Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 Movie Preview

Intro

The Guardians of the Galaxy will finally be back in action in July. Three years after "Avengers: Endgame", the galaxy's craziest heroes celebrate their comeback in "Thor: Love and Thunder". But this shall not be the end of their cinema career: Peter, Gamora, Drex, Rocket, Groot, Mentis and Nebular will get their last solo film in May 2023 for a conclusion. Only one year remains until then and there are already a few rumors surrounding the cast and the story. We have taken a look at all the facts and theories and then decided to summarize them for everyone here. So if you are interested, keep on watching! 

Timescale

As you can probably guess, the movie will take place after "Endgame". Following the victory over Thanos, Thor joins the Asgardians and seems to take over the leadership of the team. Whether the flick will play at the same time as "Thor: Love and Thunder" or after it has yet to be revealed. But for us, there are two realistic scenarios: In the first, the Guardians play only a minor role in the grand Thor finale and must already devote themselves to more important missions in the galaxy during the film. In the second option, the Guardians movie only begins after the Thor storyline and they fight alongside the God of Thunder until the end. Of course, it will be exciting to see where the Guardians stand story-wise towards the end of "Thor 4". 

Cast

There have already been a few announcements regarding the cast and which characters will appear in the new movie. There are not only old familiar faces, but also a few newcomers.

The Guardians

For the time being, not much will change among the Guardians. Chris Pratt will return to his role as Star Lord and Dave Bautista is set to play Drex for one last time. Karen Gillan, Pom Klementieff, Vin Diesel and Bradley Cooper are also back as Nebular, Mantis, Groot and Rocket. It will be especially thrilling around Gamora, played by Zoe Saldana. After all, the Gamora from the main dimension died and the one who was brought from the past neither knows the Guardians nor has she developed her relationship with Peter. 

The Ravagers

It has also been confirmed that the Ravagers are coming back. At the end of the last part, they bid Yondu Udonta a dignified farewell after his heroic death. For this, Sean Gunn will slip back into the role of Kraglin. Who knows, he might be in charge of his own ship by now. Who definitely has his own crew, though, is Sylvester Stallone as Stakar Ogord, known in the comics as Starhawk. We were already able to see him in Volume Two. It was him, after all, who granted Yondu absolution after his death, and to be buried with full honors in space. So far, it has not been confirmed whether there will be flashbacks of Yondu. In the currently confirmed cast list, at least, Michael Rooker is not to be found yet. 

The Antagonists

In the post-credits scene of the last movie, the adversary of Volume 3 was also introduced: There, the high priestess Ayesha could be seen breeding a new, evolved sovereign named Adam. This Adam is none other than Adam Warlock. In the comics, he was created by a group of researchers who wanted to make the perfect being. In the film, the role of Adam will be played by Will Poulter. It is likewise confirmed that Elizabeth Debicki will once again slip into the role of the high priestess Ayesha. 

A last appearance of the God of Thunder? 

Whether Thor will be back for "Guardians Volume 3" has not yet been definitively clarified. However, it is likely he will appear in at least a few sequences. First, this is due to the fact that he joined the Asgardians of the Galaxy at the end of Endgame and they will also appear in his solo film "Love and Thunder". Second, he is the first hero Adam Warlock meets in the comics, so why shouldn't he be in the motion picture as well?

The Production

It was certainly not easy to get to the start of filming for the third part of the series. Although director James Gunn confirmed back in March 2017 that there would be a third part, the mastermind behind the Guardians first had to pack his bags after an almost 10-year-old tweet of his was made public in which he made fun of sexual assault. Since this could not be reconciled with the strict guidelines of Disney, they felt compelled to dismiss Gunn. Only after more or less the entire star ensemble of the Guardians had publicly stood up for their director did they bring Gunn back to the project in March 2019. This allowed production to restart with a considerable delay. The year 2020 was originally planned as the shooting start, but of course they didn't know beforehand that everything would turn out differently that year. Thus, "Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3" had to be added to the long list of postponements. In addition, Chris Hemsworth also expressed interest in shooting a fourth solo film around his character of Thor. This production was then promptly given more attention. Filming on the Guardians movie finally began at the end of 2021, and provided everything runs smoothly, the premiere will take place on May 5, 2023.

Plot

Unfortunately, not much is known about the plot so far. Gunn himself said in a podcast that the third and last part of the Guardians will probably be the most somber. He also implied that not everyone in the group will survive their final battle. Apart from that, there are already one or two theories about the story, which we shall explore here. However, we would like to emphasize once again that these are pure theories and not confirmed facts.

The Search for Gamora

It is safe to say that the Guardians will look for Gamora, as she disappeared after the final battle against Thanos. She will probably first need to find her own place in what is now a completely new universe for her. She could start her journey on her home planet Zen-Whoberi. Thanos killed half of the population, but there are also many indications that Gamora is the last of her kind. From this point, one could also easily form a connection to the Ravagers. Gamora could join them in return to see more of the galaxy and, well, to pursue her extraordinary talents in killing. There she could then meet Kraglin and Starhawk. These will surely cross the Guardians' paths sooner or later.

Adam Warlock

As mentioned at the beginning, Adam Warlock was created in the comics by researchers from Earth. Immediately after his awakening, he meets Thor and is fought by him after he tries to mate with Lady Sif. However, Adam Warlock is not evil, but, similar to Vision, a being who has yet to find his place in the universe. This task, which he lacked at the beginning of the comics, might eventually be easily given to him in the film, namely revenge against the Guardians of the Galaxy. But in the end, he could also choose to take a completely different path. In the comics, he ultimately joins the Guardians to protect the universe and to rebuild it after a terrible catastrophe. That this becomes a reality at the end of the movie is actually quite realistic. It's clear that the Guardians will regroup, and as Gunn said, not everyone necessarily has to survive. That leaves us with the question: who might die? 

Who Might Die?

The most likely scenario for us is the death of Drex: the actor has recently fallen out with Disney and has long announced that this will be his final Marvel film. Well, that makes it very easy to simply let the character die. However, other deaths cannot be excluded. For instance, Peter could sacrifice himself for Gamora if she were to be in danger again. Also the possibility of Rocket dying cannot be ruled out. Indeed, James Gunn recently stated that he put all of himself into the role of Rocket, and thus with his departure from the franchise, his character dies as well. No matter who or whether someone even dies: we will surely have tears running down our faces with the end of Guardians of the Galaxy.