Marvel Studios announced a fresh wave of release date delays yesterday, with every 2022 title slipping down the calendar and The Marvels pushed into 2023. There were some changes to that year as well, of course, but no mention of plans for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.
Luckily, sometimes no news is good news, because writer and director James Gunn has now taken to Twitter to confirm that his threequel is sticking to its planned May 5, 2023 release date.
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"[Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3] is neither pulled nor delayed, still scheduled for May 5, 2023," the filmmaker says in the Tweet below. "We are scripted & storyboarded, crewed & casted, & READY TO GO in just a little bit here. We’re going to build you guys something beautiful."
This is definitely good to hear, especially as Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania - a movie that's already shooting - has also been pushed back. Vol. 3 is long overdue, anyway, as the original plan was reportedly for it to arrive in theaters last year before Gunn parted ways with Disney and went to make The Suicide Squad. Thankfully, the two sides have since made things right.
Check out Gunn's latest Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 update below:
Click on the "Next" button below to check out 8 cosmic
characters we're hoping to see in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3!
8. Genis-Vell
Marvel Studios obviously made some key changes to Mar-Vell in Captain Marvel, but they have the opportunity to continue that character's legacy by introducing his her son, Genis-Vell. The fact that, in the comic books, he's also the child of an Eternal could nicely tie into Eternals as well.
Genis-Vell went by Captain Marvel for a time, and has both been driven insane and joined the Thunderbolts during his storied history. However, when his teammates realised that he was on the brink of a breakdown that could endanger the entire Earth, they were forced to put him down.
There's a lot of storytelling potential here, and with a long list of superpowers, he's someone who could make for an interesting ally - or enemy - to the Guardians and Captain Marvel in the MCU.
7. Quasar
Wendell Vaughn was a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent deemed unfit for fieldwork by superiors who believed that he lacked the necessary killer instinct to succeed. During his first assignment at a research facility performing experiments on alien "Quantum Bands," Wendell was forced to don them when the criminal scientists A.I.M. attacked.
Using the bands’ power to generate energy constructs to fend off the attackers, he realised what it would take to unleash their power, and that lack of a killer instinct helped cement him as a hero.
While far from an A-List character, Quasar has potential, and Marvel Studios could obviously choose to use the female version of the character Avril Kincaid (which would bring even more diversity into this shared world and is a great character in her own right). Whether he or she appears in Vol. 3 could hinge on how much time the movie spends on Earth.
6. The Beyonder
Secret Wars remains a game-changing event for Marvel Comics, and one the Russo Brothers are desperate to bring to the big screen. Of course, The Beyonder could easily be introduced before then.
In that famous storyline, he created "Battleworld" and pit Earth’s heroes and villains against each other for little more than his own curiosity and pleasure. He’s all about having fun, and as one of the most powerful beings in the Marvel Universe, the character would obviously be a formidable foe for the combined forces for every hero on both Earth and in outer space.
There are a lot of ways Marvel Studios can reinvent The Beyonder, and it's hard not to be excited about what that might entail. When it comes to this movie, we're sure a cameo appearance could be used to help set the stage for a bigger story down the line that somehow includes the surviving Guardians (a team we're sure this deranged villain would take great pleasure in toying with).
5. Galactus (And The Silver Surfer)
Now that Marvel Studios has regained the rights to the Fantastic Four franchise, it's inevitable that Galactus and the Silver Surfer will show up sooner rather than later. The former has the potential to be the next Thanos, while his herald can, and should, team up with pretty much every MCU hero imaginable.
The prospect of seeing these two in live-action is, quite frankly, mind-blowing. Sure, we've had a cloud version of Galactus and an admittedly faithful version of the Silver Surfer, but it really doesn't feel like we've seen the definitive take on either one of them. Marvel Studios can now change that.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 could very easily drop some hints about the existence of them both, and if nothing else, we're sure Silver Surfer could cross paths with the team, even if it's just to help them stop the insanely powerful Adam Warlock...before revealing who he really works for, of course.
4. Hyperion
The last living Eternal from another Earth, Hyperion was freed by The Avengers after falling into the clutches of A.I.M., and ended up being a pivotal part of that superhero team as time passed.
Incredibly powerful, he's able to absorb cosmic energy which gives him a lot of different powers, while his strength is pretty much off the charts. In fact, he even managed to stop two different Earths from colliding during an Incursion event, and even carried the city of Atlantis out of the ocean on his back.
While his history isn't necessarily rooted in outer space, Hyperion is definitely one of those heroes - like Captain Marvel, in some respects - who is so powerful, he should take on cosmic threats. There had been rumours about Squadron Supreme appearing in Loki, but we're sure this character's origin could somehow be tied into Adam Warlock's in order to lay the groundwork for their debut.
3. Nova
In the comic books, Richard Rider was chosen at random by the alien Rhomann Dey (played by John C. Reilly in Guardians of the Galaxy) to inherit his power and succeed him in the rank of Nova Prime. Glenn Close actually played Nova Prime in that movie, but we've not seen the Nova Corps since and know that Thanos wiped them out before Avengers: Infinity War started.
A flashback could very easily reveal Nova's origin story, of course, and it now makes sense for him to carry the burden of being the final member of the Nova Corps after Thanos' heinous actions.
James Gunn has made it clear that he has little to no interest in putting Nova in one of his Guardians of the Galaxy movies, while there were once plans for him to appear in the last two Avengers adventures, but he sadly failed to make the cut. Kevin Feige has hinted at plans for the hero, though, so here's hoping the filmmaker can be convinced to revisit that Nova Corps concept.
2. Gladiator
While Marvel Studios regaining the rights to the X-Men is undeniably exciting, it's important to remember that there are a lot of other characters from that world who come as part of the package.
Among them are the Shi'ar Empire, and one member of that alien race we're particularly excited to see is Gladiator. A member of the Imperial Guard, he's defeated threats like the Phoenix and Vulcan, and eventually managed to take charge of the entire Shi'ar Empire after the death of Lilandra.
Gladiator is an absolute powerhouse, and his strength alone makes him one of the Marvel Universe's most powerful heroes. As well as being practically invulnerable, he can travel at the speed of light. We'd like to see the Shi'ar Empire factor into this movie, perhaps as a rival of sorts to Ayesha and the Sovereign. Plus, who better to fight Adam Warlock than a badass warrior like Gladiator?
1. Cosmo
You thought a gun-toting, talking raccoon was crazy? Well, how about a telepathic Russian space dog? The canine hero is the head of security on the space station known as Knowhere, and later becomes a liaison to the Guardians of the Galaxy, assisting them in plotting their passport destinations and travelling to trouble spots in the universe via the Continuum Cortex.
He actually made a couple of cameo appearances in 2014's Guardians of the Galaxy as part of The Collector's collection, but that was pretty much it, and he certainly didn't get the chance to talk.
Thanos decimated Knowhere in Avengers: Infinity War, but Cosmo could easily be in charge of an updated version of the space station, or even another key location in the Marvel Cosmic Universe.