What is the future of the Guardians of the Galaxy?
I can't help but wonder what the future holds for the Guardians following James Gunn's somewhat cryptic words on the subject
Speaking on the Hero Nation podcast, director James Gunn was fairly blunt about the future of the Guardians of the Galaxy as he’s currently working on the 3rd installment of the beloved Marvel franchise.
"This is the end for us, the last time people will see this team of Guardians.”
Taken at face value, this quote is cause for all the alarms to sound. Vol. 3 will be the last we see of the Guardians. The last of the trilogy will be their swansong, their finale, their Endgame.
For whatever reason, though, I have a hard time believing that will be the case. Maybe I’m in denial because of how much I’ve enjoyed every second a Guardian has appeared within the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Their first two movies have been so fun on account of how creatively unique they are in all aspects, from the characters to the visuals to the soundtracks. I don’t want that fun to come to an end, and I doubt Kevin Fiege does either.
Then there’s the other factor, the biggest driving force behind any decision that gets made anywhere, especially in Hollywood: Money.
The first two Guardians films combined to bring in over $1.6 billion dollars in global box office revenue. Gunn has stated that Vol. 3 finishes the story he wants to tell. Thus, he likely feels content to walk away regardless of the financial ramifications. You can’t convince me Disney would feel the same way. I’d imagine they’d want to milk those characters for all the revenue their appeal helps generate in some way or another. Even if that means moving forward without Gunn behind the wheel.
I’m not saying I expect Marvel to put out Guardians of the Galaxy movies beyond this next one. At least, not if Gunn isn’t around to helm them. I’d like to believe Fiege has too much respect for how much of Gunn’s style as a director is felt within his Guardians movies. The two are so heavily intertwined that trying to replace him would only backfire.
I think one of two things could happen to the galactic ensemble.
One: The Guardians movies wrap up with the trilogy. Gunn waves goodbye to go work on other stuff, but the characters still manage to appear across other Marvel properties. This is the MCU, after all, where interconnectedness is kind of a big selling point. People show up in other people’s movies. The Guardians are set to appear in Thor: Love and Thunder. Who’s to say they can’t have their stories furthered under similar circumstances?
Think about it. Iron Man’s last solo film was released in 2013, yet Tony Stark’s story continued to be told through his final appearance in Endgame 6 years later. Characters don’t always need the spotlight to get their proper dues.
Option No. 2 has a lot to do with the specific wording of Gunn’s aforementioned quote. Perhaps I’m reading too much into it, but I put a lot of stock in his use of the word “this” as in “this team of Guardians.”
The Guardians as we know them are at something of an inflection point. The Gamora that’s wandering about who knows where in the current timeline isn’t the Gamora we know. Who knows what that could mean for the character’s future? Dave Bautista has stated that Vo. 3 will be the last time he plays Drax, which, if Gunn has anything to say about it, will signal the end of the character’s time in the MCU. That might explain the choice of color for the Vol. 3 title card, which feels like it’s set to follow a trend that dates back to Vol. 1.
So maybe when Gunn talks about “this team of Guardians,” he’s referring to the team as it’s currently constructed. That doesn’t mean it’ll be gone for good after the trilogy wraps up. Just that it’ll have a different look with different characters moving forward, similar to the Avengers after Endgame.
I hope either option will turn out to be the case. The Guardians are simply too popular and well-liked to not keep around in some form or another as long as some of them remain alive. It’d be weird to have them still exist in-universe without seeing what they’re up to or having them show up to help fight Avengers-level threats. Especially if those threats come from their neck of the woods out in space. It wouldn’t make sense after they factored so heavily into the MCU up until this point.
May 23, 2023, will probably give us some answers. Until then, all we can really do is speculate and hope that no matter what happens, the characters will be done right by.
With Gunn leading the way, I have no doubt that will be the case.