phase 4, the MCU's Phase 5 kicked off in March with "Ant-Man and the
Wasp: Quantumania".
The film set up some huge stakes for the MCU by introducing the new big bad, Kang the Conqueror.
However, after all that multiverse madness, Phase 5 will shift its focus from the Quantum
Realm to Knowhere as the saga of Star-Lord continues.
"Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3" has had a long road to theaters.
As everyone knows, director James Gunn was fired from the "Guardians" movies in 2018,
after a politically charged controversy involving old tweets.
Of course, he was eventually rehired by Disney, and after joining forces with DC for "The
Suicide Squad" and "Peacemaker," Gunn was able to focus on getting Drax, Mantis, and
Nebula back on the big screen.
With all that drama out of the way, "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3" is finally in the can.
So, when can we expect to see these adorable losers and murderous misfits?
"Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3" will return in all its action-packed, emotional, musical
glory on May 5, 2023.
There are two trailers for "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3" as of the making of this video,
and they promise to bring hilarity, horror, heroics, but mostly heartbreak.
The first trailer opens with the Guardians landing on a strange planet filled with humanoid animals.
It's possible this could be a combination of two different Marvel worlds — Counter-Earth
and Halfworld.
In the comics, Counter-Earth is a place created by the High Evolutionary, while Halfworld
is a planet filled with anthropomorphic animals, all the result of horrific experiments.
After Drax makes a hilarious and disastrous first impression on the locals, we get a glimpse
of the Guardians donning "2001: A Space Odyssey"-inspired space suits, baby Rocket about to suffer at
the hands of the High Evolutionary, and our heroes preparing to make a final stand.
"We have been running our whole lives."
"Pete, I'm done running."
While the emotions are high, the trailer does end with Peter Quill and Drax debating the
appropriate number of people to kill, showing these guys will always be our lovable criminals.
The second trailer, released during Super Bowl 2023, starts off by highlighting the
sticky dynamics between Peter and this new Gamora, who has no memory of him whatsoever.
As a result, she doesn't exactly reciprocate his affectionate feelings.
We also get a much better look at the High Evolutionary and his sinister intentions,
which in his mind is to make the perfect society.
But his most famous experiment, Rocket Raccoon, has a different take on the situation.
"He didn't want to make things perfect.
He just hated things the way they are."
It also gives us several new shots of Adam Warlock in combat with the Guardians, going
toe to toe with Drax in what's sure to be a nail-biter of a battle.
"Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3" was filmed immediately after "Thor: Love and Thunder."
Meanwhile, director James Gunn took on an extra project, making the 2022 "Holiday Special"
at the same time as the movie.
Gunn confirmed that the Disney+ special is part of the Marvel canon, and that it actually
sets the stage quite nicely for "Vol. 3."
In "The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special," we learn several key details about the future
of our scrappy band of space pirates.
Following their appearance in "Love and Thunder" the remaining team of Quill, Drax, Mantis,
Nebula, Rocket, and Groot have moved on to continue protecting the galaxy.
The "Holiday Special" revealed that they settled on Knowhere, buying the severed Celestial
head that once served as a base for Tivan the Collector.
In addition to seeing some bizarre gift giving, which included Mantis and Drax kidnapping
Kevin Bacon for Quill and Nebula stealing Bucky Barnes' vibranium arm for Rocket, we
learn they've acquired a new ship called the Bowie.
Most importantly of all, though, it's revealed that Mantis and Quill are actually paternal
half-siblings.
Peter is also still visibly mourning the loss of Gamora, who died at Thanos' hands in "Infinity War."
And, even though an alternate version of her traveled through time to fight alongside them
in "Endgame," she has no memory of Peter and ditches the Guardians, leaving Star-Lord with
a broken heart.
We know the Guardians are adjusting to their new lives, with villain-turned-hero Nebula
settling into being an official member of Quill's team.
According to the official plot synopsis, the Guardians don't get much down time, as things
"are upended by the echoes of Rocket's turbulent past."
The synopsis goes on:
"Peter Quill, still reeling from the loss of Gamora, must rally his team around him
on a dangerous mission to save Rocket's life — a mission that, if not completed successfully,
could quite possibly lead to the end of the Guardians as we know them."
This confirms that "Vol. 3" will be focused on Rocket's backstory, something Gunn has
been hinting at for a long time.
What element of Rocket's past is coming back to haunt him?
All signs point to the villainous High Evolutionary, who's intent on creating a perfect society
of evolved beings by whatever torturous means necessary.
We also know that Adam Warlock, a powerful figure created by the Guardians' enemy, the
High Priestess Ayesha, will factor into the story.
In short, our heroes are really up against it.
Thankfully, they won't be doing it alone, with the past version of Gamora making her return.
She's been off leading the Ravagers, filling the power vacuum left after "Vol. 2."
But things could get complicated if "Vol. 3" sets up a love triangle among Gamora, Peter,
and Nebula.
This Gamora has no feelings for Peter, while he and Nebula have been growing closer.
As you might expect, all the usual suspects are returning to play their respective Guardians roles.
Chris Pratt is back as Peter Quill, aka Star-Lord, and Zoe Saldaña returns as a version of Gamora
that doesn't remember her old friends.
Bradley Cooper voices Rocket Raccoon, Vin Diesel portrays Groot, and Dave Bautista is
back as Drax the Destroyer.
Rounding out the old guard, we've got Pom Klementieff as Star-Lord's psychic half-sister,
Mantis, and Karen Gillan as the dead-eyed assassin with a secret heart of gold, Nebula.
And hopefully, Sean Gunn's Kraglin will have figured out how to use Yondu's arrow by now.
However, there's a new Guardian in town: Cosmo the Space Dog, the telekinetic, talking pooch
who first debuted in the "Holiday Special."
She'll be voiced by Maria Bakalova, who earned international acclaim and an Oscar nomination
for her turn as Tutar Sagdiyev in "Borat Subsequent Moviefilm."
On the antagonist side of the aisle, we've got Chukwudi Iwuji as the High Evolutionary.
Iwuji is no stranger to working with James Gunn, as he previously starred as the enigmatic
Clemson Murn in HBO Max's "Peacemaker" series.
Will Poulter will portray Adam Warlock, a guy who's going to give the Guardians a pretty
hard time.
You'll no doubt remember Poulter for his work in projects like "Midsommar," and "Black Mirror."
We've also got some pretty big names appearing in smaller side roles.
Elizabeth Debicki will be reprising her part as the High Priestess Ayesha, the high and
mighty creator of Adam Warlock, and Sylvester Stallone returns as Ravager Stakar.
Michael Rosenbaum of "Smallville" fame is coming back as the crystalline Martinex, and
we can also expect to see Daniela Melchior of "The Suicide Squad" and Nico Santos of "Superstore."
Some MCU heroes are inextricably tied with their directors.
At this point, it's hard to separate Thor from Taika Waititi, Ryan Coogler is connected
to the world of Wakanda, and Jon Watts shepherded Spider-Man across all three films.
However, when it comes to a director and their respective super-franchise, perhaps no filmmaker
has left a bigger impact than James Gunn.
He's guided the Guardians from the very beginning, both writing the scripts and directing the films.
In addition to the "Guardians" movies and the "Holiday Special," Gunn is famous for
his work at DC, having helmed "The Suicide Squad" and "Peacemaker."
Then, of course, he became the DCU's version of Kevin Feige, along with co-head Peter Safran.
Talking about his love of the "Guardians" franchise, the new DC Studios co-head spoke
to Deadline about his last Marvel project, saying,
"The reason why I needed to finish this is because I love the character of Rocket more
than any character I've ever dealt with before, and I needed to finish his story, and that
is what 'Volume 3' is about.
I absolutely needed to do it, and I think we've done it in a spectacular way that I
can't wait for people to see."
While we know "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3" will be the final "Guardians" movie with
director James Gunn and this line-up of heroes, we don't know which characters will die or
if any of them might come back in later MCU movies.
However, we do know for a fact there's one actor who won't be returning.
Sadly, it looks like Dave Bautista is done with playing Drax.
He announced he was officially moving on from the literal-minded Destroyer in 2021 on "Ellen,"
telling the talk show host,
"I'm going to be 54 years old by the time 'Guardians 3' comes out.
The shirtless thing is getting harder and harder for me."
While that may indeed be a factor when it comes to moving on from Marvel, Bautista has
given other reasons for his departure of a more personal nature.
Talking with GQ, Bautista elaborated a bit more on his decision saying,
"I'm so grateful for Drax.
I love him.
But there's a relief.
It wasn't all pleasant.
It was hard playing that role.
The makeup process was beating me down.
And I just don't know if I want Drax to be my legacy — it's a silly performance, and
I want to do more dramatic stuff."
"Will you make a choice?"
Fans can't wait to see what the wrestler-turned-legit-thespian does next, as he's proven he's got serious
range with roles in films like "Glass Onion," "Blade Runner 2049," and "Knock at the Cabin."
With the "Guardians of the Galaxy" franchise saying goodbye to Dave Bautista's Drax the
Destroyer, it really is the end of an era.
Unfortunately, it looks like he might not be the only member of the Guardians who fans
will have to bid farewell to.
In a cryptic Instagram post which celebrated the end of filming for "Guardians of the Galaxy
Vol. 3" back in May 2022, Scottish actor Karen Gillan teased that Nebula's story might have
come to an end.
She captioned alongside a photo from the set,
"I don't know if Nebula will return beyond this, it's possible that this is her final chapter.
And if that's the case, then I just want to say thank you to @jamesgunn for giving me
such an interesting, complex and fascinating character to play.
I have enjoyed this exploration more than any other character I've played.
That was one hell of a decade.
Thanks for watching."
Whether Nebula is going to bite the dust in dramatic fashion remains to be seen, since
Gillan's statement is rather ambiguous, but this certainly could be her final foray across
the galaxy.
Of course, you never really know if someone is gone for good when it comes to the MCU.
Just look at characters like Gamora and Loki.
So if Gillan is open to it, Nebula may pop up somewhere else in the future.
All good things must come to an end, and unfortunately, that also applies to the "Guardians of the
Galaxy" movies.
It's been quite a journey since this motley crew first appeared on the cinematic scene
in 2014.
They've introduced us to some groovy mixtapes, saved the world with dancing, fought Kurt
Russell, and kidnapped Kevin Bacon.
And now, in "Vol. 3," they'll be gearing up for one last adventure as they attempt to
save Rocket from his traumatic past.
Confirming it will be their last outing, director James Gunn told Deadline,
"This is the end for us, the last time people will see this team of Guardians."
That implies we may see some of the Guardians again, or perhaps a different iteration of
the team will show up at some point.
We're assuming that some of the Guardians will simply fly off into the horizon.
We're also assuming that some of them will die.
From the trailers, it looks like Rocket is going to be in some serious trouble after
running across the High Evolutionary, and based on Dave Bautista's comments about moving
on from the MCU, it looks like the Destroyer might also be on the chopping block.
However, fans shouldn't expect a bloodbath.
As James Gunn said at Comic-Con in June 2022,
"This is the end of that story.
I'm sorry.
Some stories have an end.
It doesn't mean everybody dies."
Based on the trailers, it seems like the High Evolutionary will be the big bad of "Guardians
of the Galaxy Vol. 3."
However, there's another force lurking in the cosmos that might be an even bigger threat:
Adam Warlock.
We've known he was coming since the post-credits scene of "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2."
Early in the film, Rocket gets his greedy little paws on some Anulax batteries that
belong to the Sovereign, a race of genetically modified, gold aliens.
Consumed with vengeance, the High Priestess Ayesha spends a good chunk of "Vol. 2" trying
to kill the Guardians, and when that doesn't work out, she decides to create the perfect
superweapon: Adam Warlock.
"More powerful, more beautiful, more capable of destroying the Guardians of the Galaxy."
Talking about this new superbeing, James Gunn elaborated on Warlock a bit, telling Empire
the character's life purpose is a tad more complicated than just wiping out our band
of music-loving heroes.
That said, according to Gunn:
"He's definitely not a good guy.
What we're seeing is the infant form of Warlock, newly out of the cocoon, and he does not understand
life very well.
He's basically a baby."
So are there any details we can glean from Warlock's comic book background that might
help us understand the character going forward?
Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, Adam Warlock was made to be a perfect being by a group
called the Enclave before he was found drifting through space by the High Evolutionary.
The space scientist essentially adopted Warlock as his own son, giving him the Soul Stone
and sending him down as his representative to Counter-Earth, a world of the High Evolutionary's making.
So it's possible we might see some sort of relationship between the two characters in "Vol. 3."
Additionally, in the comics, Warlock was a huge player in the "Infinity Gauntlet" storyline.
He was instrumental in defeating Thanos, and once it was all said and done, he became the
wielder of the bejeweled, reality-altering glove.
For a time, Warlock was also a member of the Guardians of the Galaxy, so he has serious
comic book connections to all the major players in "Vol. 3."
Will he be a loyal Evolutionary acolyte in the film, or will he eventually side with
the Guardians?
We'll see how that all plays out on May 5, 2023.
The "Guardians of the Galaxy" franchise just wouldn't be the same without the classic rock
soundtracks scoring each of the movies.
James Gunn worked on these personally, listening to hundreds of songs before creating the soundtrack
for the first movie.
It sounds like we can look forward to a third playlist even more powerful than its predecessors.
Gunn told Entertainment Weekly,
"I worked twice as hard on this soundtrack as I did on both the first two soundtracks combined."
Marvel fans got their first taste of the "Vol. 3" soundtrack in the trailers.
The second trailer features Rainbow's "Since You've Been Gone."
The 1976 rock song confirms that Gunn is bringing back more '70s hits to the franchise.
But he also confirmed that since the music in this film is coming from the Zune MP3 player
which Peter got from Kraglin at the end of "Vol. 2," rather than his mom's old mixtapes.
That would explain why a hit from 1996, "In the Meantime" by Spacehog, is featured in
the first trailer released for the film.
Despite having life-or-death stakes for the characters, "Guardians of the Galaxy" movies
are known to be light-hearted, funny, musically inclined superhero movies.
At least, they have been so far.
According to Gunn, the tone of "Vol. 3" is going to be completely different from its predecessors.
He told Deadline,
"It's big; it's so, so big and dark, and different from what people might be expecting it to be."
Dave Bautista told Uproxx that this change in tone is going to make the film great.
"It's just so much better, so much deeper.
It's so much more personal.
And there's such a massive inspiring message to this film."
Before even watching a full cut of the feature, he confidently told the outlet that it's going
to be the best of the three "Guardians" movies.
That's certainly a lot to live up to, but other cast members including Karen Gillan
and Pom Klementieff were also moved by the heavier storyline, which we know will center
around Rocket but involve the rest of the cast, too.
Speaking to Digital Spy, Gillan admitted that the script was so evocative that it brought
her and Klementieff to tears.
"We read it together and we both cried and laughed, but there was full tears.
It's incredible, I think it's James' strongest work yet with the Guardians and it's just brilliant."
"Now you're just making it sad!"
However, Gillan made sure to mention that there's plenty of that classic "Guardians"
humor in the film too.
Chukwudi Iwuji plays the High Evolutionary, a powerful villain with virtually unlimited
intellectual power.
The character comes straight from the pages of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby's comics, first
appearing in "Thor" #134.
Iwuji is excited to bring the character to the big screen, as he told Collider with great enthusiasm.
"He is narcissistic, sociopathic, but very charming.
[...] There's something very Shakespearean about him, there's something very emotionally
dark about him, and he's a lot of fun on top of all that."
However, his casting was unfortunately met with a cruel racist backlash from some commenters
on social media.
One particular Instagram troll criticized his portrayal of the High Evolutionary, insisting
the character is supposed to be white.
However, director James Gunn took the opportunity to speak out against those comments on Instagram.
"I chose the best actor, period, and the best person for the role.
I don't give a s--- what ethnicity Chukwudi Iwuji is, so stop with your racist presumptions
on WHY he was chosen."
He also pointed out the character's look from the comic books, adding,
"By the way, he's playing a guy who's almost always purple."