Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 hits theaters this weekend, and while we might well see a different version of the team in the MCU down the line, this will be the final movie featuring this particular crew.
Now, director James Gunn has taken to Twitter to bid farewell to his Guardians with a new behind-the-scenes photo taken "moments after the last time, likely forever, we shot with the full on-set Guardians cast all at once."
So, there's a good reason why Rocket, Groot and Cosmo aren't present, since they're brought to life using CGI. Or, y'know, they might be dead - you'll have to go see the movie to find out!
Gunn has always made it clear that this will be his last GOTG film, but during the recent press conference, he did appear to leave the door open for his return to the franchise.
"I'm gonna miss the characters. That's the saddest part for me, is I really, truly love these characters. I love all of them. I think there's certain ones that I have a special fondness for, especially Rocket. And yeah, the saddest part of all of this. I'm gonna see all these people again. They're all friends of mine. But I'm not gonna see the character. I'm not gonna be writing the characters again, at least not in the near future. And so, that's a real sadness, yeah."
"In Marvel Studios’ Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 our beloved band of misfits are settling into life on Knowhere. But it isn’t long before their lives are upended by the echoes of Rocket’s turbulent past." "Peter Quill, still reeling from the loss of Gamora, must rally his team around him on a dangerous mission to save Rocket’s life—a mission that, if not completed successfully, could quite possibly lead to the end of the Guardians as we know them."
Gunn writes and directs Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, which stars Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldaña, Dave Bautista, Karen Gillan, Pom Klementieff, featuring Vin Diesel as Groot, Bradley Cooper as Rocket, Sean Gunn, Chukwudi Iwuji, Will Poulter, and Maria Bakalova. Kevin Feige is the producer and Louis D’Esposito, Victoria Alonso, Nikolas Korda, Simon Hatt, and Sara Smith serve as executive producers.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 arrives in theaters on May 5, 2023.