Alas, all good things must come to an end and “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” marks the conclusion of director James Gunn’s rib-tickling, heart-warming space trilogy! You know, on the count that he has an entire, whole other cinematic universe to manage. In any case, we’re going to miss his unique voice in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). That being said, in spite of “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3″ being marketed as an absolute tear-jerker for fans, it actually ends more on the sweeter side than the bitter. Possibly due to the fact that Kevin Feige has plans for our beloved rogues in future films. For now, though, it seems like the original members of the team will be heading in different directions in their lives.
What does this mean for the future? Will we ever see the original team reunite or will a new status quo be the way forward? Stick around because we’re breaking down the ending, post-credit scenes and the new direction for the Guardians!
Ending Explained
Against all odds, none of the Guardians have bit the dust! Unfortunately, Rocket does lose his soulmate Lylla at the hands of the High Evolutionary. At the end of the day though, the team does prevail against the dastardly High Evolutionary with Adam Warlock turning against his creator. All the creatures held on Counter-Earth are free and Rocket finally gets his revenge on the mad scientist who made him the raccoon he is today. With the threat of the High Evolutionary gone, the original team members have decided to go their own ways.
For those hoping that Gamora and Peter Quill would finally get married and fly off into space, sorry. Gamora leaves the team to lead the Ravagers while her sister, Nebula takes over Knowhere and is running the giant Celestial head. Drax the Destroyer is now a proud, new papa to the mutated animal children from the High-Evolutionary’s base. Mantis goes on her own journey of self-discovery. As for Star-Lord himself, he’s finally decided to return to Earth to make up for lost time with his grandfather. Looks like he’s settling down…for now. Well, what about the dynamic duo Rocket and Groot?
Post-Credits Scenes Explained
In the first post-credits, we see new members, Phyla-Vell, Kraglin, Adam Warlock and Cosmo the Space-dog talking about who their favourite earth-based musician is while on their way to a mission. Finally, Rocket decides to stick a rather familiar tune in Star-Lord’s Zune: “Come and Get Your Love” by Redbone. An awesome nod to the first “Guardians of the Galaxy” film in which Peter himself plays the song while dancing his way to an Infinity Stone. This also seems to imply that this is a new beginning for Rocket and Groot as they go on adventures with their new team. Oh and Blurp’s there we guess.
So in a sense, while the original Guardians of the Galaxy are gone, a new team lives on with Rocket leading the charge. In the comics, Rocket does lead the Guardians for a while before Quill eventually returns and reunites the team once again. We don’t think we’ll be seeing Rocket’s team on the big screen for a while though, seeing that “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” marks the end of the trilogy. However, we can take heart knowing that we’ll probably see them all reunite to face off against the larger cosmic threat of the Council of Kangs in “Avengers: The Kang Dynasty”.
The second and final post-credits scene sees Star-Lord reuniting with his grandfather on Earth, living a normal if not boring life. He has a tender moment with his grandfather as he sits and has breakfast with him. As he’s eating, he sees a headline in the newspaper about how Kevin Bacon tells the story of his alien abduction. Those who watched “The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special” will definitely remember the hilarious scene in which the Guardians wheel out a mind-controlled Kevin Bacon who quickly becomes distraught upon regaining his senses.
Honestly, we’re glad that Peter gets to have some sense of normalcy with his grandfather after all he’s been through from the death of his mother to Ego to losing Gamora. It’s a lot for one man to handle so cheers to him finding a home and some peace. The scene ends with the text reading: “The Legendary Star-Lord will return”.
The Multiverse Saga
It seems pretty clear that director James Gunn meant for “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” to be more of a standalone conclusion to his vision than another domino to fall for the MCU’s Phase 5. As we predicted, Adam Warlock does indeed turn to the side of good which means the heroes of Earth and beyond may have just gained a powerful new ally in the fight against the Kangs. Sure he doesn’t seem all that powerful now compared to his near-god-like comic book counterpart. Given time though, he could prove to be the key to saving the entire multiverse.
As for the new Guardians team, if Rocket continues to go around collecting new recruits, especially the kind that wields cosmic power, we could see some version of the Annihilators in the MCU. The Annihilators act as a galactic peace-keeping force that consists of some of the heaviest cosmic hitters in the Marvel universe.
Fun fact: Cosmo the Space-dog is the founder of the team in the comics. The comic-book version included folks like Silver Surfer, Quasar, Gladiator and Beta-Ray Bill. Now with folks like Phyla-Vell and Adam Warlock in the MCU, Marvel Studios might be trying to slowly distance themselves away from Gunn’s Guardians to set up a whole new cosmic team of their own.
“Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” is a worthy send-off for one of the most entertaining and consistently funny film trilogies in the MCU. Farewell, James Gunn!
For those looking to find out more about Gunn’s plans for the DC Universe (DCU), be sure to check out our breakdown of his 10-year plan here.
