Uniquely, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 included not one or two, but a whole five post-credits scenes. While half of them were inconsequential, comedic sequences, a couple teased important developments to come in Vol. 3.
As well as a promise that Adam Warlock would soon enter the MCU, we also got a heavy hint that Sylvester Stallone’s Stakar and his team of Ravager captains would be returning for a major role next time around. Marvel comics fans will know that these characters are based on the original 1969 line-up of the Guardians of the Galaxy.
The other day, GotG director James Gunn took to Facebook to commemorate the forty-eighth anniversary of the creation of the Guardians by sharing an image of the team’s original incarnation, featuring Vance Astro, Charlie-27, Martinex and Yondu. As Gunn points, three out of the four have now appeared in the MCU.
In reply to this photo, one fan used the opportunity to ask Gunn if he planned to do more with these characters and the rest of Stakar’s team in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. Of course, the director took the time to respond, confirming that “that’s the plan.”
In Vol. 2, Charlie-27 was played by Ving Rhames and Martinex was Michael Rosenbaum. The rest of the team was filled by Aleta Ogord (Michelle Yeoh), Mainframe (Miley Cyrus) and Krugarr (a fully CG creation). Michael Rooker played Yondu in both the first two movies, but he’ll obviously be absent from Vol. 3 due to the character sacrificing himself to save his adoptive son Peter Quill at the end of the second film.
Though Gunn has yet to 100% confirm this, it looks like the significance of the OG Guardians will go beyond Vol.3, as it was previously teased that the movie will heavily influence the direction of Phase Four. In the wake of ambiguous comments that Kevin Feige made about the future of the MCU, Gunn recently doubled down on this by saying that his movie would help “kickstart the new story” of the franchise.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is yet to be assigned an official release date, but Gunn has assured us it’ll likely arrive sometime in 2020. As always, watch this space for more.