Now that The Suicide Squad is gearing up for its summer release by debuting the first full-length and very red band trailer, James Gunn can begin diverting some of his attention towards the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. Of course, we’d have probably seen the movie by now had the filmmaker not been fired after old tweets of his from a decade ago resurfaced and were widely circulated, but he maximized his brief sabbatical from the MCU nonetheless.
As well as taking over the DCEU’s band of antiheroes, during his quarantine downtime, Gunn wrote an entire HBO Max series for John Cena’s Peacemaker, which is currently shooting. But once the writer and director wraps up the promotional circuit for The Suicide Squad, it’s all systems go for the return of Star-Lord and the gang.
Vol. 3 has already been confirmed to start shooting before the end of the year, and is widely expected to land in the summer of 2023. That puts it six years after the last installment, which would also see it overtake Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness as the longest wait between films in an MCU franchise.
The threequel has long since been announced as Gunn’s final time at the helm of the series, too, but as you can see from his tweet below, he’s clearly looking to pull out all of the stops to end his tenure as the architect of the Guardians in epic style.
https://twitter.com/JamesGunn/status/1379165731833536512?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1379165731833536512%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fcomicbook.com%2Fmarvel%2Fnews%2Fguardians-of-the-galaxy-3-biggest-movie-yet-james-gunn-confirms%2F
There’s every chance that Marvel could continue Guardians of the Galaxy without him, but given how closely he’s tied to the material and the studio’s regular habit of abiding by the rule of three, it looks like it’ll be the end of the line for at least the current iteration of the team.