Credit: MarvelWith the third, and possibly final, installment of Guardians of the Galaxy finally out, it answers a question that fans have been asking about for years.
The Guardians franchise follows a group of ragtag aliens, all from different species and walks of life, originally intent on their own missions. During the course of the first movie, they form a bond of friendship so deep they end up joining forces and becoming a found family. Quill and Gamora start off as rivals, both fighting to retrieve an Orb, Quill for the money to be gained by selling it, and Gamora to give it to her father, Thanos.
Eventually, they form a reluctant friendship that evolves into a romantic relationship over the Guardians and Avengers films. During Avengers: Infinity War (2018), Thanos sacrifices Gamora to obtain the Soul Stone. When Quill finds out, he’s so distraught and enraged that he accidentally allows Thanos to break free the group’s hold and escape. Through a series of time-traveling incidents, Nebula is able to save Gamora and bring her back to the present, although she’s technically the Gamora from before she ever met Quill or the other Guardians. As such, she isn’t friends with him or interested in being anything more and leaves with the Ravagers.
In Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, Gamora does team up with the Guardians again, but it’s clear she’s not the same person. Her interactions are different, the easy banter she once had with them is gone. Quill tries to bring it up a couple times, but Gamora makes it clear she’s not the version of herself that loved him. While the heartbreak is technically due to different writers and directors having different visions for their characters, James Gunn decides to use it to tell his own story.
Instead of making a happily ever after ending where Gamora decides to get back with Quill, he instead uses it as a character development choice to tell the audience about falling out of love, growing into a different person, and not being in the same place as you once were. Similar to how different each character is now from when they were first introduced in the 2014 Guardians of the Galaxy, Gunn allows them the space to continue to grow and change. While the original Gamora found friends and a family in the Guardians, the version of Gamora now has found her family and her freedom with the Ravagers.
Rather than trying to force a relationship between the two, or force Gamora into being a version of herself that no longer exists, she’s given the ability to become a new version of herself. And Quill, though still heartbroken, doesn’t try to force her back into the person he knows. It’s a great message of accepting what life throws at you and being able to move on from situations that have changed for the worse. For a Marvel franchise that doesn’t often take itself too seriously, it’s a mature message for its maturing audience.
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