Gamora Returns in the Super Bowl 2023 "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3" Trailer
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It's the end of an era for the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise. On Feb. 12, Marvel released a new trailer the third and final installment of the hit movie series on Super Bowl Sunday. The latest trailer teases an emotional adventure for our beloved band of misfits, as well as the return of a (different) Gamora. To wrap up the movie franchise, they'll team up once more to protect the universe and one of their own.
The new trailer hints at danger ahead for Rocket as the brilliant raccoon's backstory is finally told. "We'll all fly away together into the forever and beautiful sky," Rocket says.
New details about the plot of "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3" were revealed at San Diego Comic-Con on July 23, 2022, offering fans a closer look at a project that has been a very, very long time coming. Way back in 2016, Marvel head Kevin Feige told Gizmodo that the third film was definitely planned, and in 2017, it was announced that director James Gunn would return to helm the last film in the trilogy. But the story gets a little messy from there.
Gunn was fired from the project on July 20, 2018, and production was put on hold shortly after. In 2019, Disney and Marvel rehired Gunn, but production was delayed until he finished "The Suicide Squad" and HBO Max spinoff "Peacemaker." Filming for "GOTG 3" finally began in 2021 and wrapped in May 2022. Fans also saw the Guardians of the Galaxy briefly in "Thor: Love and Thunder," which gives some helpful hints about where their new movie is going.
On July 2 of last year, Pratt opened up to Digital Spy about the movie, which he calls a "masterpiece." He said of the film, "It's fantastic. James Gunn just watched a rough assembly the other day. I called him yesterday. We Facetimed, and he's very, very proud of the work that everyone's done. He said it's the best work all of us have ever done. He feels very, very confident. The script was amazing."
Pratt further explained, "And I can say with utter confidence that he's made a true masterpiece, and I just cannot wait for people to see it. It's James Gunn. He did all three movies, which is really rare and really special in the world of big box-office trilogies."
Watching the trailer, which premiered at Comic-Con, was an emotional experience. "It really caught me off guard," Pratt told Entertainment Weekly. "Obviously you're immediately swept up not only in the idea that this is the end of this trilogy for all of us, but also you're reminded of the journey that the characters are on."
Ahead, here's everything we know about "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3," including the cast, plot, and release date.
— Additional reporting by Eden Arielle Gordon
"Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3" Super Bowl 2023 Trailer
"Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3" Trailer
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"Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3" Cast
"Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3" will see most of the main cast returning, including Pratt as Peter Quill, Dave Bautista as Drax, Vin Diesel as Groot, Bradley Cooper as Rocket, Karen Gillan as Nebula, Pom Klementieff as Mantis, and Sean Gunn as Kraglin. Zoe Saldana will also return as Gamora, but it will be the 2014 version of Gamora who traveled in time with Thanos and thus never joined the Guardians or made up with her sister.
Elizabeth Debicki will also reprise her role as Ayesha from "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2," and Sylvester Stallone will return as Stakar Ogord. Chukwudi Iwuji, Nico Santos, Daniela Melchior, and Maria Bakalova will also appear.
The biggest addition to the cast is Will Poulter as Adam Warlock.
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"Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3" Plot
The final installment of Guardians of the Galaxy "really is about the one story," Gunn said during the event. "This is the final arc that we began at the very beginning of Guardians of the Galaxy, with Peter Quill, with Rocket, seeing where Nebula goes, and even Kraglin, who started out as saying one or two lines in the first movie and is now a main Guardian of the Galaxy."
The film will pay special attention to Rocket, voiced by Bradley Cooper, diving into his difficult past as a genetically enhanced creature. "I knew that . . . what started me on this journey, was seeing who [Rocket] could be and who he was, where he came from," Gunn told Entertainment Weekly at Comic-Con on July 23, 2022. The film will also tell the story of Star-Lord as he deals with the fact that Gamora no longer knows who he is, per Marvel.
Adam Warlock, meanwhile, is set up to be the movie's main antagonist, though it's possible he'll turn to the Guardians' side by the end of the film.
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"Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3" Release Date
"Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3" will be released on May 5, 2023.
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"Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3" Poster
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"Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3" Poster #2
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"Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3" Director
Back in 2018, Gunn was fired from "GOTG 3" when some of his inappropriate tweets from a decade ago were resurfaced by conservative online personalities. Soon after his firing, nine principal names from the "Guardians of the Galaxy" franchise — Pratt, Saldana, Cooper, Diesel, Klementieff, Bautista, Gillan, Gunn, and Michael Rooker — signed a joint statement asking Disney to rehire him.
For a while, it seemed like Marvel would go ahead with another director, but just under a year after the news first broke, the studio revealed that Gunn was reinstated as director. In response to the news, Gunn tweeted a statement, writing, "I deeply appreciate Disney's decision and I am excited to continue making films that investigate the ties of love that bind us all."
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"Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3" First Look Photos
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Will There Be a "Guardians of the Galaxy 4"?
Gunn has officially confirmed that Guardians of the Galaxy will be a trilogy. "For a while I wasn't going to do this movie. Then I came back. And the reason I knew I needed to come back was to tell this story and, in some ways in particular, I have a special closeness to the character of Rocket and I knew I needed to finish to tell his story," Gunn told EW.
Pratt echoed the sentiment, telling the outlet that while watching the preview for Vol. 3, "you're immediately swept up not only in the idea that this is the end of this trilogy for all of us, but also you're reminded of the journey that the characters are on."