We love Groot. We especially love when Groot dances. Luckily each Guardians of the Galaxy movie has given us a wonderful scene of Groot letting go. Writer and director James Gunn has provided the motion capture performance for Groot dancing in the past, and that tradition continued with Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. In an interview with The New York Times in May, Gunn said he once again performed motion capture for Groot dancing at the end of the film. Thanks to the below VFX breakdown (spotted on Polygon) from Framestore we get to see Gunn doing those sweet Groot moves.

At the end of the emotional movie, our heroes let loose on Knowhere and dance to Florence + the Machine’s “Dog Days Are Over.” It’s this beautiful scene of release after an intense journey—you just kind of sink into it. You’re dancing in your heart with all of them. And from what Gunn said about filming, it sounds like that part was equally impactful. He told the Times:

Yeah, and it was a high point in my life, really. My brother Sean is dancing for Rocket, and in the moment we were shooting the wide shot and dancing toward each other, it was surreal and beautiful and wonderful. We’ve been goofing around and playing with Fisher-Price characters since we were kids in our parents’ basement, and now we’re on the biggest set I’ve ever been on with gigantic Tinker Toys instead of smaller ones, but with that same purity and imagination we had as kids. Everybody was crying as it was happening. It was a really powerful moment.

James and Sean Gunn both dancing their hearts out as the Guardians trilogy comes to end? My heart cannot. When we talked to Sean Gunn in May, he described that moment as the culmination of everything. “That was very emotional for me, but it was also very cathartic, because it wasn’t some heart-wrenching stuff. We had already gone through the ringer with Rocket’s story, and digging in—we’d already done the digging. So in that moment at the end he’s really just letting loose, and I was able to do the same thing. It’s pretty cool,” he said.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is streaming on Disney+ now. Have tissues at the ready.

Originally published on May 12, 2023.

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Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 had plenty of unexpected moments. But one truly shocking comment wasn’t quite what it seemed. Groot didn’t actually expand his vocabulary and speak new words in English in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. How can that be when we heard him say something other than “I am Groot?” The understated response of his fellow Guardians reveals what was really going on during their emotional goodbye. James Gunn’s final entry in the franchise lets us hear Groot the way his friends do.

“I love you guys.” Before the end of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, the only words MCU fans ever heard any Groot say were “I am Groot” and “We are Groot.” (The latter was used in countless trailers as a reminder of the original Groot’s ultimate sacrifice.) That seemingly limited vocabulary never stopped his friends from understanding him, though. There’s something about the Groot language—severely limited though it may be in terms of total words—that makes it easier to comprehend the more you hear it. The alternate 2014 Gamora initially accused the Guardians of just “making up” stuff when Groot repeated the same three word phrase. She thought he was simply telling her his name again and again. But by the end of Vol. 3 she didn’t need a translator to understand the way Groot speaks.

We always needed one, including during their last scene together. Without specific translations from other characters, we never knew exactly what Groot was saying when he spoke. The best we could do was make an educated guess based on his inflection and body language. Sometimes that was easy, like when teenage Groot was obviously being a sarcastic a-hole. Other times our lack of comprehension denied us the full emotional weight of Groot’s words. How many fans know his last spoken “I am Groot” before turning to dust in Infinity War was him calling out “dad” to Rocket?

That wasn’t a problem. It was an effective and entertaining way to establish his character and role in the group. Groot’s simple vocabulary reflected his sweet, childlike nature without limiting his inherent complexity and full range of emotions. James Gunn also used those necessary translations effectively for both comedic and dramatic purposes. Sometimes he even pulled off both simultaneously, like in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 when Rocket told a soon-to-die Yondu that Groot had said, “Welcome to the frickin’ Guardians of the Galaxy. Only he didn’t say frickin.”

It was only at the end of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 for the first—and likely only—time ever, we didn’t need anyone to tell us what Groot actually said. Gunn let viewers experience what it was like for the sentient tree’s loved ones to hear Groot speak. It might not have seemed that way initially because it was so jarring to hear Groot clearly say, “I love you guys.”

But the fact Groot’s other Guardians of the Galaxy weren’t as shocked as we were is the key to understanding the significance of that moment. It didn’t impact them because that was a normal moment for the Guardians; they always understood Groot when he spoke. Groot didn’t actually speak new words to them. He physically said, “I am Groot,” only, like them, we heard the true meaning behind those words. It was like having a galactic translator in our ears that let us hear from Groot directly.

It was only fitting we got to experience that moment, which Gunn has confirmed is exactly what we thought it was. The alternate Gamora only spent one movie with him before she understood him. We’ve been listening to Groots talk for way longer, and we’ve always loved those guys, too.

Originally published on May 4, 2023.

Mikey Walsh is a staff writer at Nerdist. You can follow him on Twitter at  @burgermike. And also anywhere someone is ranking the Targaryen kings.

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Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is a heartfelt, funny, and wild adventure with our beloved ragtag MCU team. The film not only explores Rocket’s tragic backstory but also gives us a ton of fun cameos from returning characters to people that we did not expect to see again. While we totally dig seeing some familiar faces like Seth Green’s Howard the Duck, there is one person who made us feel all the feelings. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 includes a very short but sweet cameo from none other than Michael Rooker, who portrayed Yondu. 

As we know, Yondu sacrificed himself to save his adoptive son Quill in Vol. 2. We previously saw Yondu in The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special but it was in an animated flashback. Yondu Udonta makes an appearance towards the end of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 to give Kraglin some needed encouragement. Throughout the time, Kraglin continued to struggle with learning how to use Yondu’s Yaka Arrow, which led to him being ineffective when Adam Warlock literally came crashing into Knowhere.

At the end of the film, Kraglin once again faces a big threat as the High Evolutionary sends some sinister beings to overtake Knowhere. Kraglin gets the arrow and hesitates before hearing Yondu’s voice encouraging him in his head to trust himself. He looks up and briefly sees Yondu appear in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. His former leader gives him a knowing smile before Kraglin gives it another try. He whistles and navigates the Yaka Arrow with newfound expertise, saving a ton of lives in the process.

Seeing Yondu in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is such a treat for fans and made for an effective cameo that felt organic. Will we get another Yondu appearance in our MCU future? Maybe so. This isn’t the end of the line for Star-Lord, who will apparently return for some project. And maybe he will need to see the image of his true father once again.

Originally published May 5, 2023.

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The Guardians of the Galaxy had plenty of familiar faces join them for their last ride. The group’s third and final film featured a bevy of returning co-stars from the franchise. It also included some new characters played by some pretty famous stars. Did you catch them all? Or did some fly over your head like a rocket flying into the forever? Don’t worry if you missed any. Here’s every major supporting role and all the cameos—including those we knew were coming, ones we expected, and those we didn’t see coming—we spotted in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 Cameos We Knew About in Advance

Linda Cardellini, Mikaela Hoover, and Asim Chaudhry as Lylla, Floor, and Teefs

Linda Cardellini, Mikaela Hoover, and Asim Chaudhry’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 cameos as Lylla the otter, Floor the rabbit, and Teefs the walrus were among the best.

Batch 89 will forever remain in our hearts.

Sylvester Stallone as Stakar Ogord

Sylvester Stallone once again played Yondu’s former Ravager mentor Stakar Ogord. Only this time he had a new member in his clan. The 2014 Gamora had joined the Ravagers following her departure from Earth in Avengers: Endgame. Stakar helped facilitate Gamora’s (not ultimately) paid mission with the Guardians to break into the Orgoscope. He then warmly welcomed her back to the Ravagers at the end of Vol. 3. It was fun to see this Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 cameo in action, even though we already knew it was coming.

Nathan Fillion as Orgoscope Guard Master Karja

When he wasn’t busy dealing with his idiot employee, Nathan Fillion’s easily annoyed Master Karja and his organic orgosentry uniform were trying to capture the Guardians on the Orgoscope. Karja was a good shot, but even he couldn’t fire in zero gravity.

Tara Strong as Mainframe

In Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, Tara Strong, Loki‘s Miss Minutes herself, replaced Miley Cyrus as the voice of the Ravager Mainframe for one of the more sneaky cameos. The floating mechanical artificial intelligence head first appeared in Vol. 2.

Michael Rosenbaum as Martinex T’Naga

Stakar’s first officer Martinex T’Naga, played by Michael Rosenbaum, also returned in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. The crystal-headed Ravager was glad to have Gamora in the clan.

Elizabeth Debicki as Ayesha

Elizabeth Debicki’s Golden High Priestess of the Sovereign was not the powerful figure we first met in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. Her peoples’ creator, the High Evolutionary, had her under his thumb (thanks to a box that let him lord over her). She was determined to have her own creation, Adam, capture Rocket for the High Evolutionary to earn the Sovereign his favor. But Ayesha died when the High Evolutionary destroyed Counter-Earth.

Jennifer Holland as Orgoscope Administrator Kwol

James Gunn truly made the film a family affair by bringing his wife and Peacemaker standout Jennifer Holland to the MCU. In Holland’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 cameo, she played Orgoscope administrator Kwol who Gamora shot in the leg. Kwol was also shocked by Adam Warlock’s fatal misunderstanding of how to intimidate a witness.

Daniela Melchior as Orgoscope Employee Ura

Holland wasn’t the only DC alum Gunn brought into the Guardians franchise. The Suicide Squad director also found a role for Ratcatcher 2, Daniela Melchior, in the MCU movie. She played the kidnapped Orgoscope employee Ura, who may or may not have found Star-Lord charming.

Krugarr

Another former member of Stakar’s clan, first seen in Vol. 2, was back working with his old leader in Vol. 3. The silent-but-funny sorcerer Krugarr opened the portals his fellow Ravagers used to board the Guardians ship near the Orgoscope.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 Surprise Cameos That Weren’t Surprising

Seth Green as Howard the Duck

Just as he had in the previous two Guardians of the Galaxy movies, Howard the Duck made a cameo in Vol. 3. He was seen playing poker on Knowhere.

Christopher Fairbank as the Broker

Also spotted at that poker game was Christopher Fairbank’s Broker. This cameo was more than just an Easter egg from the first film. It revealed not every citizen of Xander died during Thanos’ attack when the Mad Titan stole the Power Stone.

Rhett Miller as Bzermikitokolok

The Old 97’s Rhett Miller was still rocking out on Knowhere as Bzermikitokolok, the leader singer and guitarist of the band that performed original Christmas songs during The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special. He was also in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3‘s cameo-filled poker game.

Gregg Henry as Grandpa Quill

Gregg Henry made it three-for-three in the Guardians trilogy as he once again played Quill’s grandfather. The two had an emotional reunion and appeared together during the film’s second and final post-credits scene.

Stephen Blackehart as Steemie

Knowhere’s dispatcher Steemie, played by Stephen Blackehart, was still on the job inside the dead Celestial’s skull in Vol. 3, just as he had been in the original movie and in the group’s Holiday Special. The Guardians relied on him to help them during the evacuation of the High Evolutionary’s ship. That was a far cry from when Drax put a knife to his throat years ago.

Actual Surprise Cameos in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3

Michael Rooker as Yondu

James Gunn kept to his word and didn’t undo Yondu’s death. But that didn’t stop him from finding a way to bring back Michael Rooker and his blue “angel” for one last cameo in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. He appeared as a vision to Kraglin, as Yondu told his old friend to use his heart to guide his whistle arrow.

James Gunn as Lambshank, The Definitely Not Scary, Really Cool Looking Amorphous Blob

Blink and you would have missed one of the film’s strangest creatures. But that was impossible thanks to Mantis’s totally real compliment. It brought attention to Lambshank, the weird little blob voiced by James Gunn himself.

Pete Davidson as Phlektik

Another alum from The Suidice Squad made their way into the MCU with a secret cameo. Pete Davidson played Phlektik. And he was really on set to film the role even though it was impossible to know he was really there.

Judy Greer as War Pig

Judy Greer, for reasons we’ll never understand, was not in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. But she did become a two-time MCU member in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. She voiced the High Evolutionary’s War Pig, the bioengineered muscle who lost its head to Adam Warlock while trying to kidnap Rocket.

We didn’t like War Pig initially, but we can’t hate anyone played by Judy Greer.

Originally published May 17, 2023.

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Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 was James Gunn’s MCU swan song, but just because he’s moved to Metropolis doesn’t mean Marvel Studios is closing up shop. The third and final film in Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy still featured two post-credits scenes teasing what lies ahead for the group’s members in the franchise. The ramifications and significance of the first were obvious, but the second’s importance wasn’t as clear. At least not initially. What happened and what did it reveal? Here’s what Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3‘s second post-credits scene was all about.

What Happened to Peter Quill at the End of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3?

At the end of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, Star-Lord decided Mantis’ advice (delivered via Drax) was right. Peter needed “to learn to swim.” He couldn’t keep running/hopping from his own issues; he needed to face them.

To do that, Star-Lord needed to go back to the place where his mother died, the place he’d left his grieving grandpa behind in 1988 when Yondu kidnapped him as an eight-year-old. Peter Quill ended Vol. 3 by leaving the Guardians of the Galaxy behind and finally returning home to Earth and his grandfather.

Peter Quill wasn’t sure his grandfather (played once more by Gregg Henry) was even still alive. Viewers knew he was in 2014 when Grandpa Quill appeared in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. Ego’s Expansion nearly killed Quill’s grandfather, who barely escaped thanks to his grandson’s heroics halfway across the galaxy.

While Grandpa Quill could still drive at that time, he was already accompanied full-time by a nurse. With Guardians of the GalaxyVol. 3 set at least nine years later, Star-Lord’s fears about his grandfather’s age and health were not unfounded. The elder Quill needed live-in assitance.

Old age didn’t stop Peter Quill’s grandfather from recognizing his grownup grandson immediately in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. More than three decades later, he knew exactly who Peter was by sight, resulting in an emotional moment for both of them and for the audience. And that led us right to Vol. 3‘s second post-credits scene.

What Happened During Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3‘s Second Post-Credits Scene?

The movie’s last post-credits scene showed it didn’t take long for the Quill boys to become a family again. It featured the two sitting at a kitchen table for breakfast. Peter Quill ate cereal while his grandpa read a newspaper with a front-page story about Kevin Bacon’s supposed abduction by aliens. That was a direct reference to The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special when Drax and Mantis kidnapped the actor.

The rest of the Vol. 3 scene establishes just how normal Star-Lord’s life on Earth had already become. Peter Quill was talking/complaining about how he would happily mow a neighbor’s lawn even though she had a 45-year-old, able-bodied son entirely capable of doing it himself. Peter’s own (reasonable!) incredulity led his grandfather to cryptically reference his issues about the lazy neighbor. That made Peter want to hear his grandad’s unvarnished thoughts on the matter.

The Guardians of the Galaxy post-credits scene was a humorous but seemingly mundane moment that established Peter Quill had truly returned home and developed a familial bond with both his grandfather and his community. He had moved on from Gamora and the Guardians and was now part of a normal little neighborhood. It was the exact kind of life he’d spent over 30 years trying to avoid. Star-Lord, the former Ravager who had once been half-god and helped save the galaxy multiple times, became fully domesticated on the planet that had brought him so much pain with a man he previously wasn’t sure even loved him.

(We can forgive eight-year-old Peter for not understanding why his grandfather didn’t want him to see his mom die.)

What Is Chris Pratt’s (and Star-Lord’s) Future in the MCU After Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3?

The film’s final scene was beautiful in its simplicity. But when it ended, it became far more important than it first appeared. Before we could find out Grandpa Quill’s thoughts on that listless neighbor the scene cut to black. That’s when we found out Chris Pratt’s not done with the MCU just yet. Text appeared at the very end of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 saying, “The legendary Star-Lord will return.”

The Guardians of the Galaxy as we knew them are over. There’s a new lineup led by Rocket, and the team is protecting civilizations far from Earth, which has plenty of its own heroes. (A fact former Avenger Rocket knows well.) But that little blue marble now has another great hero it can call on in times of danger. Peter Quill might be domesticated and out of the Guardians business right now, but he hasn’t stopped being the MCU’s Star-Lord. Even without his father’s Celestial powers, he remains a smart, cunning, charming, formidable force for good.

The Avengers can always use someone like that, just as Rocket’s new Guardians could always turn to their former captain for help. It’s even possible Star-Lord could lead his own standalone MCU movie in the MCU someday or be a major part of another character’s film.

Until we know exactly what Kevin Feige and Marvel Studios have planned for Peter Quill, all we can do is speculate on the specifics of his return.

What we do know, thanks to that last Guardians of the Galaxy post-credits scene, is that when Star-Lord returns he will be more mature, more grounded, and probably a better hero. He went back to his home world to face his past and address his pain head-on. He’s no longer jumping from lily pad to lily pad; he’s swimming in Earth’s blue waters while his loving grandfather watches over him. And he’s definitely doing so with an even bigger library of music.

Mikey Walsh is a staff writer at Nerdist. You can follow him on Twitter at @burgermike. And also anywhere someone is ranking the Targaryen kings.

Originally published May 4, 2023.

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Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 3 has arrived, introducing MCU fans to Peacemaker’s Chukwudi Iwuji as the film’s main villain, the High Evolutionary. But just who is Marvel’s maddest scientist? What are the High Evolutionary’s powers? Get ready to get cosmic, as we’re here to answer all your burning High Evolutionary questions, from Marvel Comics to MCU. 

Who Is the High Evolutionary in Marvel Comics? 

1966’s Thor #133 marks the first reference to the High Evolutionary in Marvel Comics. He would make his debut on the page in the very next issue, which also included a cameo of the mutant twins who would become such a key part of the High Evolutionary’s comic book lore. With Galactus planning deep space destruction as always, Thor is looking for Jane Foster. It’s on his search that he comes across Mount Wundagore, the High Evolutionary, and his New Men. Marvel’s Pietro and Wanda are going to Mount Wundagore to seek answers about their waning mutant powers.

It wouldn’t be until years later that readers learned who the High Evolutionary truly was, thanks to backup stories in The Evolutionary War event. In the Marvel universe, the High Evolutionary’s human name was Herbert Edgar Wyndham, and he had once been a successful academic scientist. As a child, Herbert became obsessed with genetics and the possibility of “evolving” creatures. But it wasn’t until an encounter with a strange man—later revealed to be a rogue Inhuman—who enlightened him on how to “crack the genetic code” that Herbert made his dreams a reality. His experiments made him an outcast in the scientific field, and he moved to Mount Wundagore with his research partner, Jonathan Drew, father of Spider-Woman, Jessica Drew. There he built his futuristic home. The High Evolutionary began to evolve animals, creating a series of humanoid beasts known as the New Men.

The High Evolutionary’s Powers and Abilities

The High Evolutionary’s powers are always in a state of flux. When he exposed himself to his Evolutionary Accelerator machine and its unstable Isotope E, it caused him to switch from evolved super being to someone with caveman intelligence levels. But usually, the High Evolutionary has a certain baseline of abilities. These include an artificially evolved human brain, making him one of the smartest beings on Earth. The High Evolutionary also has the powers of superhuman strength, durability, and a healing factor similar to Wolverine’s. Additionally, he can communicate telepathically and shield his mind from other psychics.

Some other powers the High Evolutionary has demonstrated over the years include the ability to levitate, although not outright fly. Body mass manipulation allows him to change his physical size and density at will. Wyndham also has the ability to create force fields, and shoot deadly concussive blasts from his body. He can even evolve or devolve other beings through a form of forced artificial evolution. And thanks to all his evolutionary tampering, the High Evolutionary has effectively achieved immortality, perhaps his greatest power of all.

How Is the High Evolutionary Connected to the Scarlet Witch? 

Herbert’s first appearance alluded to a connection to the Maximoffs. A flashback in 1974’s Giant-Size Avengers #1 teased a vital Mount Wundagore backstory around the twins’ birth. Finally, in 1979’s Avengers #185-187, Herbert’s full impact on the twins’ lives came to light. It was during this iconic arc that readers learned their “true history.” Their mother sought refuge on Mount Wundagore after their father gained powers and went mad, “raving with a desire to rule the world.” The High Evolutionary’s cow creature known as Bova delivered the twins, and soon their mother left the children with the bovine midwife. While Bova tried to give the twins to the hero known as the Whizzer, he chose to run away. Eventually, the Maximoffs came and adopted the twins.

What does all this have to do with Wanda’s powers? Chthon “marked” her at her birth. We learn this as Chthon possesses Wanda. Speaking through Wanda, Chthon tells the Avengers that Mount Wundagore was created to imprison him and the Darkhold. Inevitably, someone used the Darkhold, and Chthon was freed when this knowledge fell into the hands of the wrong person. Eventually, the demon is defeated. But at that moment, Chthon decides to imbue baby Wanda, who was just born thanks to the High Evolutionary’s creation, with his magic, thus arguably creating the most famous origin of the Scarlet Witch. Whether the MCU’s High Evolutionary and Scarlet Witch have any ties at all in the MCU, we must wait to find out.

How Is the High Evolutionary Connected to Adam Warlock? 

In the comics, Adam Warlock and the High Evolutionary are deeply connected. Remember how we first met Adam Warlock in the Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 stinger? Adam was in a giant cocoon, looked after by the High Priestess of the Sovereign, Ayesha. Ayesha calls her creation “Him” (as in Adam’s first appearance in the Fantastic Four) before deciding to name him Adam.

1972’s Marvel Premiere #1 brought the story of Adam Warlock to life, and the issue dug deep into his past. Created by scientists on Earth, the High Evolutionary later found Adam’s body floating in a cocoon in space. In the comics, Herbert adopts Adam, names him Warlock, and places an emerald upon his forehead. The comics would later reveal the emerald as the Soul Gem. In the MCU, Adam’s creators, the Sovereign, are creations of the High Evolutionary. It’s more of an indirect line, but still a line.

The MCU High Evolutionary in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3

In Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, the MCU’s High Evolutionary does not seem to originate from Earth. He was only referred to ever as the High Evolutionary. The MCU made no reference to the High Evolutionary’s Marvel Comics human name of Herbert Wyndham. On Counter-Earth, he mentioned that he visited Earth once and admired it. The High Evolutionary based his new MCU world on his memories, further suggesting his origins are alien. Of course, he might have taken the name Herbert Wyndham while living on Earth, but it’s not mentioned in the film at all.

Additionally, Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 3 portrays the High Evolutionary as one of the most sadistic villains the MCU has ever seen, torturing animals to further his own experiments in perfection. And he’s worshipped as a god among many alien species, suggesting Guardians of the Galaxy‘s High Evolutionary is far older than his Marvel Comics counterpart.

Although the High Evolutionary appeared to die at the end of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, he actually lived. James Gunn confirmed as much on Twitter. Not only did Rocket save the High Evolutionary’s life at the climax of the film, he’s now actually imprisoned in Knowhere.

Gunn notes, “Yes! It’s the whole culmination of Rocket’s journey. His shift comes in that he doesn’t kill him – he goes from being the least empathetic to the most empathetic Guardian. It seems silly & hollow that he’d refuse to kill him [the High Evolutionary] & then leave him on an exploding ship. And, yes, there is a deleted scene. It’s really great actually, but it messed up the pacing of the end. But you’ll see it in the extras eventually.”

And, indeed, the deleted scene revealing the High Evolutionary’s fate is included in the home release of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. It is titled, “Knowhere After the Battle,”

So yes, it’s very possible we may see the High Evolutionary return again in the MCU and its multiverse. Now that Ms. Marvel established the mutant gene in the MCU, it feels very intentional to introduce a famed geneticist. As to whether the High Evolutionary ever visits Mount Wundagore or creates Bova… well, we can dream.

Originally published on July 27, 2022.

Original reporting by Rosie Knight. Additional reporting by Eric Diaz.

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Rocket Raccoon and Groot is definitely a friendship at the heart of the MCU’s Guardians of the Galaxy movies. For three films and more, we saw this unlikely relationship grow and evolve, and the duo stole our hearts. But the MCU origins of how Rocket and Groot met and first became friends has remained something of a mystery. Now that the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise has ended, at least, as we’ve come to know it, we’ve finally uncovered an answer to the question of this friendship’s beginning. So how did Rocket and Groot first meet in the MCU? James Gunn recently offered fans a pretty thorough answer, and it has to do with a Rocket and Groot short movie that never got made and a character mentioned in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 1, Tibius Lark.

When, Where, and How Guardians of the Galaxy‘s Rocket Met Groot in the MCU

Technically, James Gunn didn’t address the question of Rocket and Groot’s friendship origins, nor the question of how, when, or where they met in the Guardians of the Galaxy MCU world. In actuality, Gunn addressed the question you’re probably asking right now, “Who is Tibius Lark?” But by answering that query, Gunn also finally revealed how Rocket and Groot met one another before the first Guardians of the Galaxy movie.

Who Is Tibius Lark in Guardians of the Galaxy?

If you don’t recall where you heard the name Tibius Lark before in the MCU, it’s because you haven’t. The name was only was briefly displayed in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 1. It appeared during the Guardian’s mugshot sequence with Nova Corps. Tibius Lark was said to be an associate of Groot’s, as seen in the sequence below.

But after this brief mention of Tibius Lark and his relationship with Groot in Guardians of the Galaxy, we didn’t receive any further information about him from this Marvel franchise or any other. But it turns out Tibius Lark is incredibly important in the world of the MCU because he is actually responsible for Groot and Rocket’s friendship.

Tibius Lark Entrusted Groot to the Care of Rocket Raccoon, Marking the Origin of Their MCU Friendship

The short answer is that Rocket and Groot’s MCU friendship began in a well. The longer answer is much more intensive. James Gunn shares how and why Rocket and Groot met in the Marvel world before we came to know them as best friends via Threads. He reveals:

Tibius Lark, Groot, and Rocket were all imprisoned in a deep well in the ground. Tibius was on the verge of dying. He explained to Rocket he had been caring for Groot for years.

He was a former zookeeper in a shitty galactic-side zoo. He explained he had saved Groot, who was on exhibit there, & that Groot was a loyal friend. He asked Rocket to please take care of him, & then he died. As he died Rocket looked down in the dark cell & noticed he was a robot, the lower body of his body smashed open and mechanical.

The guards above ground heard something rumbling & they turned & saw Rocket & Groot bursting up from the ground, Rocket on Groot’s shoulder, & in Rocket’s hands was a machine gun made from Tibius Lark’s body, & he shot all the guards & they escaped & were together until they met the Guardians. That’s who Tibius Lark was.

The confirmed story of how Rocket and Groot met is, in true Guardians of the Galaxy-style, a tragic one, much like their individual backstories. We can feel all the emotions it would have evoked, even from a brief description. The visual of Rocket on Groot’s shoulder as they burst from the ground is visceral. And we can see how the experience and their time together after bonded the pair. But there’s a good reason why the story feels has such depth. James Gunn almost made a short movie about Rocket and Groot’s origins for Marvel and the MCU.

The MCU Short Movie About Rocket and Groot’s Friendship Origins Was Shelved for Guardians of the Galaxy

Gunn has spoken about this topic before, but he definitely reveals more about the Marvel short on Threads. He notes, “I wrote a short film explaining the origin of how Rocket & Groot met. It was even storyboarded & location scouted & we did test footage for it (it was seen at SDCC in the “trailer” we cut together after 12 days of shooting). But I didn’t have time to do it as Vol 1 amped up.”

With Gunn now creating a new cinematic world for DC movies, it seems unlikely the Rocket and Groot short Marvel movie will be resurrected. However, we have learned to never say never. Still, we appreciate that Gunn is so openly sharing the details that didn’t quite make it on screen. Otherwise, would always have wondered how Rocket and Groot’s Guardians of the Galaxy friendship came to be and how they came to meet. To all of this, we say, “I am Groot!“

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Guardians of the Galaxy 3 arrived a cool six years after the second installment. So it’s certainly been a while since their last solo journey and a lot has happened. The Blip was still just a looming threat… remember those pre-Infinity War days? Neither do I. When we reunite with the crew—post Infinity War and Endgame—there will be plenty to unpack. Among the highlights: Gamora’s death, most of the team vanished for five years in the Blip, a younger version of Gamora is also rolling with the crew, and they’re finally back together. So there’s plenty to speculate about.

Here’s everything we know about Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.

Title

The third installment in the beloved series is simply Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.

Guardian of the Galaxy Vol. 3’s Plot

We don’t know much about the film’s plot yet, beyond that it takes place after the upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special. Additionally, James Gunn did confirm that this is the final act for this particular rendition of the Guardians. Gunn told Deadline‘s Hero Nation podcast, “This is the end for us, the last time people will see this team of Guardians.” So we can only imagine this iteration of Guardians will go out with quite a bang.

You can see the latest trailer for the movie below:

One thing we do know, though, is that Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is going to spend a lot of time with Rocket. Recently, James Gunn spoke to EW and shared just how much the grumpy raccoon plays into the third GOTG movie.

According to Gunn, one of the reasons he came back for Vol. 3 included needing to tell Rocket’s story and feeling very connected to the character. He says, “I feel like nobody would be able to tell his full story if it wasn’t me.”

Additionally, Gunn offers:

To me, Rocket has always been the secret protagonist of the Guardians movies… From the beginning, it has been rooted in who he is as a character. I think he exemplifies a lot of the traits of all the Guardians. They’ve had all these traumas, and it brings them together. I just think that his is more extreme than others… He was just fine being an animal, and he was transformed into something else he didn’t want to be. I think that transformation itself was extremely painful, but I also think it made him feel incredibly alienated from everyone else. In Vol. 3, we learn a lot about his past — where he came from, who he is, and what he’s been through. It’s been a difficult road for the little animal.

We can’t wait to get the Rocket backstory we all want and deserve.

For now, we have our first clips from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. In the latest clip released, we get hit with a powerful punch of emotions. This look at the movie features a taste of Rocket’s backstory, and it’s very sad. The High Evolutionary, we assume, has been experimenting on animals, and the result is a whole gaggle of cute, sentient beings in a lot of pain. We have Rocket, of course, who gets his name in the below clip. In addition, we meet his best friends, Lylla the otter (voiced by Linda Cardellini), Floor the rabbit (voiced by Mikaela Hoover), and Teefs the walrus (voiced by Asim Chaudhry). Cardellini and Hoover both return for their second MCU role.

Ultimately, these creatures just want to see the great big sky together in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. We hope their friendship lasts and that they all get happy endings. Although we must say, things are not looking good for Rocket.

Additional clips revealed more aspects of the movie. In the first, Quill and Nebula butt heads spectacularly over a rather annoying door. There’s even a bleep involved. But that bleep will actually become the MCU’s first-ever F-Bomb.

According to James Gunn, this bleep will not be censored in the movie proper.

We also love the second released clip from Vol 3. It brings us right into the world of the Guardians. Everything hits the right note of humor—but below the surface, there’s more than a little pain and drama.

Finally, the latest Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 clip gives us our best look yet at Adam Warlock. This powerful hero clashes with Nebula, and the two are off to a rocky start. We’ll have to see what becomes of this hero, but one thing is for sure. He does not lack power.

Behind the Scenes

After a long, tumultuous road, James Gunn is back in the director’s chair for the final installment. He’s also, once again, writing the script. Frequent Gunn collaborator Fred Raskin is back as editing, alongside Craig Wood. The Suicide Squad‘s composer John Murphy is scoring the film.

Guardian of the Galaxy Vol. 3’s Cast

As this is a GOTG film, it sees all our usual suspects returning for more—with a slight caveat. As such, Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldaña, Dave Bautista, Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper, Pom Klementieff, Karen Gillan, and Sean Gunn are back. However, Saldaña’s playing an earlier version of Gamora, as the one we’ve met over the course of the franchise died at the hands of Thanos in Avengers: Infinity War. However, in Avengers: Endgame the younger version of the character traveled to present-day MCU and is now part of the crew. Additionally, Michael Rosenbaum has revealed that he will return as Martinex, the crystal Ravager

New additions include Sylvester Stallone, who will play Stakar Ogord and Will Poulter as Adam Warlock. Peacemaker‘s Chukwudi Iwuji is also reuniting with Gunn for the project. San Diego Comic-Con 2022 confirmed Iwuji will play the film’s villain, the High Evolutionary. The Suicide Squad star Daniela Melchior and The Bubble‘s Maria Bakalova will also appear, with Gunn confirming both actors’ appearances. Crazy Rich Asians and Superstore actor Nico Santos has also been cast. Their roles are still under wraps.

James Gunn also revealed that returning MCU vet Linda Cardellini will play Lylla the otter. A second returning MCU actor will voice Floor the rabbit. And Asim Chaudhry will play Teefs the walrus. All these sentient animals feature in Rocket’s past. In flashbacks, young Rocket will be voiced by Sean Gunn for the first time; the actor does the motion capture work for Rocket.

James Gunn also gave us a look at Nathan Fillion’s character from the movie, Master Karja. This new MCU character is donning an orgosentry uniform, which Gunn shares is “in the film, an organic suit genetically designed.” We can’t wait to see it in action.

Guardian of the Galaxy Vol. 3‘s Release Date

The film is slated for a May 5, 2023 release.

We’ll keep you posted on any new details—and potential mixtape bangers—as we learn them.

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Most of us know Sean Gunn from the screen. Among his many roles, he played the quirky and often perspicacious Kirk Gleason on Gilmore Girls. More recently he portrayed Ravager turned Guardian Kraglin in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. He also performed motion reference as the on-set Rocket in the MCU, and in Vol. 3, he voiced and provided motion capture performance for young Rocket. But some—specifically some four-legged furry creatures—know him as a cat-dad.

“My cats, they’re both 13… they’re both rescues, one is a black Persian whose name is The Business. He was found in a shrub in Koreatown. I got him at 10 days old, before his eyes were open, and bottle-fed him. And then about four months later I got Tommy, who was then two months old, so he’s a little younger. He’s an orange tabby, and they’re the greatest,” Gunn tells Nerdist.

Gunn, proud cat-dad and one-time hands-on cat-rescuer, wanted to be an actor for as long as he could remember. When he was younger, he was drawn to acting because he liked being the center of attention. As the youngest of six kids, he loved it when it was his turn to speak. That’s how it started. Gunn’s perspective on acting has changed over the years, though.

“Over the years you get older, and I went to acting school and I’ve learned what the craft was really about,” Gunn explains, “And I can honestly say that I love acting now more than ever, but it’s not because I’m the center of attention. It feels the opposite. I mean, I love acting because it forces me to understand people and why they make the decisions that they make, why they act, how they act. If you’re really doing your job as an actor, you have to be compassionate. You have to be giving towards the people that you’re trying to portray. I think that in a lot of ways it makes me a better person than I might normally be.”

Born in St. Louis, Missouri, Gunn acted throughout high school and moved to Los Angeles in 1997. He got to work as soon he arrived. It wasn’t long before he landed the role of Kirk Gleason in Gilmore Girls, which premiered in 2000. Gunn didn’t think it would last for more than one episode, then one season, but the Amy Sherman-Palladino series aired for seven seasons and had a four-part revival. One of the most beloved Stars Hollow townies, Kirk had 62 jobs over the course of the series. Kirk was a street magician, filmmaker, dog walker, the list goes on. If Gunn could take on any job for a day himself, he would be a sports broadcaster or an animal scientist, studying how humans have domesticated animals over time.

Regardless of the job Kirk had in a given episode, physical comedy was almost always involved. “Some of my biggest influences in terms of style of performance have been Buster Keaton, as much as any other actor probably ever,” Gunn shares. “I’ve watched Buster Keaton and have been in awe of what he was able to do performance-wise. There’s an actor who’s not as well-known named Eddie Bracken from the Preston Sturges movies in the ’40s. It’s this old-timey style of physical comedy that’s just heightened. It’s not quite always super huge, but it’s bigger. Kirk was a little bit bigger than the other actors on Gilmore Girls and I wonder sometimes if that was on purpose.”

Gilmore Girls‘ lightning-fast dialogue called back to comedies from the ’30s and ’40s. Gunn says the show sounded like His Girl Friday and Bringing Up Baby and since he’s a student of those comedies, he fit in well. “I watched those old actors, and all those performers were super physical. You had to be; you couldn’t tell the story without it, so I love it. I miss playing Kirk quite a bit. When I was younger I was ready to move on to the next thing. Now that I’m older I’m like, man, what a great job that was, I would go back and do it again in a heartbeat.”

Years later, Gunn would bring a different kind of physical acting to the role of on-set Rocket in the first Guardians of the Galaxy. Gunn recalls, “When I did Rocket for the first time, we didn’t know how we were going to create that character. I knew that I was there to read with the other actors and to do the table read. Then we got the first rehearsal on its feet and I just got down on my hands and knees and started doing it. And I remembered some of that work from school. We’d had exercises where you pretend to be an animal and you get down on your knees—it’s an acting school 101 thing that you think you’re never going to use, and I’ve now played a raccoon and a weasel in movies.”

He jokes that he’s fortunate that he’s very limber—or was 10 years ago when they made the first movie. He’s a little creakier now. Gunn notes his motion reference performance was helpful for the VFX team from the beginning (he stresses it takes a whole team of people to create Rocket) and it gave the other actors on set actual eyes to look into. However, it is very physical. He had a program to help his body adjust for the role.

Gunn says, “I was going backwards up steps a lot, and then also stepping on tennis balls for my feet. It was really my ankles and my feet more than anything that had the most stress on them. And I was limbering up, and I kept doing it, but I’ll be 49 on Monday [May 22], and so I don’t think I want to be 50 and playing Rocket… I can say that I think I’m officially retired from physically playing Rocket.”

As part of his last turn as on-set Rocket, Gunn danced with his brother, Guardians of the Galaxy writer and director James Gunn, in Vol. 3‘s final moments. In the scene on Knowhere, Florence + The Machine’s “Dog Days of Summer” blasts through the streets, and Rocket and Groot dance among their friends. Sean was on-set as Rocket and James danced for Groot.

Joking that we need to prod James to see if he can release the footage of them dancing, Gunn says, “It was a culmination of all of it. It’s a celebration of the entire trilogy. That was very emotional for me, but it was also very cathartic, because it wasn’t some heart-wrenching stuff. We had already gone through the ringer with Rocket’s story, and digging in—we’d already done the digging. So in that moment at the end he’s really just letting loose, and I was able to do the same thing. It’s pretty cool.”

And for the heart-wrenching moments Gunn mentions, he was in the thick of Rocket’s backstory. Gunn donned a motion capture suit to perform as young Rocket alongside the character’s first found family: Lylla, Floor, and Teefs. They captured those scenes in the first week of filming Vol. 3.

“That was, in some ways, the most daunting stuff in the whole script, for me as a performer. So to do it first, it was like I didn’t have a whole lot of time to think about it, which was good,” Gunn says. “I didn’t need too much time to think about it. It was hard to get it together, to keep it together in some of those moments. I never got so emotional as an actor as I got shooting those scenes, and the scenes with Lylla… I couldn’t say enough about Linda Cardellini. She’s an absolute genius. “

Of course, Gunn appears in another big way in the Guardians of the Galaxy films as Kraglin. Vol. 3 saw the Ravager find his inner confidence and become a member of the new Guardians team. “I didn’t even really know exactly who Kraglin was until I saw the first movie,” Gunn shares. “We experimented—he’s this peripheral character who is important plot-wise, but we didn’t really know exactly who he was going to be, in terms of if he was going to be a little bit more menacing, or a little bit more goofy, or what it was. We played around with it. Then when I watched the first movie, I feel like I really got it, I understood who he was, and it was eye-opening to learn that he was on the ship when Yondu abducted Peter Quill.”

Gunn compares Kraglin’s journey to that of The Parable of the Prodigal Son. Quill is the son who leaves, and Kraglin is the son who stays. He says, “In that second movie he’s very hurt. ‘You seem to love Quill, what about me? I’ve been here the whole time.’ I don’t think that Kraglin ever was able to quite put those pieces together. We’ve gotten to see more and more of Kraglin, he becomes a bigger part of the story over three movies. But in some ways, if you really look at the story of the Guardians, and this theme of found family, and how you can find your family anywhere, Kraglin is emphatically a Guardian. That’s exactly what he does over the course of the three movies.”

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3‘s mid-credits scene revealed Kraglin, replete in the Guardians uniform alongside his fellow new team members. Gunn recalls he was psyched to put that uniform on, but he was aware of wanting to serve the story. “It’s always like, are we telling the story right? But I was honored, and that mirrors Kraglin. I mean, no one would be more honored than him, I don’t think,” Gunn tells us. “That’s his whole thing, is that ‘I am a soldier, I’m here to do my part, and to fill in and to do whatever I can to help contribute and be a part of this team’. That’s his governing principle. I totally relate to that.”

While we see Rocket leading this iteration of the Guardians, we don’t know what the future holds for the characters or the team. Gunn chooses to see the Guardians of the Galaxy as an idea. He says, “That idea is that it’s through looking out for one another and having compassion for everyone that you find your own, you find your home, with your family. And just as a human being, you get to find who you are by seeking it in other people. I hope that that theme continues no matter what the Guardians do. I don’t think the Guardians need to be done. You never know what’s going to be next. But I think the idea that that theme we tried so hard to build—that will remain and that will stay there.”

And for the future, Guardians and beyond, Gunn never closes the door on opportunities. He said, “I love acting. My favorite thing is that I feel like I’m still getting better. I still feel like my work is improving, and I want it to improve. It’s very important to me to be able to watch my work and say, ‘Oh, this is better than the previous movie or the previous thing. There’s new things I’m doing that are a little more interesting.’ Being an actor has been part of the fabric of who I am for my whole life.”

Amy Ratcliffe is the Editor-in-Chief for Nerdist and the author of Star Wars: Women of the Galaxy, The Art of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, The Marvel Cinematic Universe An Official Timeline, and more. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram.

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The MCU often reinvents Marvel Comics’ main characters. Hawkeye was a very different character from his comics counterpart, and they removed Scarlet Witch’s mutant past completely. Similarly, Adam Warlock, who finally made his movie debut in Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 3, is very different from what Marvel Comics fans remember. Or was he? Actually, James Gunn reinvented him by going back to his earliest comic origins. And when we say he “reinvented him,” we literally mean “Him.” As “Him” was Adam Warlock’s original name.

Most Marvel Comics readers know Adam Warlock as the powerful being who owns the Soul Gem, and who often went toe-to-toe with Thanos. Not only did he have the standard super strength, invulnerability, flight, and energy projection powers, but he also had “Quantum Magic.” He was a central figure in the Infinity Gauntlet and Infinity War ’90s crossover events, and spun out of those with his own title, Warlock and the Infinity Watch. So the version we saw in Guardians was a far cry from the ones modern comics readers knew. How was Will Poulter’s overgrown golden baby anything like his comic inspiration? Actually, he was. Just not a version most modern readers were familiar with.

Before Adam Warlock, There Was Marvel Comics “Him”

Adam Warlock wasn’t always called Adam Warlock. Stan Lee and Jack Kirby created him as the antagonist in Fantastic Four #67 in 1967. A cult of nefarious scientists called the Enclave used all their scientific skills to create the perfect artificial being. Out of their cocoon chamber emerged a male-presenting being of perfect proportions with golden skin and hair. By nature, he had telepathy, incredible strength, and energy manipulation powers. He didn’t have a name, he was simply referred to as “Him.”

This perfect specimen of a man was essentially a newborn baby, with the accumulated knowledge of humanity dumped into his brain. But he had no actual experience with the world at large and acted much like an overgrown child. When he read the minds of his creators and saw they were actually evil, he turned on them and flew away into space. For years, readers had no idea what became of him, as Stan Lee and Jack Kirby left it open-ended. His story became something for future writers to pick up on. It took several years, but eventually someone did.

Marvel Comics Him Became an Outer Space Doctor Strange

In the early ‘70s, writer Roy Thomas and artist Gil Kane remembered that Him was still out there in the cosmos. So they gave him a name, a costume (he was all but naked before), and made him a superhero. Writer Jim Starlin added even more story elements to Warlock in the following years. From the start, those early adventures saw him receive a glow-up, as he inherited the Soul Gem, an Infinity Gem which he embedded in his forehead. He became a wise mage character, like a cosmic Dr. Strange with magic added to his already formidable power set. When you needed a powerful sage voice in a billowy red cape to tell you what’s what with an impending cosmic threat, Adam Warlock became the go-to character.

MCU Adam Warlock Goes Back to the Him Basics

But for the MCU, James Gunn went back to square one. Will Poulter’s Adam Warlock did have a name from the get-go. It would have been silly to only refer to him as, well, HIM. But the rest of his appearance in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 tracks with his first comics appearance. They birthed him from a cocoon as a fully grown adult, but was innocent and easily manipulated. He only understands serving his creators. In this case, the Sovereign, not the Enclave. But much like the comics, he recognized his creators were not noble, turning on them to help the good guys. Replace the Fantastic Four with the Guardians, and it’s very much the same scenario. Instead of flying off to parts unknown at the end, he finds a new family with the Guardians of the Galaxy.

It remains to be seen how much of Adam Warlock’s more well-established comics personality will remain as the character moves forward in other projects. For several decades, much of the comics version of Adam was informed by owning the Soul Gem. It gave him tremendous extra power and knowledge. Without it, how does MCU “baby Adam” become so wise? Although the MCU Adam has some sort of stone in his forehead, it’s definitely not an Infinity Stone. We know they were all destroyed. So much of the comic book Adam’s history was tied into both the Soul Gem and Thanos. Without those concepts, MCU Adam will likely deviate even more from the version comics fans know.

What Is Adam Warlock’s MCU Future?

As fun as it would be to see Adam Warlock in a future Guardians project, whatever form that may take, we honestly hope to see him in his own thing. Although a stalwart member of the Guardians in the comics, Adam Warlock was more famous as a solo hero first. A Disney+ show expanding on how this adult-sized golden infant became a wise cosmic sage would be fun. Will Poulter was perfect to play the big baby version of Adam, “Him 2.0.” But we’d love to see him evolve into the version most comics fans love, which is Superman meets Doctor Strange, only in space. Let’s see what happens with Adam Warlock a.k.a. Him in the future.

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The Guardians of the Galaxy, especially Rocket and Nebula, have had an unexpected relationship with Bucky Barnes in the MCU. No, the three characters, who all have many backstory commonalities and hardships, haven’t connected over their shared pains. Instead, in the MCU, Rocket and Nebula tie into Bucky Barnes via his metal arm. This connection led fans to speculate that Nebula’s new arm (also metallic) in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 was actually related to Bucky’s. But this turned out not to be the case.

The saga of the Guardians and the arm began in Avengers: Infinity War. The movie had some interesting franchise mashup scenes, including between Rocket and Bucky. And Rocket expressed great interest in “getting that arm” off Bucky, for sale or not.

In The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special, the story of Bucky and Rocket continued. Nebula gifted Rocket Bucky’s arm to make his holiday dreams come true. Director James Gunn confirmed that Nebula “took a trip to earth and tore it off his [Bucky’s] body because she was feeling so Christmasy.” Although we have no doubt Nebula can beat Bucky in a fight, we much prefer a vision where Bucky lends her a spare arm for Rocket. Bucky’s arm is, after all, his arm.

With all this armstory between them, when fans saw Nebula had a new arm in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, they suspected it might be related to Bucky’s stolen/borrowed limb. But James Gunn has confirmed that is not the case. Nebula’s arm is not Bucky’s; instead, it is its own creation.

However, Gunn also confirmed that Rocket built Nebula her new arm. And given that Rocket is now the proud owner of Bucky Barnes’ arm, it’s possible he may have taken some inspiration.

Perhaps one day, Black Panther Shuri and Rocket can have a meeting of the minds over the best arm designs. We’d love to see how that conversation plays out.

Featured Image: Marvel Studios

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We’ve been looking forward to Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 for a very long time, and for several reasons. The first, of course, is to see the end of the journey for this iteration of the Guardians. Writer-director James Gunn has promised a tear-jerker of a finale. Rocket’s going to break our hearts, gosh darning. But moreover, we want to hear the third volume of needle drops to score the action and drama. And now the Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 soundtrack is finally here and our ears are ready. James Gunn revealed the official mixtape, which includes all the music from all the films and the Christmas special.

Interesting to note, the Vol. 3 tracks include a mix of both the ’70s music we got in the first two volumes, plus a smattering of ’80s and ’90s hits. What can this mean?!?!

Only a James Gunn mix would start with Radiohead’s “Creep (Acoustic)” and go straight into Heart’s “Crazy On You.” Other fun standouts include Spacehog’s “In the Meantime,” The Flaming Lips’ “Do You Realize??” and “No Sleep Till Brooklyn” by the Beastie Boys. Vol. 3 has a really fascinating soundtrack, because you have Rainbow and Earth, Wind & Fire, but also stuff like Faith No More and X. Perhaps Peter Quill is diversifying his musical tastes this time around. Even Florence + The Machine makes an appearance. And judging by Florence Welch’s response to the musical cue in the Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 soundtrack, we’ll all be sobbing soon.

We truly can’t wait to see how Gunn incorporates each of these tracks into the action. Between these movies and The Suicide Squad, Gunn might be in the pantheon of Quentin Tarantino and Edgar Wright as purveyors of merging great existing music with movie action.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (and its soundtrack) is now in theaters.

Kyle Anderson is the Senior Editor for Nerdist. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Instagram and Letterboxd.

Originally published on April 3, 2023.

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Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 introduces one of the heaviest hitters in the Marvel Universe, Adam Warlock, to the big screen. Played by actor Will Poulter, Adam Warlock is a genetically-engineered warrior working on behalf of the High Evolutionary (Chukwudi Iwuji). Fans of Marvel Comics will know Adam Warlock as an important player in the Infinity Gauntlet, Infinity War, and Infinity Watch storylines, but his portrayal in the MCU is much different from his usual role in comics. In fact, Adam Warlock operates in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 as a critique of the MCU’s brand of heroism, particularly in its early Phases. In doing so, the film boldly makes the case for how the MCU can change with the times, calling out its own shortcomings in the process. 

The third Guardians of the Galaxy film follows the team as they race to protect Rocket Raccoon from his creator, the High Evolutionary. Rocket’s tactical genius makes him one of the High Evolutionary’s greatest achievements, prompting the latter to send Adam Warlock in search of him. Against this backdrop, the team must also come to terms with how larger events in the MCU have changed their found family dynamic, as Gamora is no longer in the group. It is an auspicious choice for Adam Warlock to debut in a Guardians of the Galaxy movie, given how the team’s unconventional lineup of heroes compares to standard superhero expectations. 

Adam Warlock’s role in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 touches on how superhero fiction is centered around moral and physical perfection. Characters like Superman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Hawkman, Captain America, and Thor are physical and ethical paragons. They were created to inspire readers to be their best selves. Superhero teams like the Doom Patrol, Fantastic Four, X-Men, and the Guardians of the Galaxy are meant to counter the genre’s focus on ethical and beautiful people; however, their existence still underscores this basic truth. 

The film’s Adam Warlock is supposed to be a model of perfection seen most clearly in Phase 1 of the MCU. Warlock (like any basic superhero model) is male, buff, handsome, and indestructible. He listens to authority presents as a white person. This is further solidified with several parallels between Warlock and key moments in the MCU’s Phase 1. Adam Warlock’s birth cocoon is reminiscent of Steve Rogers’ chamber that Steve Rogers in Captain America: The First Avenger. You know, the one that turns a skinny asthmatic into a muscly super soldier. His lofty way of speaking and cluelessness recalls Thor in his first film. Likewise, when Kraglin fires his Yaka Arrow at Warlock, it bounces off of him with the same comedic imperviousness as Iron Man’s Mark I armor in the first MCU film. 

But while Captain America, Thor, and Iron Man are amenable to audiences, Adam Warlock’s introduction has an opposite effect. He destroys the sense of peace on Knowhere and its moody atmosphere, courtesy of an acoustic rendition of Radiohead’s “Creep” that Rocket put on. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 sets Warlock up as the direct antithesis to the Guardians crew. He isn’t “a weirdo” like the one in the aforementioned song. Never before has “normalcy” carried such a destructive presence in an MCU film. 

We see this with how the Guardians respond to their injuries during the fight versus Warlock. Groot sprouts four tendrils from his head and nonchalantly walks away on them while Nebula cracks her shattered limbs back into place. These are quintessential Guardians moments, built around the unique bodies of its “too strange” heroes. Warlock, on the other hand, embodies physical perfection. The literal golden boy doesn’t have a single hair out of place when Nebula finally stabs him through the chest. 

While audiences accepted heroes like Thor and Captain America in Phase 1, Adam Warlock and his relationship with the High Evolutionary reveals the sinister side to this quest for perfection. For the High Evolutionary, lifeforms that aren’t “perfect” like Adam are lesser. It’s how he is able to experiment on and then incinerate innocent animals or genetically engineer children and make them run for hours on end without a second thought.

For the High Evolutionary, life is malleable. And physical perfection is always a few tweaks away. If Tony Stark was able to build a life-saving arc reactor in a cave, with a box of scraps, then what’s stopping the High Evolutionary from creating the perfect man? As such, Adam Warlock illustrates the physical and emotional costs of the superhero genre’s obsession with perfection. Because after all, Warlock doesn’t exist to show the denizens of the universe a better path. His creation is for violence. 

The parallels between Adam Warlock and Phase 1 MCU films proves why the franchise needs the Guardians of the Galaxy. The superhero genre’s roots may envision a new type of perfection, but it’s also been the place to celebrate deviation. It’s no wonder Nebula and Rocket Raccoon—two characters who posit as disabled—are the anchors of this film.

In contrast to Adam Warlock, Nebula and Rocket are a different idea of heroic built on empathy from past pain. This especially comes to light when Rocket insists on rescuing the High Evolutionary’s other animal test subjects. (In fact, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is the only film in the trilogy that doesn’t have a gratuitous shirtless moment with Chris Pratt.) The thesis of the film celebrates the diversity of life and bodily autonomy. As such, it’s fitting to leave behind the stereotypical marker of white male heroism from the MCU’s Phase 1. 

Adam Warlock’s arc with the High Evolutionary explores the toxicity, along with physical and emotional violence, rooted in idolizing perfection. He now makes Steve Rogers’ transformation scene in Captain America: The First Avenger uneasy to watch. Dr. Abraham Erskine believed that America needed “a little guy” to defeat the Nazis and their horrific supremacism. Steve Rogers had the heart of a little guy. But his body had to rapidly balloon in size and muscle tone in order to be adequate. To fight an enemy that believed in biological supremacy, Steve Rogers needed a whole new body type all together. 

It’s almost a shame that Warlock’s debut comes in this late-stage Guardians offering. But with physically marginalized characters like Rocket and Nebula, the Guardians of the Galaxy is one of the only self-aware and self-critical teams in the MCU. With this franchise’s future up in the air after an uneven Phase 4, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 proves that the MCU must seriously reckon with its past to properly evolve.

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If you were like us, and fell in love with the anthropomorphic otter from Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 3, you might be wondering about her comics history. Well, the Lady Lylla is indeed a character from the comics, and made less than 10 appearances overall. However, Lylla remains a crucial part of Rocket’s backstory, something that Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 explored. In the movie, MCU vet Linda Cardellini played Lylla. Here’s the lowdown on the Marvel Comics history of Rocket’s one true love.

Lady Lylla, Marvel Otter and Toy Empire C.E.O.

Lylla first appeared back in 1982’s The Incredible Hulk #271, which was only the second appearance of Rocket Raccoon. In those early Marvel appearances, Lylla was the otter heir to an enormous intergalactic toy company, Mayhem Mekaniks, on the planet Halfworld. They named the planet that due to it being half industrial, half natural. Think “half Coruscant/half Dagobah,” to use Star Wars terminology.

Once, the planet was a giant asylum, where robot caretakers looked after the patients. The robot caretakers eventually became sentient and experimented on the patient’s animal companions in an effort to evolve them. Eventually, Marvel’s Halfworld became a planet occupied entirely by anthropomorphic animals, similar to what we saw with Lylla the otter in the Guardians 3 trailer. We have a feeling James Gunn is fusing Halfworld with Counter-Earth, another similar Marvel Comics concept from the same era.

Meeting Her Soulmate

Eventually, a hostile takeover over Mayhem Mekaniks occurred, by the malevolent half-man/half-mole Judson Jakes, and Lylla’s parents were murdered. She needed help, and she received it from our favorite swashbuckling “trash panda.” Although Lylla regained control of Mayhem Mekaniks after that, the other fell in love with Marvel’s Rocket. The two went on to become a couple. They went off into the galaxy to have adventures together, getting a “happily ever after” style ending.

Rocket the Raccoon and Lylla the Otter’s Marvel Reunion

There were many years between these adventures, which took place in the four-part Rocket Raccoon series, and Rocket’s return to the Marvel Universe in the ongoing Guardians of the Galaxy comics. In those comics, we learned that Rocket and Lylla split up before he became partners with Groot and joined the Guardians of the Galaxy. However, Rocket and Lylla reunited in 2011’s Annihilators #4.

There, Rocket learned that his former love had married an anthropomorphic rabbit named Blackjack O’Hare. Ultimately, Rocket accepted that Lylla had moved on, and the two parted ways, as Rocket continued his adventures with the Guardians. In fact, Rocket discovered that many of the memories he had of his otter girlfriend Lady Lylla were implanted, putting into doubt whether they were really soulmates after all. It’s now been a decade since Lady Lylla appeared in a Marvel comic, the previously mentioned Annihilators #4.

The MCU’s Lylla the Otter in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3

In the MCU, James Gunn heavily revised the Marvel Comics backstory of Lylla for the MCU version of the otter. While she Rocket do have a history together, all that Halfworld and giant toy empire portions were jettisoned. Instead, both Lylla and Rocket Raccoon were subjects of the High Evolutionary’s experiments and formed a bond as test subjects in his laboratory.

Before the film even came out, James Gunn shared that in his past, Rocket was caged alongside several other animals, including Lylla the otter, Teefs the walrus (Asim Chaudhry), and Floor the rabbit (Mikaela Hoover). The group of them was trapped together in the High Evolutionary’s lab. Gunn noted that they are all best friends who dream of seeing the world beyond their captivity. He also shared some adorable test footage of the MCU’s Lylla coming to life in all her otter glory.

Lylla and the rest of Rockets’ friends’ experiences were some of the most memorable and heartbreaking parts of Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 3, giving the film much of its emotional core. The movie would not have been the same without Lylla’s presence. Although Lylla was only present in the MCU for a short time, we know in both the Marvel cinematic and comic worlds there is always a possibility of return. Hopefully, we will see Lylla again in some fashion.

Originally published in April 2023.

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Doctor Strange may have the word “strange” as part of his name, but almost no superhero in the Marvel Universe is truly as strange as Adam Warlock. But who is Adam Warlock, really? He’s an immensely powerful cosmic being and a longtime enemy of Thanos. Adam Warlock has even wielded all the Infinity Stones at once (called Infinity Gems in the comics). So he’s a major player. And on top of this, Marvel’s Adam Warlock finally made his MCU debut in a big, bad way in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. But now that he has emerged from his alien cocoon, here are the most important things to know about Marvel’s cosmic messianic hero. Who is Adam Warlock? Let’s find out.

Adam Warlock’s Origin Story: Simply “Him”

Few Marvel Comics heroes have a stranger origin or a stranger series of adventures than Adam Warlock. Stan Lee and Jack Kirby created him in the pages of Fantastic Four back in 1967. He had no name at first, only referred to as “Him.” Adam Warlock’s first stage of Marvel existence came when a villainous group of scientists bent on world domination, known as the Enclave, used all their scientific know-how to create the perfect artificial being.

The Enclave succeeded, making a perfectly built humanoid man with golden skin. The soon-to-be Adam Warlock emerged from his birthing pod with incredible strength, telepathy, and energy manipulation powers. But because of his telepathy, he could sense that his creators had nefarious plans for the world. Disgusted with them, he destroyed their laboratory and departed for the stars.

Becoming Adam Warlock in Marvel Comics

After a brief tussle with Thor, “Him” encased himself into a healing cocoon. He emerged from this state when he met the being known as the High Evolutionary. During this time, the High Evolutionary had created a duplicate of Earth 616, which revolved around the sun in the opposite direction. This “Counter-Earth” didn’t have superhero protectors of its own, so the High Evolutionary entrusted “Him” with the Soul Gem. And thus, a new superhero was born.

Possession of the gem allowed him to capture the souls of living beings. The High Evolutionary gave him the name “Warlock,” and a group of kids gave him the first name “Adam.” And together, the High Evolutionary and the latter unexpected source birthed Adam Warlock. This huge revamp of the character was because of the creative team of Roy Thomas and Gil Kane, who took the blank slate of “Him” and gave him his own comic series. And in interviews over the years, Thomas has admitted that inspiration for Marvel Comics’ Adam Warlock came from the (at the time) new musical, Jesus Christ Superstar. 

Adam Warlock vs. Thanos: Round One 

Eventually leaving Counter-Earth and the High Evolutionary behind, Adam Warlock travels into Marvel Comics’ cosmos. There, he crosses paths with the Universal Church of Truth, an intergalactic cult led by a madman called Magus. To stop Magus, Adam Warlock forges an alliance with the Mad Titan Thanos and his daughter Gamora. (You’ve probably heard of them). But then Adam Warlock learns the ugly truth. He himself is Magus but from the future—a version of himself driven mad by overuse of the Soul Gem. Adam Warlock beats Magus but then turns against Thanos when he discovers the other five Infinity Gems.

Adam Warlock defeats Thanos by turning him to stone. This does seem to indicate that Marvel’s Adam Warlock is stronger than Thanos in some ways… At least in Marvel Comics. After Warlock bests Thanos, his consciousness finds a new home in the Soulworld, which exists in the Soul Stone.

Adam Warlock’s History with Infinity Gauntlets, Infinity Wars, and the Infinity Watch

Thanos eventually finds a path toward resurrection and gathers all the Infinity Gems together. He plans to erase half of life in the universe. Sound familiar? That’s because The Infinity Gauntlet event series was the basis for the MCU’s “Infinity Saga.” (The “Infinity Saga” are the first 23 films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.) Although Adam Warlock was not present in the MCU version of events.

In the comics, Adam Warlock leaves the Soulworld along with Gamora, who was also trapped there, essentially resurrecting themselves. With Earth’s heroes in tow, they defeat Thanos, just like in the MCU. Instead of the gems being destroyed like in the MCU, however, Adam Warlock splits them up in the Marvel Comics’ version of the story. Adam Warlock gives one gem out to several different individuals while keeping the Soul Gem for himself. This group became known as The Infinity Watch.

To best host the Soul Gem, Adam Warlock purges himself of all emotion, becoming a creature of pure logic. He comes like Spock from Star Trek, only with gold skin like Data from The Next Generation. Additionally, like Spock and Data, Adam Warlock is also a logic-based character who falls on the side of good in Marvel Comics. So, unless, James Gunn throws a curveball our way, or Adam Warlock appears first as Magus, it seems unlikely he will join the MCU as a villain.

It is interesting to note that Warlock’s “good” and “bad” emotions go on to form their own beings, which Warlock later has to fight. Perhaps we may see these inter-Adam Warlock battles appear somewhere in the MCU.

Terrible Cosmic Abilities, Itty Bitty Living Space: Adam Warlock’s Powers

Despite living for years within the world contained in the tiny Soul Gem, Adam Warlock retained all of his powers. And his powers are formidable, to say the least. Adam Warlock has superhuman strength, speed, and stamina, not to mention he can also manipulate cosmic power for energy projection. In addition, he can fly, and he can regenerate himself by encasing himself in cocoons similar to the one which birthed him.

Essentially immortal, with each Marvel Comics resurrection, Adam Warlock only gets stronger. But the perks don’t end there. He also has accessed “quantum magic,” which is good since his name is “Warlock,” after all. He can create force fields, travel faster than light, and even create wormholes in space. And not only does Adam Warlock have the power to resurrect himself, but he’s resurrected others in the past. Adam Warlock isn’t omnipotent on the level of the Celestials, but he’s in their ballpark.

Adam Warlock and Thanos: Brothers?

Adam Warlock, due to his connection to the Soul Gem, is Marvel’s Avatar of Life. Meanwhile, Thanos is the Avatar of Death. So, in a manner of speaking, they are spiritual siblings or different sides of the same coin. This leads fans to speculate about whether they are brothers. But are Adam Warlock and Thanos siblings? No, not exactly. But they have a unique bond. And that causes Adam Warlock and Thanos to be both enemy and ally.

Although they fought against each other many times, together they defeated Annihilus and other cosmic threats. And despite ruining Thanos’ plans with the Infinity Gauntlet, Adam Warlock still trusted him with the Power Gem when he split up the rest of the remaining gems. We look forward to seeing what kind of relationship, if any, Adam Warlock will have with Thanos in the MCU.

So Why Hasn’t Adam Warlock Been in the MCU Until Now?

Adam Warlock has appeared in animated form before, first in the animated film Planet Hulk and then in shows like Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes and Guardians of the Galaxy. But despite these appearances and his comic book history, Adam Warlock hasn’t surfaced in the MCU yet. Given Adam Warlock’s importance to the whole Infinity Gauntlet saga and all its various comic spinoffs, it’s not clear why he didn’t feature in the MCU’s Infinity Saga. The entire concept of the Infinity Stones comes from Adam Warlock comics, after all.

At the end of the day, only Kevin Feige knows for sure why Adam Warlock never appeared in the MCU’s Infinity Saga. It’s possible Marvel wanted the focus solely on the main Avengers team. Marvel teased the character in both Thor: The Dark World and Guardians of the Galaxy, where his cocoon was shown. But it was the post-credits tag to Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 that showed that Adam Warlock was finally coming into the MCU. Only this time, Adam Warlock is created by the alien Sovereign, not Earth scientists. Finally, Marvel announced they cast Will Poulter as the MCU’s Adam Warlock. The studio announced that Warlock would finally be join the MCU in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. 

Adam Warlock in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 and His MCU Future

The MCU reworked Adam Warlock’s origins, as we learned that the High Evolutionary actually created the Sovereign race, making him an indirect product of his expertise in genetics. In Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, Adam Warlock was a newborn being of immense power, tasked with bringing Rocket back to his master. He mowed through the Guardians on Knowhere, showing off his true potential.

The MCU’s Adam Warlock eventually turns on the High Evolutionary and helps the Guardians of the Galaxy, even saving Star-Lord’s life. By the end of the film, he joins Rocket’s new Guardians team, heading towards a path of heroism. All of this is a truncated version of Adam Warlock’s comic book relationship with the High Evolutionary, in which Warlock served the High Evolutionary and ultimately left him behind. Only Adam Warlock’s Marvel Comics connection to the Infinity Stones is totally left out of his MCU counterpart.

One thing is for sure. Whether it’s in a movie or as part of a Disney+ series, without a doubt, Adam Warlock will have a big role in the MCU going forward. As Gunn teases, “I wanted somebody who was youthful, and I wanted the person who had the dramatic chops and the comedic chops, not only for this movie but for what Marvel will use Adam Warlock for in the future… He could become this really important character.”

Originally published on November 8, 2021.

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Nebula was once the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise’s best, most compelling villain. In fact, that’s all she was in their original movie. She began her on-screen journey as a terrifying, fearsome, sneering killer cyborg without any redeeming qualities. Now Karen Gillan’s character is a genuine hero and member of a beloved team. Nebula’s complete and well-earned transformation during her time in the franchise is worthy of celebration.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 was the most emotional and meaningful chapter in Nebula’s story yet, as the movie completed a character arc that stands as one of the MCU’s most powerful. She’d already found a family that loves her. She had also already learned how to care about others. The difference for Nebula this time was that she finally learned to do the one thing she needed to truly find peace and happiness. She learned to be kind to herself.

The second Guardians movie revealed why the villain of the first film was full of so much anger and hate. It also revealed why Nebula was worthy of genuine sympathy and understanding. Like Gamora, Thanos had stolen her as a child. In his efforts to make Nebula a more deadly weapon he pitted his “daughters” against one another in training. Every time Gamora won Thanos “would replace a piece” of Nebula with machinery. Yet, the horrific physical abuse wasn’t even the worst of it for Nebula. It was the emotional toll. That came at the hands of Gamora who won “again, and again, and again, never once refraining” from showing mercy to her weaker sibling.

“You were the one who wanted to win!” Nebula screamed after besting Gamora during a fight in Guardians Vol. 2. “And I just wanted a sister!” Nebula’s only desire was to feel real love, and Gamora was the only one capable of giving it to a scared kid. Instead, as Nebula said, Gamora’s need to win their father’s approval is why “Thanos pulled my eye from my head and my brain from my skull and my arm from my body.” That happened again and again because of Gamora, the sister we’d thought of as the good one.

They eventually got past their hatred in that film, a movie that featured Nebula saving Rocket’s life before she helped save the entire galaxy. It ended with them as real siblings who cared for one another. Even after an awkward hug, Nebula still wasn’t capable of being a part of a family. She said she would fulfill Gamora’s wish to protect other innocent girls by killing Thanos. At that time Nebula was still driven by hate and anger. However, it wasn’t just hate and anger at her father that drove her. It had never been.

The death of Gamora and the scope of The Snap in Infinity War changed Nebula. Her father’s atrocity, which in many ways she enabled, pushed her to become a part of something bigger. After half the universe vanished into dust, she cared for an ailing Tony Stark in Endgame. She even comforted—and found comfort in—Rocket. Then she joined the Avengers to help keep Earth safe. And after her capture during the Time Heist by Thanos in the past, Nebula convinced the alternate 2014 Gamora to help her stop their father. That ultimately forced her to (literally) kill the person she had once been. Before she did, the alternate Nebula revealed something else about who she had truly been all along. In doing so she revealed who she was really angry with all this time.

“You can change,” the original Nebula told her old self in Endgame.

“He won’t let me,” responded 2014 Nebula, the same person we’d previously met in 2014’s Vol. 1. It wasn’t that Nebula ever wanted to be a villain. It was that she didn’t believe her father would ever let her be anything else. Her entire identity was defined by how he saw her. That made her desperate for Thanos’ approval. Nebula’s entire sense of self-worth came from the person who’d inflicted so much pain on her.

That clearly didn’t end when he died (either time). Even with Thanos out of her life forever, in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 her emotional scars still hadn’t healed. Nebula was generally a good person at the start of the movie, but she was still angry and impatient with others. Those were unyielding vestiges of the person she had been. That often uncontrollable rage, as Mantis accurately identified, came from self-hatred. Nebula, who literally carried her past with her in the form of machine parts, blamed herself for what she was rather than Thanos. She blamed herself rather than the person who made her that way both physically and emotionally. 

Because she blamed herself she couldn’t forgive herself. And because she couldn’t forgive herself she couldn’t allow herself any grace or understanding. Nebula’s self-hatred prevented her from showing herself the type of compassion she’d learn to show others. That not only impacted her self-worth, it made her a hard person to be around. We saw her hatred manifest in the way she lashed out at Drax, her complete opposite in many ways. He never held himself accountable for his own shortcomings, let alone hate himself. But he was also loving, compassionate, and kind to others in spite of theirs.

That all changed because she was forced to confront Rocket’s own past, a past so very much like her own. Only by seeing her pain in someone else was she able to realize we are not to blame for the crimes committed against us. She didn’t blame Rocket for the High Evolutionary’s actions, so why would she continue blaming herself for Thanos’ choices? Her empathy for Rocket was the first time she had empathy for herself. It’s why she lost control of emotions she’d never seemed capable of before. We saw that journey of self-discovery play out thanks to James Gunn’s emotional script and Gillan’s powerful, nuanced performance, as Vol. 3 conveyed the desperation Nebula felt trying to save her friend because she didn’t just love him, it was the closest she’d ever come to saving herself.

The entire weight of her past and all the pain she’d forever carried came crashing down when she learned Rocket had survived. Knowing he could survive his own past was a moment, and that others could care about you so much more than they do themselves, was an overwhelming revelation and relief she had ever known. The tidal wave of feeling that moment unleashed within made her vulnerable in a way she’d always refused to acknowledge. So much so that Nebula did the once unthinkable and cried in front of others. 

Once that dam broke in her heart broke all the other protective barriers she hd put up went with it. As did and the anger she’d covered them in to mask her deep sadness. It wasn’t that she forgave herself in that moment, it was something better. She realized she had never been at fault in the first place.

Nebula ended Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 caring about others in a way that was only possible because she learned to care about herself. Showing herself grace made Nebula a better person. She became the best version of herself, someone who could look at Drax and see what made him a good person worthy of love and compassion rather than someone defined by his failings.

It also made her realize the kind of good she’d always been capable of in her heart. She fulfilled her late sister’s wishes and took on the responsibility of watching after those young girls. Speaking of them, they needed something more important than just protection. They needed the same thing her and Gamora once did—love. Nebula could give them that only because she did not let anger control her any longer. She gave up fighting and seeking vengeance, instead opting to make Knowhere a home for her and the kids. Nebula decided to dedicate herself to creating a life defined by the very best of what family can be. She would create a life where who we want to be matters, not how someone else defines us.

Nebula began her story as a villain and a weapon. But as the best dad she knows said, everyone deserves a second chance. In the end a triumphant and joyous Nebula finally found hers by finding the strength to be kind to herself. It’s how she found a happiness and peace she never knew before. And it’s how Guardians of the Galaxy franchise found a way to give us one of the best character arcs of the MCU.

Mikey Walsh is a staff writer at Nerdist. You can follow him on Twitter at  @burgermike. And also anywhere someone is ranking the Targaryen kings.

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In the pre-release hype for Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 3, MCU fans were convinced that one or more of the team were going to shuffle off this mortal coil. After all, Avengers: Endgame ended with the deaths of Black Widow and Iron Man. For this final installment of the Guardians trilogy, we’d have to lose at least one of the team, right? Everyone was betting heavily on Rocket or Drax biting the dust, although there was some chatter that Star-Lord himself might go. Gamora already died once, so she seemed safe. But the rest? Take your pick. They were fair game. Well, not so fast.

Reports of the Guardian’s Deaths Were Greatly Exaggerated

In Vol. 3, both Rocket and Peter Quill almost die. Heck, Rocket technically does die. He gets an afterlife moment and everything. But in traditional comic book style, Rocket very quickly got better. There was also a “psych!” moment with Peter Quill where he seemingly passed on, but he too was rescued from the jaws of oblivion by one Adam Warlock. To the shock of many, none of our beloved Guardians bit the dust. Instead, Peter returns home to Earth to finally connect with his grandfather, and Rocket leads a new Guardians team, with Groot by his side. Gamora rejoins the Ravagers, and Drax and Nebula become the caretakers of Knowhere. Mantis leaves for parts unknown.

James Gunn surprised us all, by not killing off a single main member of the Guardians. Did the man who claimed that Vol. 3 would definitely end this iteration of the Guardians of the Galaxy prank us all? No, not even a little. The third Guardians film absolutely ended the sentence with a very definitive period. This version of our beloved space misfits is over. We’ve been so conditioned by pop culture that climaxes of stories must have big character deaths, that we now think that’s the only kind of ending that works. But life just isn’t like that. Major life endings happen all the time without a death.

Death Is Not the Only Way to End a Story Dramatically

When we’re in high school or college, we form a tight-knit group of friends we see every day. Then, you graduate, and that iteration of the friend group is over. Oh, you may all still be friends. That happens of course. But the “in the trenches” bond of being together every day is now over. It is an ending. The same goes for friends you make in certain jobs, or in the military, or in any other similar situation. When the circumstances that brought the group together change, and people go in separate directions, that’s an ending. Nobody needs to die for those endings to happen.

James Gunn completely understands this. The end of Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 3 is bittersweet, and we know a lot of folks out there who were watching it cried buckets. And you didn’t need anyone to die to elicit that emotion. Just knowing that this found family was going their separate ways was enough to know that this was the end of an era, and even if there is another movie with the name Guardians of the Galaxy, it won’t be these guys again. Besides, Gunn probably realized the Avengers saga ended with two major deaths and a big funeral for its main hero, Tony Stark. If Guardians of the Galaxy ended with the exact same tone, it could have felt like a huge ripoff.

Star Trek: Picard’s Ending Had Similar Vibes

Guardians Vol. 3 came quickly on the heels of another well-received ending where fans were convinced someone was going to die. We’re talking about Star Trek: Picard’s third season, which saw the reuniting of the Star Trek: The Next Generation crew for one more adventure. Most watching fretted on social media that Picard, Worf, or one of the other Enterprise-D crew members would die heroically, giving the series a bittersweet ending. But instead, all of our main characters survived, and they close out the show playing a round of poker together. It’s still bittersweet, because we know when that game is over and that they will all return to their separate lives. Their days as the crew of the Enterprise are over. It delivered emotions without having to kill a single character.

Of course, sometimes you so need big deaths in a narrative. We can’t imagine a version of Return of the Jedi where Luke and his dad get to live happily ever after like nothing ever happened. And say what you want about Game of Thrones, but it would have felt really weird for that show to end without some major character deaths. And originally, Dexter ended with our titular serial killer getting away with it, and it just felt wrong. They needed to reboot the show to fix that much-hated mistake. But while sometimes the narrative calls for death, it simply isn’t always necessary. With Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 3, James Gunn proved that you don’t need a funeral finale to have an emotional and cathartic ending. There’s more than one way to say “The End.”

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With Guardians of the Galaxy: Volume 3, and the team as we knew them saying farewell, it leaves a spot for some new cosmic heroes in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Yes, we know The Marvels is going to be pretty cosmic. But the adventures of Carol, Monica, and Kamala will at least partially take place on Earth. We are talking total outer space adventures here, Star Wars/Star Trek style. And these are our picks for the cosmic Marvel heroes we would like to see fill the Guardians’ slot in the MCU.

The Starjammers Could Be the MCU’s New Cosmic Misfit Heroes

The Guardians of the Galaxy were the MCU’s resident spacefaring band of rogues, scoundrels with hearts of gold. But in the pages of Marvel Comics, there’s another gang of intergalactic misfits who travel the spaceways — the Starjammers. These rebel pirates travel Shi’ar space in their ship, the Starjammer, from which they took their name, helping the helpless and making a little coin where they can.

Yes, there are strong similarities to the Guardians of the Galaxy, with a crew of ragtag aliens led by a human captain from Earth. But these guys, with names like Ch’od and Raza Longknife, are even rougher around the edges. And the Starjammers have strong ties to the X-Men mythology, as their leader Corsair, a.k.a. Christopher Summers, is actually the father of X-Men brothers Cyclops and Havok. We could see the Starjammers being a new MCU cosmic crew of heroes.

The Silver Surfer Could Glide Into Action

There is no bigger cosmic superhero in Marvel Comics than the Silver Surfer. And fans have long been clamoring for the MCU arrival of the former Herald of Galactus, who turned over his existence to the Devourer of Worlds save his home planet. The logical place for this cosmic hero to arrive would be in a Fantastic Four film. After all, that’s where the Surfer first appeared in the comics, and he has ties to that team.

However, Norrin Radd (that’s the Sentinel of the Spaceway’s true name) could appear in a solo project first. Rumors continue to make their way online that he might be the subject of a Marvel Studios Disney+ Special Presentation. Or he could get his own big-screen solo project at last. But he should definitely show up soon. The Silver Surfer remains one of the biggest Marvel Comics characters yet to appear in the MCU. And we’re just throwing this out there, but Keanu Reeves would be perfect in this role.

Nova Could Finally Arrive in the MCU as an Anticipated Cosmic Hero

Marvel Studios keeps teasing plans for Nova, and they still have yet to come to fruition. In the comics, Nova is a human teenager named Richard Rider, who becomes the last member of the intergalactic Nova Corps. A dying member of the planet Xandar’s Nova Corps turned over his uniform to the New York high school student, giving him the powers of a Nova Centurion. Yes, it’s basically DC’s Green Lantern mashed up with Spider-Man, but it works.

There’s actually already a perfect setup for this cosmic character in the MCU because we met the Nova Corps in the first Guardians of the Galaxy film. And we know Thanos destroyed Xandar right before the events of Avengers: Infinity War. The table is perfectly set for Nova to arrive on the scene. In fact, they almost included his origin in Endgame. Of all the cosmic heroes yet to turn up in the MCU, Nova is one of the characters it seems fans want to see the most, behind only the Silver Surfer.

The Imperial Guard Could Appear in Live-Action

One of Marvel Comics’ biggest interstellar empires is the Shi’ar. The avian-humanoid race lords over thousands of worlds across the galaxy and are ruled by the Empress Lilandra… Who occasionally dates X-Men founder Charles Xavier. But the Shi’ar were protected by the Imperial Guard, a mini-army of characters who showcase different powers. And who were based not-so-loosely on DC’s Legion of Super-Heroes. The most famous Imperial Guardsman is Gladiator, a mix of Superman and, well, a Roman gladiator (hence the name). We’re not sure these cosmic heroes are meant to carry their own movie or series, but they should appear somewhere in the MCU.

The Phoenix Force Is a Cosmic Entity Worthy of an MCU Adaptation

You’re probably thinking, “Didn’t we do the Phoenix in not one, but two X-Men movies? That were not all that great?” Well, technically, yes, we did. But the X-Men movies chose to translate Jean Grey’s Phoenix identity as a result of her mutation alone. Dark Phoenix hinted at something more cosmic, but just barely. But in the pages of Marvel Comics, the Phoenix Force is a cosmic entity that can swallow suns and destroy worlds. It would be cool to see that version in the MCU—long before the entity connects with a young mutant girl named Jean Grey.

Quasar Should Fight Marvel Space Baddies

Quasar is one of Marvel’s most prominent cosmic heroes, and he’d fit right into the MCU. Quasar was an Avenger for many years and headlined their own ongoing series for 60 issues in the ‘90s. Wendell Vaughn was a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent who was studying the Quantum Bands, alien bracelets of incredible power. Think Thanos’ Infinity Gauntlet, only shaped like Wonder Woman’s bracers. When he put them on, he became Quasar, Protector of the Universe.

There were reports that the hero Quasar was going to appear in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, and that turned out to be false. Then we heard Quasar would pop up in Guardians of the Galaxy: Volume 3. Phyla-Vell, who once went by the name Quasar in the comics, did appear. But she wasn’t Quasar yet. So there is still room for the original Protector of the Universe to appear somewhere in the MCU. Perhaps as a future Avenger? But what we really want is to see him out in space fighting alien baddies.

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Will they or won’t they? That’s the question when it comes to a lot of romance storylines. And while the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise isn’t a straight-up romcom, it does famously center on the relationship between Peter Quill and Gamora. Gamora’s death broke Star-Lord’s heart (and ours too), but Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 opened the door for another chance with a new Gamora. As we all know, this film marks the end of this Guardians lineup, and we all wanted to know how it would end. So, did Peter Quill and Gamora end up in a relationship together in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 or not? Here’s what happens between the two. 

Peter Quill is a mess on Knowhere, drinking heavily and still mourning the loss of Gamora in his sleep. Otherwise, everything is fine… until it is not fine. Adam Warlock barrels into town and gives Rocket a life-threatening injury that cannot be fixed due to a kill switch in his body. This takes the team on a quest to the Orgoscope in hopes of finding an override code. But, because this is a High Evolutionary locale, they need help. This is where a variant version of Gamora comes into play as her team of Ravagers agrees to help for a price. Of course, Peter Quill initially refuses to accept that this Gamora isn’t his Gamora.

Throughout the film, they grow to have a mutual respect for each other as Gamora sees how far the group will go to save Rocket. She stays and helps them achieve their mission. There are a few moments of romance-esque interaction between them, like when Star-Lord dives in to save Gamora, and they land face to face. However, this film is about family and making choices that feel authentic to yourself and what you desire in your life. By the end of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, Peter Quill and Gamora do not end up in a relationship with each other. Gamora says she bets the other Gamora and Peter Quill were great together, and he agrees. Gamora goes back to her life with the Ravagers, who are her family, with a whole new understanding of what it means to be a galactic hero.

Meanwhile, Quill decides to finally face his past and seeks out his grandfather on Earth to live a normal life. It is a fitting ending for these characters because, well, this Gamora will never be the other one. Actress Zoe Saldaña assures us that this is her last time portraying this character and we get it. Gamora was supposed to die back in Vol. 2, but Saldaña stuck around for more adventures. At least we know that Gamora and Peter Quill found love and true happiness in the end, which certainly exists outside of romantic relationships.

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The final film in James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy brought us back to the start of Rocket’s story. His transformation from a normal baby raccoon into a cybernetically-enhanced super genius was also the driving force behind the film’s plot. Where did the feisty, rage-filled Guardian come from, and why did his creator both hate and obsess over his greatest success? Here’s what Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 revealed about Rocket Raccoon’s sad history with the High Evolutionary and everything we learned about his backstory.

The High Evolutionary’s Plan for a Perfect Society

Chukwudi Iwuji’s High Evolutionary claimed his “sacred mission” was to create “the perfect society.” However, in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, Rocket said the brilliant engineer-scientist who tortured him “didn’t want to make things perfect; he just hated things the way they are.”

No matter the amoral monster’s motivations, his work led corners of the galaxy to view him as a god. He bioengineered entire worlds and races. Some of his attempts involved creating humanoid species like the Sovereign. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 revealed those “silly,” arrogant, gold-skinned people were an aesthetic design of the High Evolutionary. Despite their advanced intelligence, they were still completely under their creator’s control. Even the Sovereign’s most powerful offspring, Adam Warlock, was at the mercy of the High Evolutionary. His technological advancements let him throw Adam around like a ragdoll.

The High Evolutionary’s Counter-Earth

The High Evolutionary’s most significant attempt at creating his own vision of utopia involved turning normal Earth animals into advanced beings. He then placed those sentient animal humanoids on a planet he called Counter-Earth. He based it and its society on the original Earth. The music, poetry, and literature of Peter Quill’s home world inspired the High Evolutionary to use it as a template.

But Counter-Earth suffered from the same social ills and human failings of normal Earth. That led the High Evolutionary to destroy it and everyone living there as he turned his focus onto a new race of human-like beings he had created. The most notable member of that group of children was Phyla-Vell, the young girl who became a member of Rocket’s new Guardians of the Galaxy.

Rocket’s Modifications, New Friends, and Backstory in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3

Rocket once said, “I didn’t ask to get made! I didn’t ask to be torn apart and put back together over and over and turned into some little monster!”

While previous Guardians of the Galaxy films showed the terrible scars and metal parts from his comprehensive mechanical advancements, Vol. 3 finally revealed the specifics of how Rocket got them. Here’s what we learned about Rocket’s backstory.

The High Evolutionary officially designated Rocket as 89P13 because the young raccoon was part of the scientist’s 89th batch of creations. (Batch 90 became the creatures of Counter-Earth.)

The High Evolutionary originally plucked Rocket at random from a cage full of baby raccoons. There was nothing especially noteworthy about the specimen he opted to perform extensive medical procedures on. The many surgeries in Rocket’s backstory made Rocket stronger, faster, and more intelligent. While Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 didn’t show much of what happened to Rocket Raccoon at the hands of the High Evolutionary, when Nebula watched recordings of his past, she said they were worse than any torture Thanos had inflicted upon her.

Other members of Batch 89 could all talk like Rocket. That included Teefs, a Walrus outfitted with wheels, Lylla, a seal given mechanical arms, and Floor, a bunny with mechanical spider legs and a mouth plate that served as a speaker.

The four robotically-enhanced creatures became dear friends and central to Rocket’s backstory. They also gave themselves names and dreamed of the day they’d join the High Evolutionary’s new world. Only Rocket also planned to take his friends out on a great flying machine he built. He’d then take them into the forever and beautiful sky.

What Made Rocket Raccoon Truly Special 

The High Evolutionary quickly recognized Rocket was different from the rest of Batch 89; Rocket Raccoon was different than anything he’d ever made. Rocket was far more intelligent than his friends. As a result, the High Evolutionary spent time teaching and even nurturing his sweet, kind creation, who initially had genuine affection for his maker. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 revealed the two would work alone together, and during those sessions, Rocket would ask questions about the world.

The High Evolutionary’s correction of how a baby Rocket said “can’t” also marked the change in Rocket’s speech from his initial child-like inflection to the more distinct accent we first heard in the original Guardians movie.

Sadly, Rocket’s genius intellect also led the High Evolutionary to hate his own creation.

Rocket Solves the High Evolutionary’s Biggest Problem in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3

A society of genetically modified cyborg animals was not the High Evolutionary’s idea of a perfect society. He wanted beings far more advanced and aesthetically pleasing to look at. For that, he created an evolutionary accelerator. It could turn normal animals into highly advanced lifeforms in the blink of an eye. They’d undergo millions of years of genetic evolution in seconds.

Only his initial attempts created humanoid animals who suffered from natural violent aggression. Their bodies mutated to an advanced stage, but not their minds or instincts. For all his genius, the High Evolutionary couldn’t figure out why his machine wasn’t working as expected. But it took little Rocket no time at all to diagnose the problem. He instantly offered an engineering solution that worked. Rocket Raccoon’s assessment led to the creation of the High Evolutionary’s Counter-Earth denizens. That was the beginning of the end for him and his friends. They were never going to that new world.

The High Evolutionary’s Hatred and Obsession With Rocket

The High Evolutionary’s hubris made it impossible for him to appreciate Rocket’s contributions to his sacred mission. Instead, the arrogant scientist resented 89P13 for solving a problem he couldn’t.

He still recognized what that meant. Rocket Raccoon was the only creature the High Evolutionary ever made that was truly capable of independent, high-level thinking and problem-solving. Even later, higher-level batches, like the one Phyla-Vell belonged to, weren’t capable of that type of genius. Rocket’s singular brain made him different than all the rest. Only the High Evolutionary couldn’t figure out why.

That led to a lifelong obsession with cutting Rocket open and seeing what made the raccoon tick. In Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, the scientist risked everything to capture Rocket. Even as everything he’d built crumbled around him and his servants turned on him, the High Evolutionary’s only mission was to get back Rocket and study his brain.

The High Evolutionary wasn’t the only one haunted by his past. He was also responsible for the angry Rocket his fellow Guardians first met; Rocket’s backstory explains the change the raccoon underwent.

The Death of Rocket’s Friends

Rocket was smart enough to solve an engineering promise a supreme genius couldn’t. Yet he wasn’t smart enough to realize he and his friends were never going to the High Evolutionary’s new world. With Batch 90 perfected, the evil scientist ordered the rest of Batch 89 killed. He was going to cut Rocket’s brain open for study.

On some level, Rocket Raccoon seemingly knew such a future was possible. He had secretly been building a key for his cage. Now knowing what awaited him and his friends, Rocket planned for all four of them to escape. They idea was to flee to a nearby ship so they could fly into the “forever” sky together.

But the High Evolutionary suspected his genius raccoon might try something like that and confronted Rocket after he’d opened his cage. The resulting face-off in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 led to the deaths of Rocket’s friends, Lylla, Teefs, and Floor. A truly tragic part of Rocket’s backstory.

In his overwhelming grief and limitless rage, the once sweet, innocent Rocket attacked the High Evolutionary. Rocket Raccoon ripped off the High Evolutionary’s face, which the villain replaced with a mask. Rocket then escaped the compound amid gunfire in a stolen spaceship. That was the day he became the angry raccoon who for many years was afraid to ever get close to another family again lest he lose them, too.

The Guardians’ Quest to Save Rocket

Rocket Raccoon fled the High Evolutionary’s clutches, but he was not entirely out of the geneticist’s control even after many years of freedom. In Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, we learn the High Evolutionary had placed a kill switch on Rocket’s heart as a way to protect his proprietary work from others.

That mechanism is why the Guardians couldn’t use a med pack to save Rocket’s life after he suffered catastrophic injuries at the hands of Adam Warlock. The High Sovereign’s powerful idiot son was hunting Rocket Raccoon down on behalf of the High Evolutionary. Once the scientist found out Rocket was still alive, he went all out in his attempts to study Rocket’s brain.

When the High Evolutionary learned of Rocket’s injuries, he set a trap. He had his servant steal the information the Guardians sought at the Orgoscope. It was the schematics they needed to override Rocket’s kill switch. Without it, the High Evolutionary knew the Guardians would bring Rocket to him. But Star-Lord didn’t view that inevitable encounter as a trap. He viewed it as “a face-off.”

By the time the Guardians got the info they needed, it was nearly too late, as Rocket seemingly died. But in the afterlife, he saw Lylla, who told him how she, Teefs, and Floor had flown away together into the forever sky. Rocket could join them there, but not yet. He still had work to do.

With that, Rocket returned to his body and his fellow Guardians. Yes, Rocket technically died in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. But the team as we know it had one final mission.

Rocket Raccoon Spares the High Evolutionary

Rocket Raccoon and the Guardians could have fled the High Evolutionary’s exploding ship. Instead, they followed Rocket’s lead and went back to stop him once and for all. They also saved all the orphans and animals on the ship.

But when Rocket had his unmasked creator on the ground at the end of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, he refused to kill him. When Drax asked why he’d spare the man who tortured him and killed his friends, Rocket said, “Because I’m a Guardian of the Galaxy.”

They didn’t save him the way they saved Adam Warlock, though. The Guardians of the Galaxy left the High Evolutionary to die on his own ship, thus ending the monster’s reign of terror and hopefully giving peace to Rocket. The man who had not only created him, but was the root cause of his anger, fear, and sadness, couldn’t hurt anyone else ever again.

Mikey Walsh is a staff writer at Nerdist. You can follow him on Twitter at @burgermike. And also anywhere someone is ranking the Targaryen kings.

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As with all films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, except Avengers: Endgame, the post-credits scene of Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 3 teases a future of new adventures and story possibilities. Despite Vol. 3 being the end of the road for the ragtag band of cosmic heroes we’ve come to love, it does hint towards many new beginnings for an MCU Guardians of the Galaxy team. Here’s what the future may hold for the Guardians of the Galaxy based on one post-credits scene from Vol. 3.

Who Leads the Guardians of the Galaxy Team at the End of Vol. 3?

At the end of Vol. 3, the new Guardians of the Galaxy team is led by none other than Rocket Raccoon. And yes, he’s embraced his full comic book name after discovering that he is indeed a genetically modified raccoon during the events of the film. Peter Quill leaves Rocket in charge of the Guardians in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 after he goes back to Earth to reconnect with his family. Meanwhile, Nebula and Drax ultimately decide to stay on Knowhere. Nebula chooses to lead the colony that resides there, while Drax will take care of all the creatures the Guardians rescued from the High Evolutionary. He is no longer Drax the Destroyer, but Drax “the Dad.” And so, that leaves Rocket to be the leader of the MCU’s new Guardians of the Galaxy—an honor he absolutely deserves.

Who Are the Members of the MCU’s New Guardians of the Galaxy Team?

At the end of the film, a whole new Guardians of the Galaxy team is in play. But who are the members of the MCU’s new Guardians team led by Rocket in the Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 post-credits scene? Well, Star-Lord, Gamora, and Mantis have all left the team for various reasons. Although, this version of Gamora was technically never really a Guardian.

Remaining from the old team is a very bulked-up Groot, who now resembles his very first comic book appearance from 1960 in Tales to Astonish #13. Additionally, Kraglin is still around, now having mastered Yondu’s arrow. New to the Guardians of the Galaxy team are Adam Warlock, Phyla-Vell, and the creature called Blurp. Speaking of creatures, Cosmo the Spacedog is officially part of the team now.

In sum, the MCU’s new Guardians of the Galaxy team is Rocket Racoon, Groot, Kraglin, Adam Warlock, Phyla-Vell, Blurp, and Cosmo the Spacedog. We see our new Guardians on a desert planet together in the Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 post-credits scene, about to go into action.

James Gunn has been adamant that this film is the end of the Guardians as we knew them. And he’s correct; this is indeed a whole new iteration of the team. But this new team also finally brings in several members from the comics who never made the MCU cut initially, chiefly Adam Warlock and Phylla-Vell. Both were important characters in the 2008 reboot of the Guardians team in the comics, the team that the MCU version is largely based on. And until now, both were absent in the MCU. There’s also still room for other famous Guardians from the comics, like Moondragon and Nova, to join the MCU’s vision of the team.

What Does the New Team Mean for the Guardians of the Galaxy’s MCU Future?

So yes, the post-credits scene reveals there still is a functioning Guardians of the Galaxy team at the end of Vol. 3. Similar to how the end of Avengers: Age of Ultron left us with a very different team of Avengers. This could all lead to a new MCU movie for the Guardians. Although, it wouldn’t really be a Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 4, as it’s a new squad of heroes. But the possibility of seeing these new Guardians of the Galaxy in action on the big screen is definitely possible. If they’re not in a new movie of their own, then perhaps we will see the Guardians team appear in Avengers: Secret Wars or a Disney+ series.

As for the other important group from the Guardians of the Galaxy movies, Gamora’s team of Ravagers is the same team we saw at the end of Vol. 2. That team features Starhawk (Sylvester Stallone), Martinex (Michael Rosenbaum), and other characters who were part of the original team from the comics. It’s possible we will see them together in a future project too.

This Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 3 post-credits scene only closes the door on the iteration of the team that we knew, not on the Guardians as a concept. We’re sure to see a Guardians team roaming the spaceways again before too long.

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Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 was the final ride for the MCU’s unlikely group of heroes. But what did the movie mean for the individual characters’ stories? Did some of them bid the ultimate farewell like we expected? Are any of them going to appear in the franchise again? Or was this chapter-ending MCU movie truly goodbye for all of Guardians of the Galaxy‘s heroes? Really what we’re asking is, what happened to all our favorite Guardians of the Galaxy at the end of their franchise?

Well, let’s find out. Here’s the ultimate fate of every member of the team after Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.

Star-Lord Peter Quill Will Return to the MCU

At the end of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, Peter Quill abdicated his title as captain of the Guardians of the Galaxy and left his friends behind on Knowhere so he could return home to Earth and his grandfather. There he quickly established a normal domestic family life full of mundane activities and gossip-mongering. It’s not the exciting existence he knew as a former Ravager, half-god, and Guardian, but it’s the life and ending Peter Quill needed for now. It was time for him to “learn to swim,” and that meant settling down and facing his childhood trauma.

While his love story with (any) Gamora also came to an end, his MCU story isn’t done yet. The film’s final post-credits scene with him and his grandfather revealed “the legendary Star-Lord will return” in the MCU’s future. Exactly how or when he will is unknown. But Chris Pratt’s Peter Quill will eventually be called upon to help save the day once more.

Nebula Will Oversee Knowhere, Fulfilling a Wish

The violent, heartless Nebula we originally met in Vol. 1 was gone by the end of Vol. 3. Gamora’s angry cyborg sister finally revealed the hidden vulnerable side of herself. For a person who once couldn’t even return her sister’s hug, it was quite a change to see Nebula cry in front of others. That newfound softness also led Nebula to leave the Guardians and a life of fighting behind, in the end. Instead, she’ll oversee Knowhere, which suddenly found itself inundated with the High Evolutionary’s orphan children and animals.

By taking on the responsibility of protecting those kids, Nebula also fulfilled a wish the original Gamora had for her sister. At the end of Vol. 2, Gamora told Nebula the galaxy had lots of vulnerable little girls who needed protection the way they once needed someone to protect them from Thanos. Nebula walked away from that responsibility only to fully embrace it on Knowhere, which isn’t a terrible ending for this now former Guardians of the Galaxy member.

Drax the Dad Comes Full Circle in His Guardians of the Galaxy Ending

Nebula isn’t exactly a naturally maternal person, so she knew she needed help raising those kids on Knowhere. She asked for it from a fellow now-retired Guardian, one she had previously called useless. Nebula realized Drax is not a “destroyer,” but a dad. His acceptance, patience, and unquestioned love for others is why he was able to calm those scared children down earlier. It’s also what had made him an important member of a group that too often found fault with one another.

Drax’s own story in the franchise began with him seeking vengeance against the people responsible for the murder of his wife and daughter. It ended by coming full circle, with him becoming a father once more.

Mantis’ Ending Takes Her Into the Unknown

Mantis and her empathy proved to be the missing piece of the Guardians’ puzzle. She saw only the good in her fellow members and in the people and creatures they fought. Because she did, she was able to provide an understanding and compassion the group often lacked.

In the end of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, though, Mantis also realized her whole life had been in service to others. First, it was Ego, then it was the Guardians. After trying so desperately to get the other Guardians to listen to her, it was only when they did that she decided it was time to go out into the galaxy on her own. She bid the group farewell on Knowhere and headed off into the unknown with three giant Abilisks.

Rocket Raccoon Becomes the Leader of the New Guardians of the Galaxy

After surviving his brush with death and defeating the High Evolutionary, Rocket returned home to Knowhere with his fellow Guardians. There he was dismayed to learn multiple members were leaving the group. That wasn’t the end of the MCU’s Guardians of the Galaxy, though. Quill said the galaxy still needed the group, and Rocket would lead a new iteration as captain.

During the movie’s first post-credits scene, we saw Captain Rocket Raccoon leading his new squad. Joining him on a mission were former members Groot, Kraglin, and Cosmo. Rounding out the group were newcomers Adam Warlock and young Phyla-Vell, the girl we saw the High Evolutionary testing on a treadmill earlier in the film. All of the new Guardians hang on Rocket’s “word.”

Groot Transforms Into His Marvel Comics Self

In Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Baby Groot could barely follow basic instructions. While his intelligence improved as he grew, he still wasn’t the sharpest tree in the forest as recently as the Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special. But he seemed to make a big leap by Vol. 3, where he seemed far more intelligent than even the original Groot had been at an older age.

Swoll Groot also ended up being a lot bigger than his dad, too. When we saw him as a member of Rocket’s new Guardians, he had matured to a naturally giant size (not one he has to grow into like when he went “kaiju.”) His body also had a more cedar-like color. In the end, he resembled his original Marvel Comics’ look more than any MCU version of Groot ever had.

Whether or not Groot actually learned how to say real words by the end of the Guardians of the Galaxy movies, though, isn’t clear. During his goodbye with the old Guardians, he said, “I love you guys.” But since none of them reacted to what should have been a shocking moment, that might have been James Gunn’s way of letting the audience hear Groot themselves rather than through a translation.

Kraglin Joins the New Guardians

During the Guardians’ greatest moment of need, Kraglin finally mastered Yondu’s arrow. He managed to successfully control the weapon after a vision of his late captain appeared to him during the High Evolutionary’s attack on Knowhere. Yondu told Kraglin to use his heart before the image of the dead Ravager disappeared.

During Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3‘s first post-credits scene, we learned Kraglin, who did not initially join the team on their mission to save Rocket, was a core member of Rocket’s new Guardians. He was a confident one, too. He offered to stop a massive herd of rampaging animals by himself. Kraglin’s big breakthrough with his deadly whistle arrow was a permanent one.

Cosmo the Spacedog Is a Good Dog and Part of the Team

From saving Kraglin’s life to holding the connection between Knowhere and the High Evolutionary’s ship during the grand escape and rescue, Cosmo proved she was a very good dog. So good that she also joined the new lineup of Guardians under Rocket’s leadership. With her incredible telekinetic powers, she’s a valuable—and adorable—member to have.

Gamora’s Guardians of the Galaxy Ending Brings a New Family

The alternate Gamora from 2014 never formally joined the Guardians of the Galaxy, but she did help them save Rocket and defeat the High Evolutionary. However, that wasn’t enough to make her give up the new family she had found since Thanos’ defeat in Avengers: Endgame. Instead of sticking around Knowhere or pursuing a romance with “Quinn,” Gamora returned to the Ravagers. She had joined them since the last time we saw her on Earth.

She wasn’t the same Gamora we knew and loved, but in the end, she proved to still be a good person. And she got a happy ending of her own in the Guardians of the Galaxy world. She managed to find a family for herself; it was just a different one than the old Gamora had.

No Main Characters Died in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3

Vol. 3 might have been the final film in the original Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy, but we didn’t have to actually say goodbye to any of them, in death or otherwise. All the original Guardians of the Galaxy found their endings. But they’re all still out there—be it mowing lawns, flying with the Ravagers, raising a bunch of kids in the middle of Knowhere, or still saving the galaxy. And because they’re out there, who knows when the MCU will need any or all of them to return?

Mikey Walsh is a staff writer at Nerdist. You can follow him on Twitter at @burgermike. And also anywhere someone is ranking the Targaryen kings

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At the end of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, James Gunn presents us with a new Guardians of the Galaxy team, led by Rocket Raccoon. Among the new team members is one of the white-haired children rescued from the clutches of the High Evolutionary. Her name is Phyla, and she has an energy band around her wrist. This new teammate is Phyla-Vell, one of the most prominent members of the Guardians of the Galaxy from the comics. Specifically, Phyla-Vell hails from the era of Guardians of the Galaxy comics that the MCU team was based on. In the movie, Phyla-Vell is played by child actress Kai Zen. But who is Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3‘s Phyla-Vell, and what are this cosmic hero’s ties to some of the most famous spacefaring heroes in Marvel Comics?

Phyla-Vell Is the Daughter of the Original Captain Marvel and an Eternal

In Marvel Comics, Phyla-Vell’s story actually began with her brother, Genis. Genis-Vell was the son of Elysius, an Eternal from Titan, and lover to the late Kree hero Mar-Vell, the first Captain Marvel. After Mar-Vell died from cancer, Elysius took some of his genetic material and impregnated herself with it. She bore a son, Genis-Vell, who became a Captain Marvel himself after he was “grown” to adulthood. This is after Monica Rambeau’s time as Captain Marvel but before Carol Danvers took on the mantle as the current Captain in the Marvel Comics timeline.

Phyla-Vell’s Marvel Origin Story, Powers, and Abilities

Phyla-Vell’s origin story is a complex one, like many Marvel Comics creations. A being of great power, at one point, Genis-Vell lost his mind due to his vast cosmic awareness and recreated a new universe. In this new reality, Elysius created yet another child from Mar-Vell’s DNA. And thus, a new Marvel character was born: Phyla-Vell. Like her brother and father, Phyla-Vell’s powers included superhuman strength, flight, durability, speed, agility, and enhanced reflexes. She could absorb energy and project incredible bursts of power. Similarly to her brother, Elysius grew Phyla-Vell into adulthood with implanted memories of a childhood on Titan.

Marvel Comics’ Fourth Captain Marvel

During the time her brother Genis-Vell lost his marbles, Phyla-Vell claimed the title Captain Marvel for herself. This stint as Marvel Comics’ Captain Marvel did not last too long, as her brother returned to sanity and took his name back rather promptly. Phyla-Vell floated around the cosmic side of the Marvel universe for some time, forming a romantic relationship with the former Avenger named Moondragon. She would eventually become the love of her life, and the two married. When Moondragon died, Phyla-Vell literally went to Hell and back to return her to the land of the living. Phyla-Vell and Moondragon remain one of Marvel’s most iconic LGBTQ+ couples, and we hope to see this duo arrive in the MCU.

Phyla-Vell Joins the Guardians of the Galaxy as the New Quasar

A few years later, the epic Marvel cosmic crossover event Annihilation would give this character a whole new life. One that would lead Phyla-Vell to join Marvel Comics’ Guardians of the Galaxy. Annihilation focused on a deadly energy wave reaching across the universe, begun by the Lord of the Negative Zone, Annihilus. The Earth-born hero Quasar, who gained his status as “Protector of the Universe” from the power of his Quantum Bands, lost them during the event. Phyla-Vell managed to steal the bands from Annihilus and became the new Quasar.

After several adventures, Phyla-Vell became a founding member of the modern version of Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy in the comics. She joined along with familiar characters like Star-Lord, Rocket Raccoon, and Groot. She later returned the Quantum Bands to their original owner Wendell Vaughn, losing the Quasar name. After that, Phyla died in battle but managed to return from the realm of Oblivion changed, becoming the avatar of that dark reality. She was now known as Martyr. Years later, this version Phyla-Vell died too, later replaced by a counterpart from a parallel timeline.

The Formidable Weapons of Phyla-Vell

With the addition of the Quantum Bands to her arsenal, Phyla-Vell’s powers were doubled. The Bands gave her even more incredible energy manipulation powers. With the bands, she could absorb and transform energy on a cosmic level. It also gave her the power to make solid energy constructs and forcefields, allowing for interstellar travel without the need for a spaceship. The Quantum Bands also provided protection from telepathic attacks. With the Bands, Phyla-Vell could create a Quantum Sword, a weapon unique to her. As mentioned, after losing the Quantum Bands, Phyla became the Avatar of Oblivion, and the Quantum Sword became the Oblivion Sword.

Phyla-Vell in the Marvel Cinematic Universe

In the MCU, Phyla-Vell has totally different origins than her comic book counterpart. She shares her white hair, but this Phyla-Vell is still a young child. She was one of the many children who were the experiments of the High Evolutionary to create a perfect lifeform in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. Phyla-Vell does not appear to have any connections to Mar-Vell, who in the MCU was a woman (played by Annette Benning in Captain Marvel). Although, that’s just an assumption. For all we know, the High Evolutionary used Mar-Vell’s DNA to create Phyla and all of the other children. We’ll have to wait and see if Phyla-Vell shows up again in the MCU after Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. And hopefully, we can learn more about her true nature and origins.

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Forget Flerkens; if there’s anyone with nine lives in the MCU, it’s Gamora. James Gunn, the writer and director of the MCU’s Guardians of the Galaxy movies, recently revealed that the character has tempted fate for many years. In fact, Gunn wanted Gamora to find her death in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, but Marvel executives convinced him it wasn’t the right way to go. And eventually, Gunn’s story agreed.

James Gunn recently shared of Gamora’s near Guardians of the Galaxy death:

Gamora almost died in Vol. 2, ‘I knew from the beginning Zoe only wanted to play the character for so many years, and she’s been very honest saying that she’s done [after this]. And so I was going to have her die. I thought she was the one that was going to sacrifice herself… I was kind of talked out of it by Kevin [Feige] and Louis [D’Esposito] and then it just didn’t work that well. It didn’t feel right. It felt much more right to go where we go in that movie. That seemed what was correct for the story.

Instead of Gamora, Michael Rooker’s Yondu met his end. However, Gamora, of course, did (in a sense) die in the MCU. In Avengers: Infinity War, the Gamora of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 was killed. But also Gamora remained alive. A version of Gamora from the past returned to join the Guardians. Does this mean Gamora fulfilled the prophecy of her MCU death? Or does she still have an ultimate death that awaits her in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3? Only James Gunn knows for sure. But this time, Marvel won’t be coming in for the save.

Kevin Feige notes about killing characters, “On previous movies, we had some discussions about that but not on this one. This one really was about seeing it through because it always was designed as a trilogy capper.”

We will find out if Gamora lives or dies when Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 releases on May 5.

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Great characters don’t need origin stories to make them compelling. If they’re already great we obviously have what we need to be fully invested in them and their journey. That’s why giving extra backstory about a captivating character—whether in the form of flashbacks or prequels—often falls flat or worse. Origin stories often taint the special sauce that went into making a character so interesting in the first place. It’s like a chef ruining an already delicious dish by adding a bunch of extra ingredients no one asked for. But this difficult task is exactly what writer-director James Gunn opted to undertake take in his Marvel swan song, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. Rocket’s creation and tragic past serve as the anchor of the franchise’s last film, both in terms of plot and emotional weight.

And it works. It absolutely works. Gunn has taken one of the MCU’s most interesting, most entertaining, most heartbreaking characters and made him even better by showing us why Rocket’s always been so angry and afraid. It will change how you view everything you’ve seen previously from the MCU’s foul-mouthed, angry, genetically-engineered raccoon. More importantly, though, Rocket’s origin story helped Gunn deliver a moving, darker, more mature action-packed farewell to the Guardians of the Galaxy, with a film that loves its characters as much as its viewers loves them.

If you know the Guardians you know what you’re getting from this film and you get a lot of everything. There are plenty of big, well-done set pieces. This movie does not lack for action. There are also lots of visually interesting locales. Those who have found Marvel’s recent CGI effects lacking won’t have much of anything to complain about this time.

And there’s also lots of humor, lots of bickering, lots of feeling, and lots of pain. This found family’s members all still carry the scars of their pasts with them. They’re still, and always will be, a group of losers. They’ve all lost stuff, and just as it has since Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 1, those losses shape who they are and how they interact with one another.

Gunn’s script never forgets that, which is a big reason the movie is so successful. There are so many moments of true pathos you never go long without feeling something real and meaningful. Whether it’s Nebula calling out Drax for his obvious shortcomings, or alternate Gamora brutally recognizing why “Quinn” is so broken, this film knows who these characters are at their core. It’s the type of deep recognition you frequently can only explore this late in a story. Gunn recognizes and takes full advantage of that luxury. And he does so because of how much he adores and respects these characters. This movie feels like a love letter to the Guardians as much as it does a farewell.

In the end that love prevents the movie from going to some interesting places it seemed to be heading towards. Gunn pulls some punches he could have thrown, opting instead for body jabs rather than knockout blows. (Minus one choice that feels right even though it might not be what some wanted to see happen.) That doesn’t undo everything that came before it, though. The journey is far greater than the destination, which feels a little rushed and and not entirely earned.

Fortunately the destination is not an entirely unwelcome place. It’s easy to understand why Gunn ends this trilogy+ way the way he does. And on a micro level, even individual moments you absolutely know are coming land because of how the movie (and the franchise as a whole) builds to them. There are a lot of wholly satisfying payoffs.

The film isn’t entirely perfect before the ending, either, but its other issues pale in comparison to everything it does well. That includes how its soundtrack doesn’t live up to previous installments. This tracklist isn’t as coherent as its predecessors. Some songs also don’t resonate the way we’ve come to expect from every Guardians needle drop. And yet, there are still some great numbers employed at perfect times, so it is a mixed bag rather than a constant shortcoming.

Another issue is that while Will Poulter’s Adam Warlock is a logical (if surprising) part of the plot, some will think he’s underutilized while others will think he’s entirely superfluous. I’m with the former because I wanted way more of “the Warlock” in this movie. Poulter more than justifies his casting as one of the few remaining major Marvel Comics characters not already in the MCU. His comedic sensibilities make him a perfect choice for this iteration of the character. He answers a question I didn’t know I wanted someone to ask but am now very happy they did: “What if a literal baby was also one of the most powerful figures in the universe?”

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is also a little too relentless. It’s not that it has pacing issues. It’s that the movie is high throttle from start to finish and would have benefitted from a few more quiet moments. It needed a chance to breathe every once in awhile. That will likely be less of an issue on repeated viewings, though, just as it has been with repeat viewings of the equally high-tempo Avengers: Endgame.

What you won’t need multiple viewings to appreciate, though, is the main cast. Every member of the Guardians brings their A-game for the team’s final film. Chris Pratt, Dave Bautista, Sean Gunn, and Pom Klementieff all shine when the spotlight is on them. (Mantis especially continues to be the best.) And if you don’t absolutely fall in love with Maria Bakalova’s Cosmo the Dog, then you should see a doctor. A really good doctor. However, if you don’t love Linda Cardellini’s soft-spoken, warm, loving otter Lylla, Rocket’s first best friend in life, don’t bother speaking with anyone ever again. Not for your sake, but for theirs.

However, even in a movie this well-acted, Thanos’ daughters stand out. Zoe Saldana is incredible as the alternate Gamora who was never a member of the Guardians. You won’t have any problem remembering this is a different version of the character than the one we knew and loved.

You also won’t have any problem remembering why Zoe Saldana is constantly a big part of huge successful movies. She’s simply a powerhouse in the role of an rage-filled Gamora who finds herself literally out of time and being pushed to live someone else’s life.

Meanwhile, Karen Gillan’s Nebula gets to complete one of the MCU’s best arcs with scenes that let us see a side of the angry blue cyborg we never have. The violent villain of the first Guardians film is a huge part of the heart and soul of this film, the Guardians, and the MCU. Gillan’s performance makes that possible and authentic. She conveys so much of her character’s pain with sincerity, whether she’s doing so in small or big ways.

You can’t talk about Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 without talking about its main character and his ultimate enemy, the duo whose story drives the entire film. Vol. 3 wouldn’t be such an entertaining and moving conclusion to the Guardians story without the tale of Rocket and his creator, the fantastic Chukwudi Iwuji’s High Evolutionary. The monster with a god complex genetically engineered Rocket, both his greatest success and most frustrating failure, as part of his effort to create a “perfect society.”

The surgical torture that created Rocket—only hinted in previous films—was merely the start of how the High Evolutionary hurt Rocket, who is truly a special being. The film then slowly reveals the rest of their story to great effect. In doing so it delivers a great villain while making a great character even better.

It also shows why Gunn’s decision to cast handsome leading man Bradley Cooper as the voice of a talking trash panda was one of the best decisions in MCU history. He delivers a performance (alongside Sean Gunn who voices the youngest version of Rocket) that is really special and powerful.

Rocket didn’t need a backstory to be great. But fans of the Guardians of the Galaxy who really love these characters will be happy Vol. 3 gave him one. It’s how James Gunn gave the MCU’s best losers a winning farewell.

⭐ (4 of 5)

Mikey Walsh is a staff writer at Nerdist. You can follow him on Twitter at  @burgermike. And also anywhere someone is ranking the Targaryen kings.

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In cinematic terms, the Guardians of the Galaxy are Jame Gunn’s “babies.” Essentially, Gunn wrote the book on them for the MCU in the first two Guardians movies. But with these children, the writer/director had joint custody in a way, for two whole films. The entire Guardians team appeared in both Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, directed by the Russo brothers, not Gunn. And he recently revealed there were some things they did with those characters he did not necessarily agree with. Especially when it came to Chris Pratt’s Star-Lord and his decision in Infinity War leading to Thanos’ infamous snap.

Gunn revealed his misgivings in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter (via Gizmodo). He said “They did some things that I wouldn’t have wanted.” He says Star-Lord would have killed Gamora as she asked him to, as a way of stopping Thanos. And Gunn does not believe that a grieving Peter Quill would have punched Thanos at a critical moment and doomed the universe. It sounds like that’s a creative decision he would not have made for Star-Lord. Read the full context below:

The Guardians will undoubtedly continue as a property after Gunn completes the transition to DC, and the new film hints at a future, albeit with a different lineup of Guardians. Gunn is enthusiastic about a handoff, though protective. When the characters appeared in the Avengers two-part epic directed by Joe and Anthony Russo, Gunn saw disconnects with certain storylines. “They did some things that I wouldn’t have wanted,” says Gunn of the films. (Yes, he says, Star-Lord would have killed Gamora if she asked him to; no, he would not have punched Thanos and doomed the universe.)

The Guardians of the Galaxy characters remain intimately tied to James Gunn’s vision. So much so, that some of them even called him while shooting the back-to-back Avengers films in 2017. Mantis actress Pom Klementieff called Gunn while on the set of one of the Avengers films. She asked him if her character would say or do the things written for her.

The Guardians cast see James Gunn as the real authority when it comes to their characters. Whatever future lies ahead for the Guardians, it’s clear that without James Gunn, it won’t ever really quite be the same.

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The Guardians of the Galaxy are now world-famous outer space superheroes, known across the globe as one of Marvel’s biggest brand names. But it was a long and slow climb to iconic status for this particular cosmic team of misfit heroes. In fact, it took them nearly 50 years. This is how Guardians of the Galaxy went from an obscure Marvel property into a mainstay of both the comic book and live-action Marvel universes.

The Original Guardians, Heroes of the Future

Created by legendary editor Roy Thomas, Doom Patrol co-creator Arnold Drake, and Daredevil artist Gene Colan, the Guardians of the Galaxy first appeared in early 1969, in the 18th issue of Marvel Super-Heroes. Their first adventure took place in the 31st century, where an astronaut from the 20th century, Major Vance Astro, traveled a thousand years into the future. There, he teamed up with the sole survivor of the planet Jupiter, a hulking soldier named Charlie-27. They were joined by the crystalline Martinex from Pluto, and Yondu Udonta from Centauri-IV. Together, they attempted to save Earth’s solar system from the alien Badoon empire.

This one-off special issue introduction to the team might have been the beginning and the end for them, as they did not appear again in a Marvel comic for another five years. Then, in 1974, writer Steve Gerber decided that time-traveling Guardians should journey to the past, where they could meet up with contemporary Marvel heroes. In that story, they teamed up with the Thing, the Defenders, and Captain America. Gerber also added new members like Starhawk, and later Nikki from Mercury, to the roster. Readers seemed to like them, and it was decided by Marvel editorial to give them their own comic series. During this time, it was revealed that their future was an alternate reality, Earth-691.

The Guardians of the Galaxy: Honorary Avengers

Starting in 1975’s Marvel Premiere #3, the Guardians took over the title. They were now a spacefaring team of adventurers, and artist Dave Cockrum, who that very year designed the second generation X-Men, gave them new looks. Unlike the X-Men however, this alone wasn’t enough to make Guardians of the Galaxy a hit title. After just ten issues, their run was canceled. However, they made an extended appearance in Avengers for a year in 1978, where they were honorary members of the team. After that, the Guardians essentially vanished for the next decade until a popular show about the Final Frontier inspired Marvel to revive them.

Star Trek: TNG Saves the Guardians from Obscurity

In 1989, with Star Trek: The Next Generation becoming very popular on TV, Marvel decided to start a “spacefaring group in the future” book of their own. They dusted off the ‘70s team a third time, and hired writer/artist Jim Valentino to start a new Guardians ongoing title. The first issue came out in 1990. This time, the title was more well-received by fans, and lasted 62 issues until 1995. However, Valentino left a couple of years in to form Image Comics with other ex-Marvel creators. Once again, the Guardians were put on the shelf with few appearances. They seemed otherwise forgotten until 2008, when the team as we know them today began. But before we get to the modern version, we once again have got to go back to the 1970s Marvel bullpen.

Modern Guardians: the Children of ’70s Cosmic Marvel

Back in the early ‘70s, writer/artist Jim Starlin started to really flesh out the cosmic side of Marvel. First, he introduced characters like Thanos and Drax the Destroyer in Iron Man. Later, he redefined Adam Warlock, and created Gamora. At around the same time, writer Steve Englehart created Mantis in the pages of Avengers. Star-Lord was introduced for a brief run in Marvel Preview in 1976, more or less disappearing from comic book store shelves for over two decades. But these cosmic characters from the Disco era would form the foundation of a new Guardians team in the 2000s.

In the early 2000s, a new version of Star-Lord appeared in 2004’s Thanos series. Writer Keith Giffen, famous for DC’s Justice League International among many others, revamped him for the modern era. During this time, Giffen gave Drax a makeover into something that is far more recognizable to MCU fans today. Although that series ran fairly briefly, it resulted in renewed interest in Marvel’s cosmic line of heroes. This ultimately led to the event series Annihilation, which proved to be extremely popular. So popular in fact, it got a sequel, Annihilation: Conquest. Out of that event, writing partners Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning decided to introduce a new group of freedom fighters fighting off against a cosmic version of Ultron.

Guardians 2008: The Blueprint for the MCU Team

Abnett and Lanning decided to bring these ragtag space adventurers together into a new team. And to give this new team a designation? Well…there was a perfectly good name for a cosmic team just lying around: the Guardians of the Galaxy. Instead of operating in the future, they patrolled the spaceways in the present time, and in the 616 universe.  Among them were Star-Lord, Gamora, Drax, Mantis, and two other long-forgotten Marvel characters: Groot and Rocket Raccoon. Also on the initial team were Adam Warlock, Phylla-Vell (Quasar), and Cosmo the space dog. They worked out of Knowhere, the decapitated head of a long-dead celestial. All of these elements, Minus Adam Warlock and Quasar, of course, would form the backbone of the first Guardians movie.

The Guardians title by Abnett and Lanning ended after 25 issues and two years total. However, it was very critically well received. It inspired screenwriter Nicole Perlman to take a crack at the property in a script for Marvel Studios, which then only had two Iron Man movies to their name. Eventually, that script made it to James Gunn, and the rest is history. From that very first Guardians comic back in 1969, only Yondu made it into that first film. But without it, we wouldn’t have the intergalactic a-holes we all love so much today. Because of the mega success of the films, Marvel has had a Guardians of the Galaxy comic running ever since. It took some time, but Guardians eventually became an A-list Marvel team like the Avengers and the X-Men. Sometimes, the fourth time’s the charm.

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The Guardians of the Galaxy are getting together for one last ride. As always with that group of unlikely heroes we expect Vol. 3 to be funny, exciting, and touching. Unfortunately, we also know not everyone will make it out alive. The original Groot sacrificed himself in the first film. Yondu did the same in the second. Thanos traded the original Gamora’s life for the Soul Stone in Infinity War. And they collectively killed Kevin Bacon’s icy heart in their holiday special. But we think their third and final solo film will be their saddest entry yet.

Who is most likely to say goodbye to the MCU for good and who will continue on in the franchise? We’ve given odds for each of them about who will die in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.

Rocket Raccoon – 100%

“What the hell,” said Rocket in the original film, “I don’t got that long a lifespan, anyway.” He’s right, and that life will come to a sad end in Vol. 3, a movie that will explore Rocket’s painful past. We thought that before seeing a single trailer for the movie. Now that every promo keeps teasing an emotional end for the beloved wiseass we’re convinced of it. It’s gonna freaking kill us. Only we didn’t mean to say “freaking.”

Drax the Destroyer – 100%

Rocket’s not the only one who all but told us how his story would end way back in Vol. 1. That’s when Drax said he would fight alongside his friends and see his wife and daughter again in the end. Dave Bautista might be ready for his character to bid the ultimate farewell to the MCU, but we’re not prepared. We doubt we will be even though we believe it’s definitely going to happen.

Nebula – 70%

Thanos’ other surviving daughter has had one of the most fascinating arcs in the entire franchise. She went from a terrifying villain to a slightly-less terrifying hero who dances. We don’t want to say goodbye to Nebula, but it would be fitting for her to go out in a blaze of glory. We’re also sure Karen Gillan wouldn’t mind saying goodbye to all those many hours in the makeup chair.

Kraglin – 50%

Kraglin might be a newer member of the Guardians, but Sean Gunn has been a major part of the group since day one. He physically plays Rocket. (Bradley Cooper voices the trash panda.) Kraglin is a sad character. He lost his best friend and captain and is still struggling to control Yondu’s arrow. It would seem cruel for him to die right when he’s likely to finally have a big breakthrough with his new family. However, writer-director James Gunn (now in charge of DC Studios) might also want to give his real-life brother an iconic death as they both say goodbye to the MCU. That’s why we think Kraglin’s fate is a total coin flip.

Peter Quill – 40%

The leader of the ragtag bunch nearly doomed half the universe to extinction in Infinity War when he couldn’t control his anger and grief at Thanos. If anyone owes the galaxy the ultimate sacrifice, it’s him. With this iteration of the group ending, it would also be fitting for Chris Pratt’s Star-Lord to say goodbye to the MCU, too. So we won’t be surprised if he dies, but if we had to pick, we’ll guess he lives and retires as a hero. At least he’ll retire until Marvel brings Peter Quill back.

Swoll Groot – 25%

We already had to watch one beloved Groot sacrifice himself. His death was powerful, of course, but it’s still painful. Are we really going to have to see his son, affectionately known as Swoll Groot, also die? After we watched him grow from a baby to a thicc tree!? We don’t think so. We certainly hope not. But we wouldn’t put it past Gunn either.

2014 Gamora – 10%

We can’t wait to see how Gamora and Peter’s story ends, specifically because this is not the Gamora he fell in love with. This is 2014 Gamora, who was never a member of the Guardians. That’s exactly why we doubt Zoe Saldana’s character will die a second time in the MCU. Not only would that be weird and unearned, it would diminish the impact of the original character’s own sad end. Gamora is dead. Long live Gamora!

Mantis – 5%

If we’re being honest, 5% is probably too high. Mantis is the best, an indisputable fact after Pom Klementieff’s star turn in The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special. It feels like Mantis just truly got here despite this being the character’s fifth MCU movie/special. She’s too good to kill off now. The franchise needs more Mantis! If anyone else wrote this film we’d have her odds of dying at negative percent.*

(*What does a negative percent of dying even mean? Uh…it’s the same as saying there’s a positive percent chance the character gets a clone? Becomes an immortal god? Look, we’re not sure, just have some fun and don’t take things so seriously.**)

(**Unless Mantis dies. Then we have a very serious problem on our hands.)

Cosmo the Spacedog – 0.01%

Speaking of taking things too seriously, if anything happens to Cosmo we’re going to be so angry online they’ll have to shutdown the internet for at least a day. Maybe two. Wouldn’t even rule out three.

We know not every Guardian will survive Vol. 3, but the very good Spacedog better. There’s only so many characters we can handle dying.

Mikey Walsh is a staff writer at Nerdist. You can follow him on Twitter at @burgermike, and also anywhere someone is ranking the Targaryen kings.

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Even though Guardians of the Galaxy: Volume 3 is the third and final chapter in James Gunn’s epic space saga, it does not mean it’s too late to introduce new characters for us to fall in love with. You might have noticed a new addition to the Guardians family in the most recent trailer. Say hello to Blurp, the fuzzy, razor-toothed alien. As Gunn joked to Empire Magazine, “Probably the most important character to the Marvel Universe going forward is Blurp.”

Blurp, it turns out, is not from the pages of Marvel Comics. No, not even from one random panel from 50 years ago, like Bill Murray’s character in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. But he was in the very first Guardians of the Galaxy movie, almost a decade ago. Look, he probably won’t be the new Groot. But maybe he’ll be the new Babu Frik? Here’s what Gunn had to say about the weird-looking furry little guy.

“Blurp begins as a pet of one of the Ravagers in the movie. He carries him around. Blurp is what’s known as a furry F’saki. In the very first movie, if you remember, there was that Orloni table that they were betting on, with that beast that was eating the animals. The bigger thing was eating the smaller things. That thing was a non-furry F’saki. Blurp is a furry F’saki. So that’s what he is. He’s a pet.”

For all we know, Blurp is barely in the movie. What we saw in the trailers might be about what we see of him in the actual movie. But we already like Blurp for three reasons. For starters, that’s an adorably silly name that our inner five-year-old responds to. Second, he kind of looks like one of the Loth-cats from Star Wars: Rebels. Finally, he gives us Snarf from Thundercats vibes. And we just love all those weird critters. Although, we’re pretty sure we don’t want them as pets. The same goes for Blurp.

Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3 will drop on May 5.

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“I thought I lost you.” That’s what Peter Quill said to Gamora when he found her on the battlefield in Avengers: Endgame. Only, he did lose her. He lost the Gamora who loved him. It’s easy to forget that since Zoe Saldana’s character returned soon after Thanos sacrificed her for the Soul Stone in Infinity War. But that version of Gamora is dead forever. The one who currently exists in the MCU jumped to the future from 2014. She never knew and fought alongside Peter, Rocket, Drax, Mantis, or Groot (either of them). This Gamora was never a member of the Guardians of the Galaxy.

That won’t stop her from being a big part of the group’s swan song in Vol. 3, though. Star-Lord is still searching for her. No matter how her and Quill’s story ends, though, it will say something poignant about love and what that truly binds us to one another.

Jump to: Which Gamora Is in GOTG 3? // What Do We Know About This Gamora? // What If Gamora and Peter Fall in Love? // What If Gamora and Peter DON’T Fall in Love?

Which Version of Gamora Will We See in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3?

An alternate Thanos, his entire army, and all of his children traveled through time in Endgame. They went from 2014 to 2023. The only one from that group still alive in the MCU’s present timeline now is 2014 Gamora. Tony Stark’s snap did not turn her to dust because she wasn’t a part of Thanos’ army at that point. She was already fighting with the Avengers against alongside the original Nebula (who had killed her 2014 alternate self).

What Do We Know About 2014 Gamora?

That was in line with what we knew about the character in 2014. That’s when Gamora was already preparing to betray Thanos. In the original Guardians of the Galaxy, set in 2014, she was trying to steal the Power Stone from Quill to ensure her father never got ahold of it. Gamora knew what the Mad Titan had planned and was conspiring against him.

The alternate Gamora never got a chance to do that, though, because the Avengers stopped Quill from finding the infinity stone on Morag during the Time Heist. So while 2014 Gamora was already a good person trying to save the galaxy from Thanos, every single thing we saw the original version of her do never happened to this new MCU Gamora. She never met Quill, Drax, Rocket, and the first Groot. The current version of Gamora in the MCU never escapes prison with the Guardians. She never helped them defeat Ronan, meet Mantis, escape the Sovereign, and save the galaxy from Ego. Nor did 2014 Gamora try and stop Thanos from attaining the infinity stones and beg Peter to murder her so Thanos couldn’t. And, maybe most importantly for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, this version of Gamora never fell in love with Peter Quill.

The Gamora who did love him died on Vormir, and not even the infinity stones can bring that Gamora back. Whether Quill wants—or even can—accept it, the Gamora we all knew and loved is gone forever. She only lives on in the memories of those who knew and loved her.

Of course, in this fantasy world of superheroes, magic space rocks, and Time Heists, “a” Gamora still exists in their world. She also shares the same caring heart as the person they loved. So what kind of future can that Gamora have with Peter Quill and the other Guardians? We don’t know, but depending on whether they end up together or not, Vol. 3 will offer a meaningful meditation about love.

What Will It Mean if 2014 Gamora and Peter Quill Fall in Love in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3?

Do we all have a soulmate? Is there one single person out there meant for us? And are we destined to fall in love and be loved by them? Will the universe make sure we cross paths with one another?

These are the questions Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 will answer if 2014 Gamora falls in love with Peter Quill. If that happens the movie will be saying love is so strong it spans space and time themselves. It also transcends shared experiences and time spent together. Their relationship will overcome all of the things that inherently keep us apart, and it will do so by not relying on all of the things we believe bring us together.

Vol. 3 would be telling us you don’t have to save the galaxy together to end up together. Simply being who you are—and simply existing—is enough. That’s how strong true love is. It can defeat any and all obstacles, because love is bigger and more enduring than who we are as individuals. Two hearts meant to find one another will do so in the end.

That’s a beautiful thought. And not just about love itself, either. Considering the specifics of this fantasy couple’s story, that kind of ending will also say something about death: it will never defeat love. Alternate versions of lost loved ones won’t travel through time like Gamora, but no infinity stone will ever kill what we shared with them.

So if they don’t end up together, will that mean Guardians of the Galaxy. Vol. 3 delivers a sad ending? A cynical or depressing one? No, it will still have something beautiful to say about love. It will just be something very different.

What Will It Mean if 2014 Gamora and Peter Quill Don’t End Up Together in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3?

Are we pieces on a cosmic chessboard being moved around without agency by some unseen hand? Is the decision for whom we love not actually ours? If so, what does love really mean?

Or is love something we don’t merely find but build? Do the things we do together and the time we spend with one another, the true foundation of the feelings that grow between us? Isn’t love so precious that it needs to be nurtured and cared for rather than being entrusted to something as intangible as fate? Isn’t love and everything it makes us do and feel far too real to be controlled by such nebulous ideas?

If Peter Quill and this version of Gamora—the one he never saved from space, the one he never convinced to fight with him, the one he didn’t find the strength to try and sacrifice to save the galaxy—don’t fall in love, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 will be telling us that what we do in our lives really matters. It matters to those we care about, just as what they do for and with us matters to us. We are not creatures floating around waiting until we bump into someone. We are individuals who make conscious decisions to give our hearts to another. It’s why when they do the same for us it means so much.

An ending like that will be gorgeous and emotional in its own way, too. However, it won’t be the “correct” ending any more than the other one would be. This is just one story with its own thoughts on love, relationships, and everything that goes into making them work. Is it better to imagine the entire universe conspired to make sure you found the person you were always meant to find? Or is it better to absent-mindedly say you’re hungry only to realize how loved you are when that person makes you a sandwich without asking? The fact two seemingly opposite possibilities both seem equally beautiful says a lot about the nature of love, which at its best can feel impossible to describe with mere words.

Maybe both are right. And maybe both are true. But neither will change what Quill and the original Gamora had together. “I love you more than anything,” that Gamora told him before Peter tried to fire a blaster into her heart in Infinity War.

“I love you, too,” he said. It was the last he ever said to her. He still does and always will, no matter what happens with a different Gamora. That love story will never end, no matter how Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 ends for them both.

Mikey Walsh is a staff writer at Nerdist. You can follow him on Twitter at @burgermike. And also anywhere someone is ranking the Targaryen kings.

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Even after all these many years, movies, and TV shows, my favorite scene in the MCU is still when the Guardians of the Galaxy became a group. That’s when Peter Quill convinced his fellow “losers” to stand up to Ronan, in a sequence that is equal parts hilarious and beautiful. That one scene perfectly encapsulates everything I love about those characters. But with their time together coming to an end in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3., a “bunch of jackasses standing in a circle” is taking on new meaning. Because the Guardians’ “first” scene paved the way for an emotional farewell that will see some members make good on their promise to fight to the death for their friends.

There are lots of reasons to think Drax and Rocket will die in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. Writer-director James Gunn has essentially promised not every member will live. We also know Dave Bautista is moving on from the MCU. And the film’s trailers continue to tease a poignant conclusion for Rocket’s own sad story, as the movie will explore his painful past and his ultimate search for peace. But we don’t need to know any of that to know how this iteration of the Guardians tale would end. They’ve always known and they told us how.

Fittingly, the Guardians only unified after a lot of bickering. It began on Yondu’s ship with Quill pleading with his fellow “folks who have lost stuff” to help him stop Ronan. He told them life was finally giving them something instead of taking from them. They had a chance “to give a shit.” But Rocket, who believed stopping Ronan was impossible, told Quill what he was really asking of them. “You’re asking us to die,” he said.

“Yeah, I guess I am,” said a suddenly muted Star-Lord because Rocket was right. They all knew he was, and for a brief moment Quill seemed to give up on trying to convince them. But rather than run from annihilation and responsibility to others, each member found strength in one another and embraced their fate. It began with Gamora, who said, “I have lived most my life surrounded by my enemies. I will be grateful to die among my friends.”

Drax rose next, telling the “honorable” Quill, “I will fight beside you. And in the end, I will see my wife and daughter again.” Groot was next to pledge himself to his new friends.

Then, with all eyes turned toward him, Rocket stood up, too. “What the hell,” he said, “I don’t got that long a lifespan, anyway.’

Every one of them accepted what it would mean to truly give a shit for the first time in their life. They simply didn’t care. It was more important to stand with their friends, and in doing so, protect others, than it was to protect themselves.

That’s how a bunch of individual misfit losers who had never served anyone besides themselves became great heroes. They found strength they didn’t know they had by finding strength in one another.

It didn’t take long for their fears to come true, though. They paid the ultimate price to be a part of something bigger than themselves. The original Groot happily sacrificed himself to save his friends, because as he so beautifully said, “We are Groot.”

Death has followed the Guardians ever since. Yondu gave up his life in Vol. 2 to save Peter. They then lost the original Gamora in Infinity War because they wouldn’t run away from an even more dangerous enemy. And now Drax and Rocket’s acknowledgement of their imminent death during the group’s founding hang over their final film.

That’s why their likely deaths will be even more emotional than if they (and us) never saw them coming. They went into this friendship with their eyes wide open. They knew the price from the very beginning, they have always just been happy to pay it. And with good reason.

Drax found a new family in his fellow Guardians. It’s not sad he’s always known it would all end with him seeing his wife and daughter again. That makes it more beautiful. Just as Rocket’s eventual death will have more resonance because he has always seen it coming. What mattered was that his friends gave him a reason to live in the first place, a reason much bigger than himself. The Guardians gave him love where he had only known pain. And with their love he has done incredible things.

Not every member of the Guardians of the Galaxy will survive their third and final installment. Just like they knew what fate always awaited them, we have as well, even if we didn’t realize it. No matter if its Drax, Rocket, or any other Guardian who dies in Vol 3., their death will be a sacrifice. They’ve always been ready to sacrifice their life for their friends. And that’s what will make the end of their story even more powerful. It will have a greater meaning, one that began at the start of their friendship.

But don’t only cry tears of sadness because they’re gone. Cry tears of joy they had a reason to live in the first place. That reason was a love in one another powerful enough to save the entire galaxy.

Featured Image: Marvel Studios

Mikey Walsh is a staff writer at Nerdist. You can follow him on Twitter at  @burgermike, and also anywhere someone is ranking the Targaryen kings.

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Before we know it, we’ll have zoomed past Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and changed courses from the microscopic to the galactic. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is the last outing for the MCU Guardians team as we know it. So we’re expecting a lot from this movie, including some laughs and lots of tears. The Super Bowl trailer for Guardians of the Galaxy sets us up for exactly this. Though the Guardians are trying to find some kind new normal, that’s never really in the cards for our MCU teams.

Take a look at the tease of the upcoming movie below:

Of course, in true Guardians fashion, the new trailer for Vol. 3 plays out against the notes of a catchy but devastating tune. But which song is playing during this Super Bowl spot for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3? It’s “Since You Been Gone” released by Rainbow in 1976 and originally written by one-time Argent guitarist Russ Ballard. It perfectly sets the tone for the mix of light-hearted and deeply sad scenes the trailer reveals to us.

Peter Quill still mourns Gamora. Gamora is someone altogether new. Star-Lord and Nebula are flirting. (We have questions about that.) And we also see a lot of the Chukwudi Iwuji’s villainous High Evolutionary, who is on a sacred mission for “the perfect society.” Although, of course, Rocket seems to know first-hand why that’s a lie. Adam Warlock also flies in and out of this Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 trailer, but we can’t quite yet tell exactly what he’s up to.

It’s a lot to take in. A new synopsis for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 released with this Super Bowl trailer helps to add context to what we see in the trailer.

It shares:

In Marvel Studios’ Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 our beloved band of misfits are settling into life on Knowhere. But it isn’t long before their lives are upended by the echoes of Rocket’s turbulent past. 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.

We feel, one way or the other, this movie will result in some deaths. Who exactly is on the chopping board? We couldn’t say for sure. Rocket definitely doesn’t sound like he’s in a great place. But the MCU loves a twist. Maybe someone else is in far more danger than we can tell. We’d love for a team to just find a peaceful place to rest and live happily ever after. But it’s just not the way of heroes.

We won’t know for sure until Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 arrives on May 5, 2023.

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After a wonderfully delightful Holiday Special, the Guardians of the Galaxy are back for their third movie! Writer/director James Gunn promises it will bring the story of the Guardians as we know them to a close. With Zoe Saldana on hand, Marvel Studios released the trailer for Guardians of the Galaxy: Volume 3 at CCXP. And you can see the full trailer right here, which showcases our favorite heroes on one last adventure, including the alt-timeline Gamora last seen in the finale of Avengers: Endgame.

Ok, there’s a lot to unpack in this trailer. We’ve got the Guardians in their matching uniforms, something from the Marvel comics we’ve never seen in the MCU before. We go to a world that looks just like Earth, with suburbs and all, with strange alien/animal hybrids living on it. This is almost surely Counter-Earth, a constructed world created by the High Evolutionary (Chukwudi Iwuji). It orbits our sun in the exact opposite direction as Earth. And the animal hybrids may be the New-Men, a staple of classic Marvel comics. Counter-Earth played a big role in the early comic adventures of Adam Warlock. A character that we glimpse in the trailer, played by Will Poulter.

Peter Quill’s new ship is the Bowie, named after the Starman himself, which was introduced in the Holiday Special. (Let’s pour one out for the Benatar. We hardly knew ya). It looks like we’re going to get some flashbacks to Rocket’s origins as well. And they appear to be tied into the High Evolutionary.

And it looks like Lady Lylla, a genetically engineered otter, made it into the film as well. Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Karen Gillan, Pom Klementieff, Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper, and Sean Gunn all return to their iconic roles. New to the cast are Chukwudi Iwuji, Will Poulter, and Maria Bakalova as Cosmo the space dog.

Guardians of the Galaxy: Volume 3 hits theaters on May 5, 2023.

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Where can you find this year’s best Christmas party? Knowhere! Of course, that only makes sense if you’re an MCU fan who’s seen director James Gunn’s fantastic new The Guardians Of The Galaxy Holiday Special on Disney+. Drax and Mantis turned that Celestia skull into the universe’s biggest winter wonderland to cheer up their friend Peter. But the MCU’s Christmas celebration also gave us new insights into the group heading into their third film. Here’s everything we learned from The Guardians Of The Galaxy Holiday Special ahead of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.

The Guardians Bought Knowhere From the Collector

It was unclear what happened to the Collector after Thanos attacked Knowhere. (The Reality Stone really does mess with reality!) Now we know he survived, but decided not to stick around his old base of operations. He sold that skull of a Celestial to the Guardians. It’s their new home, and as Knowhere’s leaders they’re overseeing the heavily-damaged colony’s restoration.

Knowhere is a special place to the group. It’s where they first started to come together as a unified clan. And it’s also the last place any of them saw the original Gamora alive. But having an established home base also means it will be easier for their many enemies to find them.

James Gunn even shared a little bit more on how they could afford this base.

Cosmo the Dog Joins the Group

Speaking of the Collector, one of his old specimens is the newest Guardian of the Galaxy. The Soviet Union’s test animal/space explorer Cosmo the Dog has joined the group. She can speak with a Russian accent through a translating device and has telekinetic powers. The adorable pup in a cosmonaut suit also refuses to take gruff and loves treats. She’s obviously a very good girl.

The Guardians of the Galaxy Have a New Ship: The Bowie

The Guardians are already on their third ship ahead of their third feature film. The Benatar (which replaced the Milano) is out and The Bowie is in. We can easily imagine why Quill named a ship after David Bowie. But why the new transportation? What happened to the Benatar? That we do not know. You might say it’s a real “Space Oddity.”

Kraglin Still Can’t Control His Flying Arrow

Kraglin is determined to carry on—or rather fly—Yondu’s legacy. But despite his best efforts and the giant fin attached to his skull, Kraglin still doesn’t have the “hang” of his arrow. Unlike in Thor: Love and Thunder, we didn’t even see him attempt (and fail) to use it during the holiday special. That was for the best, though. You’d have to be really naughty to deserve a wayward flying arrow on Christmas morning.

Groot Got Swoll

Groot is a growing young tree. And we don’t just mean by age. Referred to as both YA Groot and Swoll Groot by James Gunn, the wide chonky boy has a very different build than that of his lean father. He also has a more outgoing personality, which was on full display when Swoll Groot rocked out to “I Don’t Know What Christmas Is (But Christmastime is Here.)” And he’s even quite the artist. (We’d very much like Santa to bring us some of his sculptures.)

Gamora Is Still Missing and Peter Is Still Sad

The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special was wholesome fun. (Not in spite of the human abduction, either, but because of it!) Not everything was perfect, though. Gamora from 2014 is still missing. She disappeared after Thanos’s defeat in Endgame. Quill still hasn’t found her, and he’s obviously not over her. A reunion with Gamora is the one present he truly wants, but is that even possible? The Gamora that is out in the galaxy is not the one who loved him.

It probably doesn’t help that Quill also doesn’t have his buddy Thor around anymore, either. The two clearly had developed a real admiration for one another during the God of Thunder’s brief time with the Guardians.

Peter and Mantis Are Siblings

Star-Lord’s life has been full of loss. He lost his mom, his entire Terran family, his home planet, his father, Yondu, and the love of his life. But this Christmas he gained a sister. Mantis shared an important secret with him: Ego is her dad, too.

Peter says finding out Mantis is his sister is the greatest Christmas gift he could ever get. It’s also a pretty terrific present for MCU fans. Their familial connection will only make what’s sure to be an emotional Vol. 3 even more meaningful.

But we also hope the movie includes more scenes of Nebula dancing. The fact she has some…uh…let’s call them moves?…might be the biggest Guardians of the Galaxy revelation ever. And that’s the type of gift the whole Marvel Cinematic Universe can enjoy.

Originally published on November 28, 2022.

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Universal’s Fast and Furious saga be damned; Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy is the franchise that’s really about family. They don’t even need a six pack of Corona! Through two named films and Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame, the Guardians have proven that their bonds are stronger than blood. This continues in a big way in The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special. Not only is it all about bringing the joy of the yuletide season to deep space, it expands what we know about the franchise’s lead character. Yes, Peter Quill, aka Star-Lord, has a big realization.

In order to discuss this, we’ll have to spoil the special. But it’s only 45 minutes; go watch on Disney+ and then come back!

While most of this special is just good, silly fun, we do get a few revelations. One is that the Guardians now own Knowhere, having purchased it from the Collector. So they’re landlords now. The rent is too high, Peter! Another is that Cosmo the dog is now a member of the team, it seems. But the third and largest has to do with Peter’s blood relations.

We know from Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 2 that Peter’s father was Ego the Living Planet, a real tool of a near-god who was an intergalactic f-boy. The Holiday Special lets us know Ego spilled his egoo closer to home than we thought. Mantis reveals she is also a spawn of Ego, making her Peter’s biological half-sister.

It’s this revelation that causes Mantis to try to give her brother a good and happy Earth Christmas. She and Drax go to Los Angeles, get drunk in bars, and kidnap Kevin Bacon as a present for Star-Lord. This is all in an effort to soften what Mantis thinks will be the unhappy news that she’s his sister. With Gamora gone and Yondu’s questionable parentage, maybe Kevin Bacon can make him happy.

The good news for everybody is that Peter is very happy to have Mantis as his blood family, not just a found one. The special ends with the two of them hugging it out. For Mantis, whom Ego always mistreated, having his offspring embrace her fully is a pretty great present too.

We can’t wait to see more of this family dynamic in Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 3 next May.

Kyle Anderson is the Senior Editor for Nerdist. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Instagram and Letterboxd.

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The holidays aren’t for another several months but James Gunn already has us feeling a little festive. The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special drops later this year on Disney+. And the Peacemaker director is hyping it up in a massive way.

In a recent interview with Radio Times, Gunn had a lot of exciting things to say about the upcoming special. He shared, “The Holiday Special is the greatest thing I’ve ever done in my life. It’s totally ridiculous, and every day we can’t believe that we’re making it. We all completely love it. It is unlike anything that anyone’s ever seen before. I can’t wait for people to see it.”

These are some big words from the man who rescued the Suicide Squad characters and then delivered an incredible spinoff series in Peacemaker. But if he calls this the greatest thing he’s done, we’re fully prepared to believe it.

He added that luckily fans don’t have to wait too much longer as it drops on around Christmas 2022. Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldaña, Dave Bautista, Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper, Karen Gillan, and Pom Klementieff are all returning for The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special.

Gunn and the cast remain pretty mum on the special’s plot thus far. But Gunn has shared that the special, which is under 40 minutes, is set within the MCU canon and will serve as a lead-in to Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. The Guardians’ third outing debuts in May 2023, so The GOTG Holiday Special is the perfect in-between to set up their next official adventure after Thor: Love and Thunder this summer.

Gunn even explicitly confirmed the special’s place in the MCU’s timeline, saying it comes between Thor: Love & Thunder and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.

Additionally, now that we know more about the MCU’s upcoming phases, Gunn explained how The Guardians of the Galaxy’s Holiday Special fits into the MCU phase-wise. He describes it as the epilogue to Phase 4.

New stories and new characters, we feel excited about that. But considering we’re still months away from The GOTG Holiday Special‘s release, we’re incredibly curious about one thing in particular: the music. The Guardians franchise is famous for its killer music. And we imagine the Holiday Special will be no different. Should we expect something old school, like  Perry Como and Nat King Cole classics? Or Maybe a little bit of Wham! for some ’80s goodness? Could Marvel Studios secure the rights to Christmas queen Mariah Carey’s biggest holiday bop?

Hopefully, Gunn gives the inside scoop as we must know which tracks Groot in his Santa hat will inevitably dance to.

Originally published on March 25, 2022.

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Fans have waited with baited breath since the post-credits teaser for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 for a good look at Him, aka Adam Warlock. We’ve known for a while that Will Poulter will play the golden space Chad in Guardians Vol. 3 but San Diego Comic-Con 2022’s massive Marvel Studios panel finally gave everyone a proper look at the MCU’s Warlock. But will he spell hope or despair for our friends the Guardians? The first look at James Gunn’s upcoming film let us finally understand the awesome might of Adam Warlock. Plus, later in the panel, a major surprise! The High Evolutionary himself.

Gunn shared a sneak peek at the movie, which included a number of elements, including Star-Lord and crew saying they have an appt with Gamora, who is now with the Ravagers. She doesn’t remember anything about Peter or her time with the Guardians. Peter tries to share his feelings (which everyone can hear) but she says she doesn’t share them. She’s not the same Gamora after all.

We also see them spacewalking in different colored suits, both blue and red, before revealing Adam Warlock, adult Groot, and a very young Rocket! After the sizzle, Gunn said “this is about the final arc we began with volume 1; everyone from Peter to Nebula to Kraglin” Kraglin (Sean Gunn) is now a full time Guardian, as he was in Thor: Love and Thunder. Gunn the director later said “Rocket is the saddest creature in the universe and that’s what this story is about to some extent.”

Chris Pratt said “you find Peter Quill and he’s reeling from the events of Endgame. Gamora doesn’t know who he is, that’s a big part of his journey. It opens up a vulnerability of the Guardians to danger, so he spends the movie trying to make up for the mistake of being checked out/buried under pain.”

As for Warlock, Gunn said he was nearly in Vol. 2. Adam Warlock’s first appearance in the comics was under the non-committal name “Him” in the pages of Fantastic Four in 1967. Marvel rechristened him under his now familiar name in 1972. A being created by Earth scientists and harnessing the awesome might of the Soul Gem, Warlock was an all-powerful man-god with the clearest sense of right and wrong this side of Steve Rogers. He stood in opposition to Thanos, life’s champion against death’s. Jim Starlin, who’d go on to write the legendary Infinity Gauntlet saga, teed that event in the pages of his solo Warlock book. In that run, Warlock teamed up with Pip the Troll and Gamora for various space adventuring.

The Guardians portion could have ended right there! But no no. Instead, actor Chukwudi Iwuji (Peacemaker) arrived in full High Evolutionary costume.

The High Evolutionary was first introduced in 1966’s Thor #134. His real name is Herbert Wyndham, an Earth scientist who got all up into some chaos magic on Mount Wundagore. The character has always straddled the line between Marvel’s cosmic and magical universes, making him one of the more fascinating villains. In the MCU, he’ll apparently wish to “create the perfect species; to dissect everyone.”

That is some wild and wonderful Guardians of the Galaxy stuff. We simply cannot wait for the third volume to hit theaters May 5, 2023.

Kyle Anderson is the Senior Editor for Nerdist. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Instagram and Letterboxd.

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Thor Odinson abdicated his throne in Avengers: Endgame to discover who he is rather than who he was supposed to be. That search began by hitching a ride with the MCU’s beloved band of misfits. He wasn’t just using them for transportation, though. He dubbed his new team the “Asgardians of the Galaxy.” Joining up with them helped the once Avenger get his groove—and his abs—back. However, we saw little of his time with the group before he left them in Thor: Love and Thunder. What we did see, though, provided an update how the Guardians of the Galaxy have fared following the Blip and ultimate defeat of Thanos. They seem more unified than ever under their unquestioned captain. However, they’re still missing a core member of the team.

The Current Guardians Lineup in Thor: Love and Thunder

Original Guardians Peter “Star-Lord” Quill, Drax the Destroyer, and Rocket Raccoon are all still protecting the galaxy. As is Mantis, who has been with them since the group killed Ego the Living Planet.

The film also showed Groot 2 has grown a little since Endgame. He’s still far away from being a full-grown, adult tree like his ancestor/dad the original Groot was in the first Guardians of the Galaxy movie. If we had to guess we’d say this Groot’s current age is akin to a high school student. (A high school student who eats binoculars, that is.)

Nebula is also a full-fledged Guardian now, too. She left Earth with the group after Thanos’ death, when she murdered her younger 2015 self. Despite being a member of a team, Nebula remains a little rough around the edges. She has little patience and snaps at the other Guardians rather than talk to them calmly. But it’s clear she has embraced being with them, something unthinkable when we first met her.

The newest full-time member of the team is Kraglin, the former Ravager. He found a new family to zip around the galaxy with. He’s also found many wives during his journey. He keeps marrying someone every time the Guardians visit a new planet.

Korg was serving as a temporary Guardian, but he left the team to stay with the God of Thunder when Thor went out on his own to answer Sif’s call for help.

The Guardians of the Galaxy’s True Captain

Before they departed Earth in Endgame, the crew of the Benatar wanted to see Thor and Quill have a knife fight to settle the question of command. Thor said that wasn’t necessary, as “Quail” was “of course” the captain. That vote of confidence was far from convincing, and Thor clearly never truly accepted his lower rank. When he said his goodbye to the Guardians, the God of Thunder spoke like a captain leaving his crew behind.

No one else seemed confused, though. During the goodbye they treated Quill as their captain, a.k.a. they directed their complaints to Star-Lord.

How the Guardians Got Along with Thor

The Guardians relied on Thor during their most dangerous battles, but they had to ask him for help when they needed him. After some adventures, Thor grew tired of war. He eventually began sitting far away from the fight and meditated while they took on the enemy. Thor would only engage when a teammate came to him personally. Then he’d jump on Stormbreaker like a witch rides a broom and enter the battle in a blaze of glory. And also a blaze of over-the-top theatrics and showmanship that also included him condescendingly talking about his less powerful shipmates.

He referred to the other Guardians as a “ragtag motley crew of misfit desperados.” His bravado made them all roll their eyes at Thor, but dealing with his ego was better than dying to some human-sized birds.

Despite Thor constantly trying to undermine his leadership, Star-Lord respected the God of Thunder’s abilities. Quill was a big fan of Thor’s new catchphrase, “This ends here and now.” But the other Guardians were less enamored with their temporary team member. They seemed to tolerate Thor more than embrace him, sort of like how you feel about an annoying family member who overstays their welcome. It was no surprise that none of them were exactly overcome with emotion when Thor left. They barely offered a goodbye. They just wanted to keep moving, especially with so many distress calls coming in from around the galaxy. Despite their many issues, the Guardians still protect people.

Only Quill and his new sideburns took the time to offer words of encouragement to Thor before leaving. Like an attentive leader, Star-Lord knew Thor was still searching for a purpose. His speech also showed how much Quill loves all of his fellow Guardians. He finds hope and inspiration in them.

In the end, the two men might have had their issues, but they cared for one another. They were like competitive brothers who always fight even though they love each other. It seems certain either would answer the other’s call if they need help in the future.

Gamora Remains Missing After Avengers: Endgame

The 2015 version of Gamora who traveled through time with Thanos is not the same person who loved Quill. That Gamora died when the Mad Titan sacrificed her for the Soul Stone. But Quill wants to find the other version of Gamora. She left Earth following the Blip, and Endgame showed Star-Lord unsuccessfully searching for her prior to leaving Earth.

He has yet to find her, and she clearly has not found to the Guardians. She was nowhere to be seen in Thor: Love and Thunder. She wasn’t even mentioned. Saving the galaxy is hard work, and doing so doesn’t provide a lot of free time to look for someone who doesn’t want to be found. Especially someone who finds themselves alone in a world she doesn’t know. The people who love her most are strangers who loved someone she never was.

What Awaits the Guardians of the Galaxy After Thor: Love and Thunder

Now that their ship no longer contains two screaming goats or a God of Thunder, the Guardians could find some peace and quiet. But that’s not how they roll. They’re still out in the galaxy helping those in need. At least that’s what they’re currently doing. We know they’ll soon face revenge from the Sovereign’s greatest creation, Adam Warlock.

Will they be able to stop him and save themselves? We wouldn’t bet against them, but it’s nice to know they can call on Thor if they need help. If that happens we bet even Nebula would be glad to have him back. Well, just so long as he doesn’t bring those goats.

Mikey Walsh is a staff writer at Nerdist. You can follow him on Twitter at @burgermike. And also anywhere someone is ranking the Targaryen kings.

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As grown up as MCU projects may get these days, one thing they haven’t done in all these years is drop any F-bombs. Nope, not even the “R-rated” former Netflix Defenders shows like Daredevil, Jessica Jones, and Luke Cage. That, along with any nudity, remain as Marvel taboos. (Although Spider-Man almost dropped one at the end of Far From Home). But an F-bomb did make it into Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 2. Well, sort of.

Via CBR, we’ve learned that podcaster and MCU fan Dan Zetterström shared a Skrull language translator via Twitter. He put it right next to a screencap from Guardians Vol. 2. That screencap was altered to show off some graffiti in Groot’s room on board the Benatar. And when converted from Skrull to English, it says “F*** You.” Well, Groot is a rebellious and surly teenager at this point. It makes all the sense. James Gunn confirmed it, saying “Adolescent Groot definitely has a potty mouth.” And that’s how the first F-bomb landed in the MCU.

Groot might have snuck in an F-Bomb under the radar, but Oscar Isaac tried to do the same, and failed. In an interview with Screen Rant, the man who played Marc Spector (and Steven Grant and Jake Lockley) revealed that thanks to TV-MA guidelines allowing for one F-bomb, he thought he could get away with it. It would have been a tribute to an old meme from the Vine days, where a kid gets sucker-punched out of nowhere and lets an audible, “Oh f***!”

But alas, the folks at Marvel Studios and Disney+ didn’t allow it—despite an audible F-bomb heard in X-Men: First Class, which is currently streaming on the platform. We guess it’s okay for Wolverine to say but not Moon Knight? That hardly seems fair. We call shenanigans. If it’s okay for Logan (and Groot, sort of) then it should be okay for Moon Knight. But for now, Groot holds the F-bomb title alone

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Swedish baker Caroline Eriksson spends a lot of time making gingerbread superheroes, villains, and other characters from pop culture. Her creations are amazingly life-like, from the texture of Groot’s skin to the hairy legs of a massive spider. She talks about the time and energy she puts into these projects in the 60 Second Docs video below. And shows off some remarkable gingerbread masterpieces.

Thanks to Laughing Squid for pointing us towards this gorgeous gingerbread. Eriksson uses normal ingredients and edible paints. But what happens to the sculptures once they’re made? Do they taste good? Does she preserve them for display? Or does she throw them away and scare her garbage collector?

While we don’t get those answers in this short video, we do get to see Caroline Eriksson’s process. From sketching and shaping the wire frame to baking and painting, each gingerbread character takes many, many hours. And she’s not the only person dedicated to an unconventional job or hobby. There’s lots of other cool obsessions covered on the 60 Second Docs YouTube channel.

Eriksson’s other creations include a xenomorph from Alien and a super creepy Venom complete with edible drool (gross). While both of those look more like they would eat you than the other way around, Groot is peaceful and sweet. Just growing leaves and looking like he’ll stare deep into your eyes while saving your life.

Eriksson’s gingerbread characters look a lot like the cardboard superheroes on display at the Comic-Con Museum. Both take an amazing amount of time and energy, but we’ll bet the gingerbread versions taste a and smell better.

Melissa is Nerdist’s science & technology staff writer. She also moderates “science of” panels at conventions and co-hosts Star Warsologies, a podcast about science and Star Wars. Follow her on Twitter @melissatruth. 

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“I am Groot,” sounds an awful lot like “I am cute.” And this new LEGO Groot certainly is. It feels fair to say that Groot often steals the show when he’s in an MCU movie. And that’s especially true in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 comes dancing into the scene. Honestly, who can resist baby Groot? He gives even Baby Yoda a run for his money in the cuteness department. So it’s no wonder, Baby Groot is getting the LEGO treatment. And the best part of all, it really looks like he can dance.

LEGO’s official description reads:

Every fan of Marvel Studios’ Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 will know the famous scene where Baby Groot dances. Now kids can recreate this scene and others with this detailed, movable recreation of the lovable and mischievous toddler. The buildable model is easy to position and pose, and there’s even a pretend cassette tape included for make-believe music! In addition, the free LEGO Building Instructions app lets kids view, zoom and rotate the model as they build, providing an amazing sense of immersion and interaction during the construction process.

Although it sounds like LEGO Baby Groot is being marketed for kids, we feel pretty sure that many adults will want to add him to their collection as well. After all, while you can pose this Baby Groot to look like he’s dancing, he’s begging for an upgrade.

We feel confident many of our favorite nerdy robotics experts could engineer this LEGO Groot to actually dance around if they tried. And what a great addition to the build that would be.

For now, we can reminisce about Baby Groot’s dance moves and wait for this new set to go on sale. You can pre-order LEGO Baby Groot today. Groots will start to ship beginning on August 1.

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At Disney’s Destination: D23 event on November 20, 2021, Disney’s Josh D’Amaro announced many additions to the Disney Parks sure to excite hardcore theme park fans. Most notably, we got some really cool details on the long-awaited second attraction for Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy. At the event, we learned that the Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind coaster is officially opening in summer 2022 (and now we even have an official release date). All as part of the Walt Disney World Resort 50th Anniversary celebration.

Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind

According to D’Amaro, the attraction is “an intergalactic chase through time and space.” Its location is in the newly renamed World Discovery neighborhood of EPCOT. They set the Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind coaster to include two thrilling milestones. It’s the first reverse launch on a Disney coaster, and it will also be one of the longest fully enclosed coasters in the world. And you’ll see all your favorite characters from the films, including Rocket and Groot.

And they’ll include even one more incredible feature. Namely, Oscar nominee Glenn Close. The celebrated actress is reprising her role as Nova Prime, the Xandarian leader and commander of the Nova Corps. Fans will remember her from the first Guardians of the Galaxy. She even made a special announcement at Destination D23 to announce her return to the role. You can see her video announcement above.

Guests will enter the new Wonders of Xandar pavilion via the Galaxarium and proceed through the Xandar Gallery. There, they will learn more about the Xandarian people as well as the similarities that connect Earth and Xandar. Does her appearance answer the question “did Nova Prime survive Thanos?” The Mad Titan seemed to imply in Infinity War that Xandar went bye-bye, conveniently off-screen. But, we’d bet on Glenn Close surviving any cosmic apocalypse.

More recently, it was announced that Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind will officially open on May 27.

Avengers Campus: Disneyland Paris

And the Marvel magic will continue at the Disney parks around the world. After a successful opening in Anaheim, Avengers Campus will welcome guests in summer 2022 in Disneyland Paris. This comes right on the heels of the opening of Disney’s Hotel New York: The Art of Marvel earlier this year. The French version of Avengers Campus will have exclusive rides not seen in the California location, like the Iron Man-themed re-do of the former Rockin’ Roller Coaster.

Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser 

Star Wars continues to roll out in the Disney theme parks as well. Most notably, the Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser hotel. At Destination D23, Josh D’Amaro gave attendees an example of how their new high-tech lightsabers work. And for more info on the Galactic Starcruiser, be sure to read our extensive preview of this one-of-a-kind fan destination and check out our full review of the experience.

D23 also offered a few new details about other additions coming to their parks over the course of the next few years. They previewed concept art for the Frozen-themed land coming to Hong Kong Disneyland, and the Zootopia-themed land coming to Shanghai Disneyland. Not to mention Fantasy Springs coming to Tokyo DisneySea.

There’s No word yet on the Disneyland Forward project proposed for the Anaheim resort earlier this year. But we imagine it’ll be a long time before we get any new details on that. They did announce the coming of the Magic Bands to Disneyland. Also, the return of the Main Street Electrical Parade, in time for its 50th anniversary in 2022.  With the company’s 100th anniversary coming in 2023, expect even bigger announcements in the months to come.

Originally published on November 22, 2021.

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When the now-famous Guardians of the Galaxy crew came into our collective consciousness around 2014, they were not the major heroes they are today. There was already a solid fandom for comic heroes like Iron Man and Captain America. But not so much for this particular Guardian lineup of Gamora, Groot, Star Lord, Drax, and our favorite foul racoon Rocket. They were newer comic characters that the average casual viewer (or comic reader) didn’t know. Marvel was gaining a foothold in the movie industry during this time. And having a whole film around these characters was still a financial and reputation risk. In fact, the comic giant nearly took another approach to get fans on board with their stories. According to ScreenRant, Marvel wanted Guardians of the Galaxy one-shot prequels to introduce the characters.

Marvel Studios

The leader of the MCU machine Kevin Feige revealed this news in The Story of Marvel Studios, a book documenting Marvel’s rise in the film and TV sphere. Feige says:

We toyed with the idea of doing short films on Drax, on Rocket and Groot, and on Gamora, leading up to Guardians. This One-Shot series would have led into the Guardians movie proper—which would have also been directly preceded by a fourth self-contained short film about a mysterious kid who loved fantasy things. Then you’d start Guardians. And half-way through, we would reveal that big space hero is the kid from the short. We thought that would be clever, but it was too much.

Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn confirmed this news via Twitter. Gunn revealed that the Guardians of the Galaxy one-shot prequels were more than just an idea. They actually shot footage for a Rocket & Groot story. We saw a snippet of that ultimately with Rocket shooting Groot in the back but we need the full thing.

Do not delete that footage. Give it to us now. Sure, it’s too late for clever reveals and such but Marvel fans wanna see it all anyway.

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The show may be virtual this year, but that doesn’t mean E3 2021 isn’t going to be epic. This year, Nerdist has partnered with E3 to bring you first looks, breakdowns, and  analysis for all your gaming news. Make sure you tune into our daily livestreams for commentary from our very own Dan Casey!

Not to be outdone by Xbox and Bethesda Games, Square Enix presented some exciting new games during Sunday’s E3 2021 showcase. Watch the trailers for Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy, Life is Strange: True Colors, Babylon’s Fall, Marvel’s Avengers: War for Wakanda expansion, and Stranger of Paradise Final Fantasy Origin below.

Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy

The single-player, third-person adventure game launches on October 26, 2021.

Life Is Strange: True Colors

Learn more about the new Life Is Strange supernatural mystery, True Colors, before the game’s release on September 10, 2021.

Babylon’s Fall

Watch a new trailer for Square Enix’s upcoming action-RPG game, Babylon’s Fall.

Marvel’s Avengers: War for Wakanda

Marvel’s Avengers heads to Wakanda in a new expansion coming this August.

Stranger of Paradise Final Fantasy Origin

A new Final Fantasy spinoff is coming to PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X in 2022.

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Watchalongs and live streams are all the rage during this time of self-isolation and physical distancing. We’ve been rocking our #NerdistFromHome watchalong series with a series of films in recent weeks, including a Monsterverse Watchalong and a viewing of Hook with Dante Basco. Other outlets are doing the same, with ComicBook.com hosting regular installments in their Quarantine Watch Party series. They watched Guardians of the Galaxy Volume. 2 on Thursday night with none other than director James Gunn.

Several cast members joined the fun as well, including Pom Klementieff, Steve Agee, Sean Gunn, and Star-Lord himself, Chris Pratt. Gunn noted that Dave Bautista and Karen Gillan wanted to join, but their schedules didn’t permit it. Still, the tweets went flying with lots of fun insights and behind-the-scenes tales. Here are some of the highlights:

Marvel

Gunn set the Earth portion of the movie in Missouri because that’s his hometown. As many of you know, however, they filmed Guardians in Atlanta, Georgia.

A fan asked Gunn about the numbers beneath the locations in Guardians of the Galaxy and whether they mean anything at all. The director replied with the sly smile emoji. We’re intrigued!

Gunn explained that the 1980 Flash Gordon movie inspired the production design.

Kurt Russell (who, we learned from Chris Pratt, was also a minor league baseball player?!) and Sylvester Stallone were two of Gunn’s favorite actors growing up. He was overwhelmed when they were on the Guardians set.

Eagle-eyed fans can stop tons of Easter egg skulls in that pile of Ego’s murdered children. Let us know if you recognize anyone!

Miley Cyrus makes a surprise appearance in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. She’s the voice of Mainframe!

Chris Pratt got hurt on set. As in, he got completely knocked out when he was fighting with Ego.

Sean Gunn pulled double duty on set. He played the Ravager Kraglin and also stood in for Rocket Raccoon on set. He talked about the hardest scene to film.

Art imitates art. Sean Gunn pulled from One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest for a Kraglin moment.

Steve Agee, who played a Ravager in Guardians, didn’t even meet a lot of the cast until San Diego Comic-Con that year after filming.

Michael Rooker (Yondu) snored and interrupted Pratt’s performance.

But Sean Gunn was good at sleeping on set too.

David Hasselhoff of Baywatch fame makes a delightfully weird appearance in the film. You likely already knew that. But maybe you didn’t know Gunn co-wrote Hasselhoff’s song with Tyler Bates and sang back-up.

If you need even more behind-the-scenes tidbits and fun anecdotes about Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, visit James Gunn’s Twitter feed.

All of these tweets are making us very excited for what’s coming next in the Guardians of the Galaxy universe. We can’t wait!

Featured Image: Marvel

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We are probably going to have to wait even longer for James Gunn’s third installment of his Guardians of the Galaxy saga, due to all the delays in Marvel Studios’ production schedule caused by the coronavirus pandemic. But in the meantime, Gunn has offered this amazing treat for fans, as something to bring us joy in these troubled times. He’s made a special Spotify playlist of classic songs that were favorites of Star-Lord’s mother, Meredith Quill, but which didn’t get used in the first two films.

All of these are songs Gunn considered for the first two movies, and he hasn’t ruled out that they still might be heard in Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3 when it eventually gets released. But in the meantime, this playlist has over 60 classic pop hits from the ’70s. These tunes are sure to put a smile on your face. All are mostly upbeat FM radio hits that defined the era; they are especially hard to resist singing along to. Really, just try it. You’ll fail.

Marvel Studios

As great as these songs all are, you can see why Gunn didn’t wind up using some of them. Many of them already appeared in key sequences in other well known ’70s period films. “Mama Told Me (Not to Come),” “Magnet and Steel,” and “Livin’ Thing” were all famously used in Boogie Nights for example. But there is no way that Peter Quill’s mom didn’t love each of those songs. So of course they were on Peter’s tapes, even if we never heard them in the actual movies.

Marvel Studios

The heartwarming image used in the playlist is from the flashback scene from the second Guardians film. It shows actress Laura Haddock as Meredith Quill in happier times, sharing songs with young Peter, with It star Wyatt Jess Oleff assaying the role. Hopefully this playlist will take everyone who listens to it straight to their happy place as well.

Featured Image: Marvel Studios

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While the state of the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise has hit a few speed bumps since Vol. 2, it looks like fans will finally be getting Vol. 3 courtesy of director James Gunn. However, in a recent interview with Guardians star Dave Bautista, it turns out Gunn has even more ideas for the franchise in mind, specifically a spin-off movie starring Drax and Mantis. Dan breaks down all the details in today’s Nerdist News!

What other Marvel characters would you like to see get their own spin-off? Let us know in the comments!

More Marvel news: https://nerdist.com/topic/marvel/
Watch more Nerdist News: http://bit.ly/1qvVVhV

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James Gunn opened up about being fired and then rehired for Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3! Jessica’s got the scoop on today’s Nerdist News!

What do you want to see in GOTG3? Let us know in the comments!

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After months of searching for the right director to take over their hit Guardians of the Galaxy franchise, Disney and Marvel have finally finally found the perfect fit– James Gunn. That’s right, he’s back! But what does this mean for the future of his Suicide Squad reboot with DC? Jessica breaks down all that and more in today’s Nerdist News!

More Avengers news: https://nerdist.com/topic/avengers/

Image: Marvel, DC

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No matter what big twists befall us during Avengers: Endgame—and we’re expecting quite a few—the biggest surprise to spring from the Marvel world this year will undoubtedly remain James Gunn being rehired to direct Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.

Unbelievable though it may be, Deadline dropped the news that Disney has re-enlisted Gunn to helm the forthcoming threequel after having fired him last July. Nerdist has independently confirmed these details. The dismissal of Gunn, who of course directed the first two Guardians films to widespread acclaim, was an especially controversial affair; the rationale for the decision was that years-old tweets by Gunn featuring offensive or obscene shock humor were deemed unbefitting of a creative tethered to the Disney brand. However, some saw these tweets, first brought to light by conservative political blogger Mike Cernovich, as an excuse to get the vocally left-leaning Gunn removed from his position.

Deadline adds the rehiring of Gunn had been in the works for some months prior to the announcement on Friday, and one suspects that outcry from not only fans but Gunn’s Guardians cast members—especially Dave Bautista, a.k.a. Drax the Destroyer, who at one point threatened to quit the franchise were Gunn not reinstated—was integral in convincing Disney to bring the director back on. Shortly after the news broke, Gunn himself tweeted the following message:

❤️ pic.twitter.com/gdMQjlqIjs

— James Gunn (@JamesGunn) March 15, 2019

Good news though this may be for devotees of Gunn, the Guardians movies, and the Marvel Cinematic Universe in general, this revelation may sound immediately concerning to a separate fan base. Following his dismissal from Guardians 3, Gunn had been hired to direct the forthcoming Suicide Squad sequel, a tentpole of the MCU’s primary competition, the DC Comics Extended Universe. Deadline reports that Gunn will retain his role directing the Warner Bros-produced project before returning to his home base at Marvel to shoot Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. Basically, if there’s a blockbuster film about a motley crew of antiheroes, Gunn’s handling it.

Images: Disney

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