Movie · Phase 5

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3

2023 · 150 min

Adam Warlock attacks Knowhere and nearly kills Rocket, whose body has a kill-switch that stops the Guardians treating him. To save him they need his creator's files, which means breaking into the…

The Multiverse SagaDisney+82%Released
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3

The story

Adam Warlock attacks Knowhere and nearly kills Rocket, whose body has a kill-switch that stops the Guardians treating him. To save him they need his creator's files, which means breaking into the orbital laboratory of the High Evolutionary — the man who built Rocket out of a baby raccoon and then decided he was a failure.

The film cuts between a heist and Rocket's origin: four caged animals in a lab planning to see the sky. Gunn's last Marvel film is his angriest and his best, and it ends by letting every one of these characters leave.

Key facts

Release date
5 May 2023
Status
Released
Phase
Phase 5
Saga
The Multiverse Saga
Runtime
150 min
Certificate
PG-13
Director
James Gunn
Writers
James Gunn
Streaming
Disney+
Timeline placement
2025 — after Thor: Love and Thunder and the Guardians Holiday Special

Cast

ActorRole
Chris PrattPeter Quill / Star-Lord
Bradley CooperRocket (voice)
Chukwudi IwujiThe High Evolutionary
Karen GillanNebula
Zoe SaldañaGamora
Dave BautistaDrax
Will PoulterAdam Warlock
Pom KlementieffMantis

Characters

Gamora poster art

Gamora

Gamora Zen Whoberi Ben Titan

Easter eggs

  • Adam Warlock finally debuts in the flesh, five years after his cocoon appeared in a Vol. 2 post-credits scene.
  • Counter-Earth and the High Evolutionary both come from the comics, where the Evolutionary is a recurring Warlock and X-Men antagonist.
  • Cosmo the Spacedog speaks and is voiced by Maria Bakalova, nine years after her cameo in the Collector's museum.
  • Nathan Fillion plays Master Karja, having previously voiced a cameo in Vol. 1 and appeared in every Gunn film since Slither.
  • The corridor fight is staged as a single continuous shot to the Beastie Boys' 'No Sleep Till Brooklyn'.
  • Rocket's Halfworld origin and his friends Lylla, Teefs and Floor are drawn from Bill Mantlo and Keith Giffen's 1980s Rocket Raccoon comics.
  • Peter returns to Missouri and meets his grandfather Jason Quill, the name of his comic father, closing the 1988 prologue from Vol. 1.
  • The post-credits card promises 'the legendary Star-Lord will return', and the new Guardians line-up includes Phyla, Adam and Cosmo.

Trivia

  • James Gunn was fired by Disney in 2018 over old social-media posts and rehired months later; he wrote this script during the interval.
  • It was his last Marvel work before becoming co-chairman of DC Studios, and he has said the ending was written to release the cast from their contracts.
  • The hallway one-shot was assembled from several takes stitched invisibly, with Gunn choreographing it around a moving camera platform.
  • The animal-testing sequences drew strong audience reaction; Gunn has said Rocket's backstory was fixed in his mind from Vol. 1.
  • Sean Gunn finally appears on screen as Kraglin wielding Yondu's fin and arrow after three films of practice.
  • Chukwudi Iwuji was cast after working with Gunn on Peacemaker, and improvised much of the Evolutionary's rage.
  • The soundtrack was the first in the series set in the present rather than on cassette, including Radiohead's 'Creep' and Florence + the Machine.

Box office

Budget
$250 million
Worldwide
$845.6 million
Domestic
$358.9 million

Reviews

Critics

82%

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 gives this ragtag group of heroes a satisfying sendoff with an emotionally engaging adventure.

The MarvelGossips verdict

The only Phase 5 film with a soul, and the best trilogy-closer Marvel has managed. Rocket's flashbacks are genuinely upsetting in a way no other MCU film has attempted, and the High Evolutionary is a real villain with a real philosophy. It also runs long and gives Gamora an arc the film keeps having to explain.

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Frequently asked

Is Vol. 3 the last Guardians film?
It is the last with this line-up and James Gunn's last Marvel film. The post-credits card promises Star-Lord's return, and Marvel has not announced a Vol. 4 or a date for any Guardians project.
Who is the High Evolutionary?
Herbert Wyndham, a geneticist obsessed with engineering a perfect society who created Rocket, Lylla and Counter-Earth. He is a long-running Marvel villain from the 1960s Mighty Thor and later X-Men and Warlock stories.
Does Gamora come back?
Not the Gamora who died in Infinity War. The 2014 variant brought forward in Endgame appears here as a Ravager with no memory of Peter, and she leaves with Stakar's crew rather than rejoining the team.
What happens to the team at the end?
Peter returns to Earth, Drax and Nebula stay to raise the rescued children on Knowhere, Mantis leaves with the Abilisks, and Rocket leads a new Guardians roster including Groot, Kraglin, Cosmo, Adam Warlock and Phyla.
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