From Iron Man to Captain America, it’s been an unofficial rule of the Marvel Cinematic Universe that every non-Avengers series stops after three films. Indeed, even next year’s Thor: Love and Thunder – which will technically serve as the fourth of its kind – will see a passing of the hammer to a new God of Thunder.
So, while it remains to be seen if the upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 will be the final MCU movie to bear the Guardians name, many of us have long assumed that the film will at least serve as the final outing for the titular team as we know it.
Sure enough, director James Gunn seemingly implied as such in an Instagram Q&A held Saturday afternoon. When asked if Vol. 3 will wrap up the series, or if there are further storylines planned for the characters, the filmmaker had this to say:
“If everything goes to plan it will wrap up the stories I started in Guardians 1.”
Though Gunn’s answer reads as intentionally vague, it certainly sounds like Vol. 3 will probably be the last time we witness the entire crew together. What exactly that means for the individual characters, however, remains unclear.
On the one hand, we certainly can’t rule out seeing some of the gang in later MCU projects. But if Gunn is hoping to end his run on an emotional note, then there’s also a pretty good chance that not everyone’s going to live to see the end of the trilogy.
In any case, with no release date set for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, fans may still have at least a couple more years to speculate on the fate of the team. In the meantime, Marvel’s Phase 4 kicks off with the release of Black Widow on May 1st.