'Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3' Will Set Up Decades of New MCU Characters

Kofi Outlaw

11/09/2017 05:16 pm EST

James Gunn held yet another Facebook Live session, in order to commemorate the release of Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 2 on DVD, Blu-ray, and Digital HD today, and during that session he revealed one big goal for Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 3.

According to Gunn, vol. 3 is set to take place after Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers 4 (which we already knew), but that the threequel will also introduce new characters that will help to expand the Marvel Cinematic Universe for the ten to twenty years!

Here's what Gunn had to say on the subject (at 14:45 mark):

"One of the things I'm doing with creating Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 3: It will take place after the next two Avengers movies, and it will help to set up the next ten, twenty, years of Marvel movies. It's going to really expand the cosmic universe. We're going to be setting up new characters; it will be the last movie of this version of Guardians of the Galaxy."

In an earlier interview, he also added:

"When we're talking about Guardians of the Galaxy 3, and that story, that's a story that will lead to other stories... It's innate to the DNA that that's the end of a trilogy but it's the beginning of a whole other element of the Marvel Cosmic universe. That's a part of what I'm doing now."

In the latest interview, Gunn also teased one particular character we might see - you can read more about him, and other Marvel Cosmic characters we could see in future Marvel Cinematic Universe movies.

Nova (Richard Rider)

Gunn teases in the interview above that there occasional conversations within Marvel Studios about bringing Richard Rider's Nova into the MCU. As our own Megan Peters explains:

"Nova's history with the Marvel Universe is a complicated one, but fans know he's closely intertwined with the Guardians of the Galaxy. Gunn's first Marvel film paid homage to Nova in part by introducing the Nova Corps, a police force that watched over Xandar. The Nova Corps played an important role in the Guardians of the Galaxy, and the nod set up Richard's future introduction to the MCU.

After all, Richard becomes Nova in the comics after the New York student comes in contact with a Nova Corps soldier. Rhomann Dey crashes onto Earth after escaping Xandar as the planet's last surviving Nova Corps member. Richard is given Rhomann's uniform and cosmic powers, and the boy eventually adopts the moniker Nova to protect Earth."

Adam Warlock

(Photo: Bosslogic)

Adam Warlock was the mysterious character teased in Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 2's mid-credits scene, and he has major importance in the Marvel Universe lore.

In Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 2, shortly after realizing the cost of her losses, Ayesha is informed that the Sovereign's council wishes to see her. She expects to be ridiculed for her failing efforts but has an ace up her sleeve: a creation strong enough to destroy the Guardians of the Galaxy. That creation she refers to as 'Adam.'

In the comics, Warlock played a major role in safeguarding the Infinity Gems once Thanos failed in his attempt to conquer the universe. A similar responsibility could fall on the cosmic figure's shoulders, once Avengers 3 & 3 and GotGv3 are done.

After Thanos nearly conquered the universe using the all-powerful Infinity Gauntlet, the cosmic entities of the Marvel Unvierse decreed that the Infinity Gems should never again be gathered together, and split them up among Adam Warlock and the trusted members of his team, The Infinity Watch. The members of that team include Drax, Gamora, and Drax's estranged daughter, Moonstone.

In many ways, an MCU version of The Infinity Watch could be a suitable replacement for the current version of the Guardians team.

The Original Guardians

The Original Ravagers featured during final moments of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (and during one of the many post-credit scenes) were actually select characters from Marvel Comics lore: The Original Guardians of the Galaxy.

By "Original," we mean that they were the first iteration of the Guardians of the Galaxy team, who appeared in the first installment of the comic series in 1969, throughout the '70s. It's clear that in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the original Guardians team either disbanded or evolved into the larger group that is The Ravagers.

There's already been teases that the original Guardians (led by Sylvester Stallone's Stakar Ogord) could be getting a bigger role in the MCU (eventually), so Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 3 could definitely help set that up - even if they don't actually appear in the film.

Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 2 is now available on DVD, Blu-ray, and Digital Download.

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