The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special ends on a touching note with the team exchanging gifts as they celebrate Christmas on Knowhere. With that, writer and director James Gunn manages to pay off one of Avengers: Infinity War's funniest moments.
One of the biggest joys of that 2018 movie was seeing Earth's Mightiest Heroes cross paths with the Guardians, especially as the characters had never shared the screen before.
During the final battle in Wakanda, Bucky meets Rocket and uses the blaster-toting alien to gun down the attacking Outriders. The Guardian offers to buy the former Winter Soldier's gun, only to get turned down. When he then asks about Bucky's arm, the hero walks away, leaving Rocket to vow that he will one day get his hands on it.
Well, in The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special, he does!
When Nebula presents Rocket with his holiday gift, he opens it up to discover Bucky's arm inside. He's clearly touched, though we have no idea how the Guardian managed to get her hands on it. We can't imagine the ex-HYDRA assassin has a spare lying around, and this definitely appears to be the Vibranium arm he had in The Falcon and The Winter Soldier.
Honestly, we're guessing we probably shouldn't overthink this one. It's a sweet punchline to a memorable gag in Avengers: Infinity War, and a great bonding moment for Rocket and Nebula.
With theories swirling that we'll be saying goodbye to the talking "raccoon" in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, perhaps this was Gunn's way of giving Rocket a little happiness before his traumatic origin is explored in the threequel. Either way, it's a great moment, and we'd love to see that arm in the background of a scene in the upcoming movie.
The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special is now streaming on Disney+.