You probably have not yet emotionally recovered from seeing Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 but you should know that the film does in fact have both a mid- and post-credits scene. We’re going to take a closer look at those two post-credits scenes so if you have not yet seen the film, now would be a good time to stop reading and go buy yourself a ticket.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 Spoilers ahead!
Okay, if you’re still here, I can only assume you have seen the movie or are otherwise fine with reading spoilers for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. As I’ve said, the film features both a mid- and post-credits scene. While Marvel typically just likes to tack on one last joke at the very end, they do give us something important with both of these. Let’s start out with the mid-credits scene.
The New Guardians
Well, it really is over. We all knew this day was coming. James Gunn had said for a long time this was only going to be a trilogy and his new job with DC has given us further confirmation of that. Both Dave Bautista and Zoe Saldana have said they’re done playing Drax and Gamora respectively after this film as well. So we knew this was going to be the last time we saw the Guardians of the Galaxy on the big screen. Or… at least we knew it would be the last time we saw these Guardians of the Galaxy.
As long as there is a galaxy, it will always need guardian…ing. So, as we see in this mid-credits scene, we have our new Guardians of the Galaxy. Led by Rocket Raccoon, the veterans of this team include Groot and Kraglin. Cosmo is also a member of the team and together they are joined by two newcomers. The first is the obvious one – Adam Warlock. The naive villain-turned-hero has a big role in the comics and it would have been a shame to not see him with the team here. He is also joined by his companion (pet?), Blurp. So, two and a half newcomers, I suppose. The last member of the team though was an exciting surprise that was kind of nonchalantly thrown in.
In their mission against the High Evolutionary, the Guardians save seemingly dozens of children. One of them is with the team at the end and Rocket refers to her as “Phyla.” With that not exactly being the most common name in the galaxy, it seems as though this is the MCU’s Phyla-Vell, a major player in the comics. Phyla is a longtime member of the Guardians and even, at one point, held the title of Captain Marvel.
This is a very different version of the character and we don’t really get to see what she can do because the film ends right as the team leaps into action. However, if her abilities are anything like the comic version, the Guardians have a new heavy hitter on their roster. It will be very interesting to see how they use this character in the future, if they do at all.
The Legendary Star-Lord
And that brings us to the post-credits scene. Peter Quill’s story seemingly came to an end with him returning home to the little family he has remaining on Earth. It’s unclear at first if this is just a visit or something more permanent, but with the finality of this film, it feels like the latter.
And then we get to see him reunited with his grandfather one more time. The two sit at a kitchen table, with Quill slurping a bowl of cereal while his grandfather reads a newspaper. They talk about Peter going to help their neighbor with chores but he admits he feels weird about her able-bodied adult son watching him as he mows the lawn. From the sound of it, Peter lives there permanently now and is adapting to a normal life on Earth.
The screen cuts to black as we continue to hear the slurping sounds and it appears this scene was only tacked onto the end of the film for one last joke, something Marvel does quite often. However, there is one last crucial piece of information we get here. The screen goes white and we see the words “The Legendary Star-Lord will return.”
So while much of the cast and director James Gunn may be done with the franchise and these characters, it appears some of them are not quite there. When and where we might see them again remains to be seen however. Over a year ago, it was reported Marvel was developing a Nova project, though we haven’t heard anything on that since. If that is still the case, it would be a good bet for where we might see Star-Lord again.
Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is in theaters now. Check out Benji’s review of the new film here.