Credit: Marvel StudiosNow that James Gunn’s wildly-successful Guardians of the Galaxy franchise has come to an end, the fate of several fan-favorite characters remain up in the air. And according to Mantis actor Pom Klementieff, even she’s being kept in the dark about her post-Guardians MCU future.
After a nearly decade-long run in the MCU, Gunn’s iterations of the Guardians wrapped up their journey in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023). The movie released in theaters on May 5, and has since enjoyed a record-shattering box office streak, grossing just under $660 million worldwide.
Once again starring Chris Pratt as Star-Lord/Peter Quill, Dave Bautista as Drax, Zoe Saldana as Gamora, Bradley Cooper as Rocket, Karen Gillan as Nebula, Pom Klementieff as Mantis, and Vin Diesel as Groot, the movie sees the titular team reuniting for one last ride—this time, to save Rocket’s life by taking down the evil genetic scientist, The High Evolutionary (Chukwudi Iwuji).
Check out the official trailer for Marvel Studios’ Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 below:
Sadly, Vol. 3 marked the end of Saldana and Bautista’s time in the MCU, with both actors announcing their retirement from the franchise prior to the film’s release. However, as seen in the post-credits scenes, Marvel’s not quite done with all of the Guardians—yet. Though fans shouldn’t get too hopeful about seeing the cast reprise their roles anytime soon.
Speaking with Esquire in a recent interview, Klementieff was asked about about Mantis’ post-Guardians future, where she confessed she doesn’t know “if there’s going to be more movies:”
We don’t know what’s going to happen with the characters, if there’s going to be more movies, if we’re going to come back. We have no clue. Mantis is going to go riding and see what’s up.
Now that Gunn has jumped ship from Marvel to lead the creative team at DC Studios, Mantis’ future in the MCU remains shrouded in mystery. Any future iterations of the characters will need to be handles with respect now that Gunn is gone, meaning the studio could be skeptical about re-introducing them anytime soon.
As seen in the after-credits, it’s revealed that Mantis, Adam Warlock (Will Poulter), Rocket, Groot, Kraglin (Sean Gunn), Cosmo the Spacedog (Maria Bakalova) and the newest addition, Phyla (Kai Zen), have formed a new, reconstituted Guardians dedicated to keeping the galaxy safe. This certainly allows for the potential of future Guardians projects, meaning not all hope is lost for Klementieff’s Mantis.
For now, only time will tell what Marvel intends to do with Mantis and the rest of the Guardians crew. But with Star-Lord’s imminent return, one can only hope that Mantis gets a similar treatment in the MCU’s future.
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