Boycotting of Marvel’s ‘Guardians of the Galaxy 3’ Starts Huge Debate

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Boycott of 'Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3' (2023), Sad Groot on the front and Guardians Poster as a background

Credit: Inside the Magic

The newest Marvel movie is garnering backlash, as allegations of cruelty arise.

The Guardians walk into battle
Credit: Marvel

Related: Audiences Claim ‘Guardians of the Galaxy 3’ Shouldn’t Be PG-13

It’s no secret that the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) owned by The Walt Disney Company’s Marvel Studios, has been in a bit of a slump recently. With films like Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022), Thor: Love and Thunder (2022) and first Phase Five movie, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023) not doing as well critically as the average Marvel fare — the newest film from soon-to-be-ex director James Gunn is switching things up for the MCU.

Will Poulter as Adam Warlock in Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
Credit: Marvel Studios

The newest Guardians 3 project

James Gunn’s final Marvel universe project, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023) released last weekend on May 5, 2023. Scored by John Murphy, it marks the end of the line for the original team of Guardians, inspired by the Marvel Comics. The film, follows the team’s previous appearances in Thor: Love and Thunder and the Avengers films from the Infinity Saga. Prior to this, the Guardians’ most recent adventure can be seen in The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special, a well-received festive Marvel Studios Special Presentation on Disney+.

Bradley Cooper/Sean Gunn as Rocket Racoon in 'Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3'
Credit: Marvel Studios

Fans will be delighted to witness the beloved band of heroes together for the last time, including the gun-toting human (and former part-Celestial) Peter Quill, also known as Star-Lord (Chris Pratt), the daughters of Thanos, Gamora (Zoe Saldaña) and Nebula (Karen Gillan), the tree-like alien Groot (Vin Diesel), the fluffy-yet-deadly Rocket Raccoon (Bradley Cooper), the revenge-driven Drax the Destroyer (Dave Bautista), the empath Mantis (Pom Klementieff), the Ravager Kraglin Obfonteri (Sean Gunn), Stakar Ogord (Sylvester Stallone), and even Cosmo the Spacedog (Maria Bakalova).

The space-traveling heroes confront the all-gold Adam Warlock, portrayed by newcomer Will Poulter, as well as Elizabeth Debicki’s Ayesha. Chukwudi Iwuji stars as the High Evolutionary, accompanied by his lackey Theel (Nico Santos), while Daniela Melchior plays Ura and Kai Zen is Phyla-Vell. Furthermore, Linda Cardellini makes her debut as Lylla the Otter, Asim Chaudhry as Teefs the Walrus, and Mikaela Hoover as Floor the Bunny – all of whom are former cellmates and companions of Rocket.

Guardians of the Galaxy characters Star-Lord (Chris Pratt), Drax (Dave Bautista), Groot (Vin Diesel), Nebula (Karen Gillan), and Mantis (Pom Klementieff)
Credit: Marvel Studios

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3‘s controversy, and why it’s getting boycotted

Unfortunately, as much as the rave reviews are rolling in, the movie has garnered its fair share of criticism and backlash for its rating, and especially for the portrayal of animal cruelty as a major part of the film’s plot.

Members of the public have taken to social media to express their disappointment with the MCU movie. One of them includes former Disney Imagineer Jim Shull, who mentioned PETA in their post about the alleged animal cruelty in the new Guardians of the Galaxy movie:

Although I was interested in seeing Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3, when I learned about the scenes of animal cruelty I had to be a hard out. We’re a family that adopts from our local animal shelter & so supporting the film isn’t possible. #PETA #AnimalCruelty

Others on the other hand, don’t seem to agree with decisions to boycott the film. Users like Patrick Dougall mentioned the nature of the new Guardians movie as being specifically anti-animal cruelty, citing the use of CGI in the film to depict the scenes of alluded “cruelty”:

Well, this is just the weirdest hot take I’ve seen. Guess we’re boycotting films over CGI now?! Pretty sure the entire message of this film is anti-animal cruelty… but okay.

The debate clearly has some people split, as others like @AJdownunder__ had the opinion that regardless of CGI, the depiction of “animal cruelty” and animals “tortured & killed for entertainment” was wrong, while Dougall responds that the depiction served a specific purpose to condone said cruelty:

@AJdownunder__: I think you’re missing the point – regardless if it is CGI or not, many people do not want to watch anthropomorphic animals being tortured & killed for entertainment. I saw the film and those scenes were incredibly triggering, and I probably would have not watched if I knew

Patrick Dougall: There’s a difference between just not going to see it cause it personally triggers you… And actively going against not supporting the film cause you believe it supports those values.

Others yet had things to say about the choice to mention PETA, a society that claims to protect animal rights, that isn’t free of controversy itself. User @A_Coaster_Story comments:

You do know that the “animals” depicted in the film are CGI, right? And that said cruelty is played as a *bad thing*? Meanwhile, PETA regularly kills the vast majority of the very real animals they take in to their “shelters”. This is a very odd stance to take.

Still, there are those like Chris Wakefield who bemoan that the “future of film is bleak”:

We got Gen Z afraid of consensual sex scenes in movies and we got Boomers afraid of non-existent animal cruelty scenes on CGI animals. The future of film is bleak. Maybe it’s a good thing the writers are taking some time off.

What do you think about the depiction of animal cruelty in Marvel movies like Guardians 3? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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