Guardians of the Galaxy: James Gunn Confirms Multiple MCU Debuts in Disney+ Holiday Special

By Jenna Anderson

After putting his stamp on the DC universe with projects like The Suicide Squad and Peacemaker, James Gunn is headed back into the fold of the Marvel Cinematic Universe for more installments in the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise. In addition to Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, there's also the Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special, which fans are hoping will make its debut on Disney+ this upcoming holiday season. Specific details surrounding the Holiday Special have been few and far between, but Gunn has taken to Twitter to share some interesting tidbits. Among them was a tweet shared on Friday night, in which Gunn revealed that "more than one great new MCU character will be introduced" in the project.

Fans have taken that comment and run with it, speculating about which obscure corners of the Marvel cosmic universe Gunn could fold into the film. One pretty prevalent theory has been that the project could Marvel's canonical version of Santa Claus into live-action, which would make sense giving the format (and would also bring the most prominent member of the mutants into the MCU yet, as Santa technically qualifies as an Omega-level mutant).

"The Holiday Special is the greatest thing I've ever done in my life," Gunn recently revealed to RadioTimes.com. "It's totally ridiculous, and every day we can't believe that we're making it. We all completely love it. It is unlike anything that anyone's ever seen before. I can't wait for people to see it."

"And it's out pretty soon," Gunn pointed out. "You know, it's out this Christmas. It's not like people have to wait that long."

With Vol. 3 also poised to weave both Adam Warlock (Will Poulter) and a mysterious character played by Chukwudi Iwuji into the saga's ensemble, it doesn't seem out of the question that one or even both of them could technically make a first cameo appearance in the special, especially as Gunn previously indicated that it will be essential viewing before the film.

"It's in-canon, it's about the Guardians, you're gonna learn stuff that you need to learn before Vol. 3, and it's great. I'm really happy with it," Gunn told Collider on the press tour for The Suicide Squad last year.

Marvel.com previously revealed the Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special cast includes Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldaña, Dave Bautista, Karen Gillan, Pom Klementieff, and Sean Gunn. 

The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special is slated for a Holiday 2022 release window. If you haven't signed up for Disney+ yet, you can try it out here.

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