Doctor Strange wasn’t just the mystical origin story of Benedict Cumberbatch’s Sorcerer Supreme, it was also the 14th entry into the grand, ever-evolving Marvel Cinematic Universe, and with three movies pegged for launch in 2017 – namely Guardians 2, Spider-Man: Homecoming and Thor: Ragnarok – Marvel’s prized asset is only set to get bigger and bigger as time wears on.
Once we ease into 2018, and Chadwick Boseman’s T’Challa stages his own origin story in Black Panther, the MCU will play host to its biggest event movie yet in Avengers: Infinity War, and writer-director James Gunn has now touched base on Joe and Anthony Russo’s sequel while doing the press rounds for the imminent Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.
In fact, with Vol. 3 now out in the open, Infinity War has taken on a greater significance for Marvelites, who have spent the past fortnight stringing together various theories regarding Phase 4 and the future of the MCU. One thing’s for sure, though, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 will slot into the overarching timeline sometime after the events of Avengers: Infinity War. That’s not all too surprising to hear, given the amount of time that will have elapsed between Guardians 2 and IW, but Gunn cleared up any confusion surrounding continuity in a recent interview with The Independent (via CBM).
I’m not totally letting go of the Guardians, I’m still hanging onto them a little as they go through [Infinity War]. I am with the guys, I’m talking to the Russo Brothers, I’m talking to the cast, I’m dealing with all sorts of stuff so we can have the characters remain true to themselves and they end up where they need to be for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.
James Gunn went on to reveal that, in keeping with the spirit of its predecessor, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 will come packing a super-secret Easter egg. Since the original launched in 2014, viewers have combed through each and every frame in the hope of finding Gunn’s elusive reference, only to come up short. The search continues, then, and here’s what the filmmaker had to share: “I am not going to [reveal anything], but people have gotten very close. So, I don’t think it will be very long until it comes out.”
Once Vol. 2 opens Stateside on May 5th, James Gunn will begin assembling Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. It’s without a release date at this early stage – perhaps it’s about to occupy one of Marvel’s mysterious 2020 slots? – but we do know that Avengers: Infinity War will drop on May 4th of 2018. And no, its sequel isn’t titled Infinity Gauntlet.