James Gunn has confirmed that the third Guardians of the Galaxy movie is the end of the story for his group of Guardians characters. “This is the end of that story,” said Gunn at Comic-Con to disappointed groans from the Hall H crowd. “I’m sorry. Some stories have an end. It doesn’t mean everybody dies.”
Still, even with that news, the first trailer shown at Comic-Con got massive cheers from the crowd. The footage, set to The Flaming Lips’ “Do You Realize,” shows Gamora talking about how she doesn’t remember her time with the Guardians, the first glimpse of Will Poulter as villain Adam Warlock, and Rocket’s origin story.
“He’s got to be the saddest creature in the universe, and that’s what this is partly about,” explained Gunn of Rocket’s backstory.
On hand for the Hall H presentation were stars Chris Pratt, Karen Gillan, Pom Klementieff, Poulter and Maria Bakalova. Bakalova will be playing Cosmo the Space Dog, while Peacemaker actor Chukwudi Iwuji will portray the High Evolutionary. Years ago, Tom Hiddleston came to Comic-Con in costume as Loki, and Iwuji followed suit, taking the stage as the villain. “Thank you for inspiring me with how vomitous you all are. The bile in the back of my throat is all the motivation I need to move forward and create the perfect species. He said. “I can’t wait to dissect all of you!”
In a particularly earnest moment, Pratt said that Gunn “changed his life” by casting him as Star-Lord.
Gunn’s triumphant return on a Marvel panel is a moment years in the making. It was during Comic-Con four years ago that Disney fired Gunn as director of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 due to offensive, decade-old tweets. He apologized and by 2019 was reinstated as director but not before already taking a job over at DC to direct The Suicide Squad.
The first Guardians of the Galaxy film, released in 2014, pushed Marvel into the cosmic realm. A sequel followed in 2017, and since then the Guardians have appeared in a number of Marvel projects, including Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame and the recent Thor: Love and Thunder.
The new film, dated for May 5, 2023, brings in Poulter as Warlock, with the villain seen in the first footage shown during Hall H from the film.