James Gunn’s newest superhero action movie, The Suicide Squad, isn’t even in theatres yet, but he’s already bigging up his next project. Gunn told Comicbook that Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, the third chapter in his Marvel Cinematic Universe cosmic trilogy, will be “gigantic” in scale.
“Guardians movies are just different. It’s just using a different part of my brain in some ways. I mean, Guardians movies are more geometric,” Gunn said. “This Guardians, in particular, is just gigantic, so I’m just finishing the story that I feel like I need to finish.”
We don’t know much about the upcoming third Guardians film except that the old gang are all returning to do a little bit of bad and a little bit of good. That means Star-Lord (Chris Pratt), Drax (Dave Bautista), Rocket (Bradley Cooper), Groot (Vin Diesel), Mantis (Pom Klementieff), Kraglin (Sean Gunn) and an alternate timeline version of Gamore (Zoe Saldana) will all be back. Gamora’s sister and former right hand of Thanos turned friend of the Guardians Nebula (Karen Gillan) is also returning.
Gunn has previously said that the third film will be “heavier” than the previous two Guardian’s movies. “The script has basically been written for a long time. I’ve been playing with it in little ways over the years, but it’s basically stayed the same since three years ago,” he told Entertainment Weekly. “It’s pretty heavy, actually. It’s a heavier story, so it’s an emotional process to go through.”
Gunn has said in the past that he thinks (you can never be certain with Marvel) that Vol. 3 will be his last Guardians movie and that this will bring an end to the story he began with the first film. That said, he’s self-aware enough to know that other filmmakers have made similar comments in the past and been convinced to return, so don’t rule out a Guardians Vol.4 just yet.
Before we see The Guardians in their phase 4 film, they’ll appear in Taika Waiti’s new movie Thor: Love and Thunder. Though we don’t know the exact role they’ll play in that story either, it’s safe to presume Thor’s still tagging along with them after the events of Avengers: Endgame.
If you prefer your superheroes with a bit more edge check out our guide on the DCEU movies.