Credit: Marvel StudiosIn just one month, Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy will return for another outing. Director James Gunn’s finale to his popular trilogy will be the end of the road for this current roster of characters, and now the studio has seemingly confirmed two Guardians have been cut from this Marvel series.
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The Guardians of the Galaxy arrived almost a decade ago in their self-titled film as part of Kevin Feige’s Marvel Phase Two. Gunn’s humorous yet heartfelt movie about a group of disparate misfits was widely well-received and spawned a sequel, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017), three years later.
By the time Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023) debuts, it will have been six years since Vol. 2 was released. The gap, lengthened by the pandemic, was initially caused by The Walt Disney Company and Marvel Studios’ firing of the director after resurfaced social media posts rocked the internet.
An outpouring of support, including a signed letter from the entire Guardians of the Galaxy principal cast, forced the House of Mouse to rescind the firing, but not before Gunn jumped ship to Warner Bros. DC Extended Universe, where he helmed The Suicide Squad (2021) and the HBO television series, Peacemaker. Gunn will now lead Warner Bros. Discovery’s DC efforts moving forward as co-CEO of DC Studios.
This third Guardians of the Galaxy movie will be the last for this current group of heroes, according to Gunn himself. Additionally, many of the cast, like Dave Bautista (Drax the Destroyer) and Chris Pratt (Peter Quill/Star-Lord), have spoken out about their Marvel journey being over. While Rocket Raccoon actor Bradley Cooper has not explicitly stated he was retiring from his voiceover role, his comments on his own career future all but confirmed his moving on.
What will be interesting is what place the sisters Gamora and Nebula (played by Zoe Saldaña and Karen Gillan, respectively) will have in the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Gamora will, of course, be a central part of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 considering her return out-of-time in Avengers: Endgame (2019) after being killed by Thanos (Josh Brolin) in Avengers: Infinity War (2018). As for Nebula, her character arc has been one of the most interesting across the MCU, going from villain to hero, and Marvel could use this daughter of Thanos to keep the Guardians alive in Phase Five and beyond. Only time will tell, though.
So, with Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 now just a month away, Marvel Studios is giving audiences a last reminder of how each of the individual characters got to where they are in this upcoming third installment. But there are some noticeable absences.
In recent years, Marvel Studios has been using Disney+ to refresh audiences’ memories of characters from their movies. For example, just last year, the Marvel Studios Marvel Legends series added episodes on King T’Challa and the Dora Milaje ahead of the release of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022), and then recently, episodes on Ant-Man, Wasp, and Hank Pym and Janet van Dyne were released in anticipation for Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantimania (2023).
Per a new promo video from Disney+, it can be seen that episodes four through nine will be added to the streaming service on April 28, 2023. As this is just one week before the release of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, it is expected that these new season two episodes will be dedicated to the ragtag bunch of space-faring Avengers, Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy.
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What is interesting, however, is that there are currently eight Guardians of the Galaxy (Peter Quill/Star-Lord, Drax, Groot, Rocket Raccoon, Gamora, Nebula, Mantis, and Kraglin Obfonteri) and only six episodes being released, meaning that two characters will be cut from the series.
That said, ahead of Gunn’s The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special (2022) last year, Marvel Studios put out episodes dedicated to Drax and Mantis (Pom Klementieff). Taking this into account, Marvel could be finishing out the Guardians’ recap with the other six characters.
Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 looks set to focus on Rocket Raccoon’s past, leading the group of Avengers out of their sanctuary on Knowhere back into the action. The Marvel film will also debut Will Poulter as Adam Warlock and Chukwudi Iwuji as the High Evolutionary, both of whom will join Chris Pratt (Peter Quill/Star-Lord), Zoe Saldaña (Gamora), Bradley Cooper (Rocket Raccoon), Dave Bautista (Drax the Destroyer), Karen Gillan (Nebula), Sean Gunn (Kraglin Obfonteri), Vin Diesel (Groot), and Pom Klementieff (Mantis). Elizabeth Debicki and Sylvester Stallone also return as Ayesha and Stakar Ogord, respectively.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 releases exclusively in movie theaters on May 5, 2023. New Marvel Legends episodes will arrive on Disney+ on April 28, 2023.
Will you be watching Marvel Legends ahead of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3? Let Inside the Magic know in the comments down below!