The Guardians of the Galaxy may currently be celebrating the Christmas season, with The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special now streaming on Disney+, but the tone is going to change next year. The first trailer for Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 3 has been released and it includes some very exciting things, but also some very ominous ones.
The trailer opens with Star-Lord standing on the deck of the Bowie, the new ship introduced in the holiday special. His voiceover says “We were gone for quite a while,” as the ship approaches New York City in the next shot. It appears Quill will be returning to Earth for the first time in a very long time.
We then see the Bowie land in what appears to be a town on Earth as Quill continues, “But no matter what happens next, the galaxy still needs its guardians.” The Guardians step off of the ship wearing their new uniforms (seen above), which will look familiar to comic fans.
However, as Quill greets the citizens of this town, it becomes clear they are not on Earth. Or, at least, it’s clear those who live here are not human. Instead, the Guardians find some new alien creatures and we see a small child roll a ball to Drax. As always, Drax doesn’t seem to fully understand the situation and he launches the ball back at the child’s face, knocking her out. The citizens immediately turn on the Guardians and begin hurling projectiles at them.
It’s worth mentioning that these creatures seem to be some kind of cross between humans and animals. We’ll come back to that point later.
After we see some shots of a sad Quill, who is clearly still missing Gamora, we get voiceover from Mantis saying “don’t forget where we came from.” This appears to be said in a conversation with Quill and likely references the revelation from the holiday special that Mantis is Quill’s sister.
Meanwhile, we get a shot of a hand reaching into what appears to be a cage for an adorable baby Rocket that then transitions into present day Rocket. In a recent interview, director James Gunn discussed telling the end of Rocket’s story by going back to its beginning. Marvel fans should spend the next few months emotionally preparing themselves for that ending.
The Guardians then don some colorful suits, which Gunn has confirmed is a nod to 2001: A Space Odyssey, as they leap out into space and onto some sort of land with very little gravity. We then get a quick cut to Gamora looking at a photograph. It appears she will be reunited with the Guardians in this film, but remember, this is not the Gamora we know. This is a variant of Gamora from the timeline which Thanos left to attack Earth in the finale of Avengers: Endgame. She may not be as excited to see the Guardians as they are to see her.
We also get a shot of the whole team, including Kraglin and Cosmo, walking on Knowhere, with Nebula in the center carrying a seemingly unconscious Quill. This scene appears to be light in nature though as Rocket appears to be casually sipping a beverage as they walk.
To give us more foreshadowing of Rocket’s demise in this film, Quill offers more voiceover, saying “we have been running our whole lives, followed by a shot of Rocket saying “Pete, I’m done running,” as he readies a weapon. It’s worth noting that Rocket doesn’t typically refer to Quill as “Pete,” which shows that this team has become a family over the years and that Rocket is taking things seriously in this moment.
We then get a look at what figures to be the film’s primary antagonist: the High Evolutionary. Back to those humanoid animals – the High Evolutionary, a brilliant scientist/dangerous psychopath, created such creatures and named them the New Men and later the Knights of Wundagore. And yes, that would be the same Wundagore to which fans were introduced in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. These characters actually have some strong ties to the story of Wanda Maximoff, though I doubt those will be explored in this film.
As the High Evolutionary watches a humanoid being seemingly run on a hamster wheel, it seems likely he is the one responsible for creating Rocket and making him what he is.
We then get a couple of interesting shots of Gamora. First, we see her seemingly ready to leap into action, pulling a dagger from a sheath. Then, we see her reunited with the Guardians, aiding Mantis to carry an apparently-injured Drax as the group tries to escape what is likely the High Evolutionary’s citadel.
Another shot of a seemingly-hurt Rocket follows as he says “we’ll all fly away together.” He continues over the ensuing shots, saying “one last time, into the forever and beautiful sky.” Again, start emotionally preparing yourself now.
There are plenty of shots of note in that stretch though. First, we see Quill tackle what appears to be a scientist working for the High Evolutionary out of a building, several stories down to the ground. The High Evolutionary shows up again and then we see a closeup of what appears to be a surgical tool dripping with blood. We then see Quill letting out a muted scream, clearly distraught by what he’s seeing. Could this be Rocket’s death scene?
Rocket is then apparently reunited with a humanoid otter, whom he embraces. This is actually a character from the comics as well, but you knew that already, right? This otter is Lady Lylla, who, to the best of my knowledge, has only appeared in about five comics, but is Rocket’s soul mate. Likely another result of the High Evolutionary’s experiments, Lylla is sure to have some history with Rocket in the MCU as well.
After a quick shot of the Guardians getting cornered by one of the same creatures they encountered in the beginning of Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 2, we get one of the most exciting shots of the trailer: Adam Warlock. The character was teased in one of the post-credits scenes of vol. 2, and now we get to see him in all his glory.
Warlock is an important character in Marvel Comics and even becomes a member of the Guardians himself for a stretch. He actually plays a huge role in the “Infinity Gauntlet” story, but obviously that will be different in the MCU. Many expected Warlock to be the primary villain in this film before the reveal of the High Evolutonary’s involvement. Still, it appears he will be attacking the Guardians, at least initially, as we see him wailing away on Nebula.
We then get a shot of Mantis crying, mirroring the earlier shot of Quill in distress. Another shot of the team walking includes Gamora this time around, though Kraglin and Cosmo are not with them this time. Voiceover from Groot says “We are Groot” as we see him and Quill standing back-to-back, firing blasters. Groot is notable using four different limbs to do so.
The title card then pops up and potentially offers more evidence of Rocket’s impending doom. A fan theory has been going around that the title logo of each Guardians film has actually tipped off the death of a character by matching that character’s color scheme. That may be a bit of a stretch, but remember that Groot “died” in the first film and the sequel saw the death of Yondu before checking out the two images below.
And of course, here is the logo for Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 3. Again, it’s a bit of a stretch, but maybe there’s something there.
The trailer then comes to a close with a comedic scene that sees Drax wanting to kill people but Quill reeling him in, just to show that this movie is still going to be a whole lot of fun.
Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 3 will hit theaters on May 5, 2023.