Every rock concert needs an encore — and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 has two.
The third and final film in James Gunn's trilogy hit theaters on May 5. It promises one last swan song for everyone's favorite intergalactic band of oddballs. Vol. 3 will be the last time James Gunn directs a Marvel film before moving to run the rival studio of DC. The latest installment of Guardians sees the herd clash against the villainous High Evolutionary (Peacemaker star Chukwudi Iwuji).
Since the first heartbreaking trailer dropped last year, fans have been wondering which characters might survive Vol. 3 – and who can say goodbye forever. Surprisingly, all members of the Guardians survived, although many eventually left the team and embarked on new adventures. Chris Pratt's Star-Lord/Peter Quill returns to Earth for the first time since his kidnap. In the meantime, his former lover, Gamora (Zoe Saldaña), reunites with her fellow Ravagers.
As for Mantis (Pom Klementieff), she sets off into the unknown, accompanied by three monstrous bodies. Meanwhile, Drax (Dave Bautista) and Nebula (Karen Gillan) will leave the crew to stay behind in Knowhere. They offer to help take over the experiments in the High Evolutionary's liberated lab.
We are here to break down two scenes from the Guardians of the Galaxy 3 end credits.
Guardians Of The Galaxy 3 End Credits Scene: New Guardians Alert
When Star-Lord makes his exit at the end, he appoints Rocket (Bradley Cooper) as the team's new leader. (he also gives Rocket a parting gift- his precious Zune MP3 player.) The Guardians of the Galaxy credits scenes show Rocket leading a new crew. It includes Cosmo the Space Dog (Maria Bakalova), Groot (Vin Diesel), and Kraglin (Sean Gunn). A reformed Adam Warlock (Will Poulter) also joins the team with his favorite alien pet, Blurp.
There is another member of the New Guardians worth noting- a white-haired girl rescued from the High Evolutionary's laboratory. Kai Zen plays the character. The credits identify her as Phyla, an obvious nod to the comic book character Phyla-Vell. Phyla-Vell is a strong character in the Marvel comics. She is the daughter of the legendary Kree warrior Mar-Vell. She has many different names, including Captain Marvel and Quasar, but she is perhaps most popular as a member of the Guardians.
Guardians Of The Galaxy 3 End Credits: Our Analysis
The introduction of Phyla to the MCU is coming at a particularly interesting time. The next movie to hit theaters will be The Marvels in November, focusing on Brie Larson's Carol Danvers, Teyonah's Monica Rambeau Parris, and Kamala Khan by Iman Vellani. Like Phyla-Vell, these three characters have a relationship with Captain Marvel/Ms. Marvel Nickname. Could Phyla play a role in The Marvels?? We'll have to wait and see.
To the remaining Guardians, Rocket proves himself to be a highly capable captain, leading his team into battle against a group of aliens. It also provides a fitting soundtrack, reminiscent of Redbone's "Come and Get Your Love" on the Zune - a callback to the opening of the original Guardians movie.
The second scene appears at the end of the intro and finds us on Earth. Quill sits at breakfast along with his grandfather (Gregg Henry), who is reading a newspaper called The St. Charles Post. The front page headline reported an exclusive interview with actor Kevin Bacon, who promised to "tell everything" about his "alien abduction." This is a fun Easter egg that reminds us of last year's Guardians of the Galaxy holiday special. The feature showed Mantis and Drax coming to Earth to kidnap the Footloose star.
But what's more interesting is what happens after the post-credits scene. A large title card proclaims. “The legendary Star-Lord returns.” Flight. 3 seems like a fitting farewell for Peter, so it's intriguing to see him possibly appear again - this time as a potential solo artist. Sam Humphries and artist Paco Medina also created a recent comic book series called The Legendary Star-Lord. It features Peter after he leaves the Guardians, so perhaps we'll see a Star-Lord movie (or a Disney+ TV show) in the future.
In Conversation With Chris Pratt And James Gunn
Vol 3 sees the outcasts in space looking out for their own and, more importantly, helping everyone.
Gunn explains, “Compassion is the answer to all your problems on this planet. And if you can have compassion for all living things, it really helps you to live a much more fulfilling life. You get through things a lot easier. And that's what this movie's about more than anything else.”
Pratt says that Star-Lord’s arc over the three movies has been all about “becoming a Guardian of the Galaxy, learning that it's OK to give a (hoot) about something and to care about your friends.” He “has really been constantly redefining who he is and coming to terms with these new definitions of who he is based on the relationships in his life and the people in his life and what's going on with his life.
He's a little lost, and I like that every volume of this story, he's had something to learn and something to gain.”In retrospect, Pratt thinks the balcony scene from the first Guardians movie, where Peter and Gamora flirt and fall for each other, could be remade.
He explains, “That was a tough day. It also happened to be my screen test material. When you're doing the scene that you auditioned with, it carries with it a bunch of baggage and weight and anxiety, you've done it a million times, and so you don't know how to make it fresh again."
James Gunn On Creating Guardians Of The Galaxy 3 End Credits
Even Gunn found it difficult to create it as the scene simply wasn’t working with the original dialogue. Gunn says he then proceeded to tear “a whole page out (of the script) and changed it on the day. Which I don't do very often because I'm a very prepared guy.”
Both the actor and director have gone through a sea of change over the course of a decade since their first movie. They have both remarried. Gunn lost his Marvel gig and got it back. Pratt added two more children to his brood.
The actor has self-professedly learned the “wisdom of experience and maturity and the grace of falling on your face and getting back up. They say people don't change, but I feel like I have changed, I think for the better.” He also added that Gunn helped him “relax into myself a little bit and not have to work so hard and sometimes do less.”
Wrapping Up
This seems like a definitive ending for many of our heroes, but the film's two final credit scenes suggest that the Guardians' song may not be over yet. (Unlike 2017's Vol. 2, which had five post-credit scenes, Vol. 3 has a more manageable two.)
Have you watched the latest Guardian of the Galaxy Vol. 3? Did you enjoy it? If you have thoughts to share or questions to ask about Guardians of the Galaxy 3 end credits, please leave a comment below. We would love to hear you!
Learn More About:
